Latrodectus breeding questions

NYAN

Arachnoking
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Dec 23, 2017
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Hi everyone, I am aware there are other threads similar to this but they didn’t answer my questions. I have latrodectus Hesperus and hasselti that I want to breed. They are related to each other though. I’ve heard conflicting information on whether this can cause issues or not though. Anyway, I want to know how to introduce the males to the females, how long it takes for them to mate once being introduced and if there are any ways to know if the spiders are mature. I tried to introduce the male and the female yesterday and the female had a feeding response. The males are almost as big as the female species legspan wise but the females have their adult coloration pretty much and are adult sized. The hasselti males are still in their webs and are smaller.
 

Joogvanhedel

Arachnoknight
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Oct 27, 2017
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My hasselti males where all very small, you can see the palps clearly if mature. Once you put the male with the female (I took the male out his encloser, and put him on the web of the female), he right away starts to dance, walk all over the webs off the female (if he dont do that, you ca take him out. It wont work that day), to leave his smell there, to confuse other males nearby. Once he did all this, he bites through the biggest web lines, he does this to bar the way for other men. Then they start to scan each other, and eventually they mate..

My mactans was the same..
 
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Sergic

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jun 5, 2015
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77
I've successfully bred hesperus. I've had pairings in which the female ate the male almost immediately and others that were successful after cohabiting the male and female for a week. So successful markings can take a long time to happen.

If you want your males to survive long enough to mate, introduce them as far away from the female as possible. Males in the wild will cautiously make their way onto female webs while "dancing" to let her know they aren't prey. When you drop the males onto female webs, the female will think the male is prey until he starts to dance.

Keep and eye the spiders once the male starts to dance. If the female is responsive, she should vibrate in response to the male. If the female still tries to eat the male, remove the male and try again another time.

If you get a successful mating, chances are the male won't survive, especially with the hasselti.

Egg sacs, if you get them, are very hardy. They'll hatch between two weeks and one month after they're laid. I'd recommend moving the eggsac to an empty deli cup before it hatches so you have well-contained spiders when they hatch.

The spidelings will cohab in the deli cup for 1-2 weeks without cannibalizing each other, but you'll need to separate them around two weeks after hatching if you want most to survive. This is the fun part. The spiderlings disperse by ballooning, so as soon as you open their deli cup they're going to try floating away and you'll quickly have many spiders outside the cup.

Once separated, the spiderlings are fairly prone to dessicating, so keep their containers humid, but not wet. I've found giving spiderlings a pre-killed small cricket weekly gives me decent survival.

The other option is to leave the spiderlings together until they've molted a couple times and you have only 10 or so left. With this method I reliably get 10 or so spiders surviving, but they're often more male skewed than the eggsac as a whole.
 

NYAN

Arachnoking
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My issue is my males get introduced and nothing happens. I’m not sure how long it’ll take for them to recognize each other. Is it really immediate?
 

Sergic

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jun 5, 2015
Messages
77
My issue is my males get introduced and nothing happens. I’m not sure how long it’ll take for them to recognize each other. Is it really immediate?
It can be, but it isn't always. Are you sure your males are mature? Theyll have large palps at least one instar before maturity.

The best way to ensure mating would be to introduce males to females when you have a couple hours to keep an eye on them. Even when males start signaling immediately, it can take a while for mating to happen.
 

NYAN

Arachnoking
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The males have large black palps, one has stopped eating and wanders around. They are 6-7 instar. My issues are that the males act all stupid and don’t want to go into the web or do anything. When I finally get them in they sit there and nothing happens.
 

NYAN

Arachnoking
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56290FE2-C3B8-4AA6-8F27-5DCDF942F87D.jpeg

This is my Hesperus. Hasselti males are less leggy and the females are same sizes.
 

Joogvanhedel

Arachnoknight
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Oct 27, 2017
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If you stay during the mating, you can take the males often out of the female encloser without problem. I have 5 gravid L hasselti females here, all have mated 2 times, the second time i left the males for the night, only one survived. Dont leave them if you want to keep them.. The mactans male lived for 2 days by the female, a week or so he died in his own encloser
 

NYAN

Arachnoking
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I took the male out and introduced him to another female. The hasselti are doing nothing still.
 

NYAN

Arachnoking
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If you stay during the mating, you can take the males often out of the female encloser without problem. I have 5 gravid L hasselti females here, all have mated 2 times, the second time i left the males for the night, only one survived. Dont leave them if you want to keep them.. The mactans male lived for 2 days by the female, a week or so he died in his own encloser
I have nearly 2 males per female for hasselti. How long should I keep them together since they aren’t dancing?
 

Joogvanhedel

Arachnoknight
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I have nearly 2 males per female for hasselti. How long should I keep them together since they aren’t dancing?
Take him out, not ready :-(

I have mated 4 males for the 5 females, 2 times mated. First cocoon hatchet 2 days ago.. (within 2 weeks, its hot here now..)
 

NYAN

Arachnoking
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Should I wait until they have the red dorsal pattern? Mine are white still.
 

NYAN

Arachnoking
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Take him out, not ready :-(

I have mated 4 males for the 5 females, 2 times mated. First cocoon hatchet 2 days ago.. (within 2 weeks, its hot here now..)
The one Hesperus male looks ready to me, would you agree?
 
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