P metallica sperm web.jpg
l4nsky

P metallica sperm web.jpg

Quite an impressive sperm web from a male that matured a little over a year ago. Still eats like a champ, but I didn't pair him again with my female (thought he was past his breeding days) and she's too far into her molt cycle.
I have to say, MM P. metallica are probably the smallest Poecilotheria mature males I've ever seen and worked with.
 
Beautiful sperm web. How did the first paring go? Was it successful?
Yes and no. I got a huge eggsack after 6 months of conditioning, but a mistake on my part with the humidity caused her to eat it (a good lesson for me, albeit an expensive one). The bolus was the size of a freaking quarter and she was only 5.5" at the time. Really would have atleast liked an egg count :meh:
 
but a mistake on my part with the humidity caused her to eat it (a good lesson for me, albeit an expensive one).
I don't think humidity has anything to do with a female eating her sack, but that's just my opinion. I think she just instinctually ate it.
 
I don't think humidity has anything to do with a female eating her sack, but that's just my opinion. I think she just instinctually ate it.
I respectfully disagree. She was part of an experiment to control the burrow temp and humidity in order to induce reproduction and she literally ate the eggsack less than 8 hours after my setup accidently produced a large humidity spike in her burrow. Tarantulas will instinctually eat an eggsack and recover the nutrients when they believe the eggsack won't be successful. A huge humidity spike would be a condition that could lead a female to believe there is no chance of success.
 
I respectfully disagree. She was part of an experiment to control the burrow temp and humidity in order to induce reproduction and she literally ate the eggsack less than 8 hours after my setup accidently produced a large humidity spike in her burrow. Tarantulas will instinctually eat an eggsack and recover the nutrients when they believe the eggsack won't be successful. A huge humidity spike would be a condition that could lead a female to believe there is no chance of success.
Interesting perspective. But I've hatched Poeciltheria in the most humid conditions ever. I've literally hatched Poecilotheria on damp sub in the middle of summer where I am. And humidity spikes here are insane in the summer with humidity peaking at 80%+ since I keep T.'s in the basement of my room.
 
Interesting perspective. But I've hatched Poeciltheria in the most humid conditions ever. I've literally hatched Poecilotheria on damp sub in the middle of summer where I am. And humidity spikes here are insane in the summer with humidity peaking at 80%+ since I keep T.'s in the basement of my room.
I don't doubt it. Even though the conditions you describe are extreme, they are atleast stable and consistent and the prospective mom had the time to create her nursery to account for those variables. This was a ~65%-70% RH (stable for 4 weeks) to ~95% RH spike in the span of 30 minutes, directly in the burrow.
 
I don't doubt it. Even though the conditions you describe are extreme, they are atleast stable and consistent and the prospective mom had the time to create her nursery to account for those variables. This was a ~65%-70% RH (stable for 4 weeks) to ~95% RH spike in the span of 30 minutes, directly in the burrow.
Wow, that shucks. I find Poecilotheria mature males to be quite long lived in my experience. I have a mature male that's probably a little over two years old and still making sperm webs. I own a few males myself and they seem to live longer than most people expect in some cases. I'm pretty sure he'll live long enough for her to molt out for another pairing. I wish you the best on the next pairing.
 
About how big would you say this one is? I have a p. metallica who I found no flap on the previous molt, so I had suspected it was male. However, this molt, which should have definitely been the ultimate male molt, did not reveal any bulbs, leggy body, or change in color (aside from bright blues ofc). Hoping it turns out to be female, its pretty big and imo way past the size to molt out as male.
 

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Poecilotheria
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l4nsky
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