A. chalcodes pairing. How can you determine if the female is sexually mature?

[Tony Romano]

Hi,

I have a number of these, (4) in total, (3) females and (1) mature male. I was hoping to try my hand at pairing a set of these, with my boy all anxious and ready. My question is how do I know if any or all of my females are a) really female [as the male looked like a female until his last molt] and b) ready for pairing?

The male was the last to molt, about 6 months ago. None of the others have molted in about a year.


Thanks and regards,

Tony

 

[spideyspinneret78]

Look at her most recent molt. If the spermathecae are scleroticized, then she's mature enough to breed. If she's roughly 70% of the species maximum size, then you can estimate that she might be mature, but there isn't a guarantee.

 

[viper69]

Always check its molt