A little worried...breeder advice wanted.

rustym3talh3ad

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OK guys, so im not exactly knew to the breeding aspect and most of you that know me know i dont post dumb questions but this one is kind of a worrisome issue. I bred my female C. darlingi like 7 and a half months ago. saw inserts and everything. she got big...i mean BIG! but then nothing ever happend. i had to clean her tank about 2 months ago which really screwed up her webbing and everything. i wouldnt have but there were tons of tiny bugs in her cage that were bothering me (not mites just dirt bugs). Plus i figured by then she was just fat and not really gravid. At the last reptile show (on 10/09/10) i came across a recently matured male and i figure shes at least 6 months from her next molt why not give it a shot. tonight i looked at her and im thinking GOD she is ENORMOUS! so i did a little candle lighting and shes SOLID yellow.:wall::wall::confused: Now to the question part.

If my female was gravid from the first pairing back in early march WHY would she still be holding on to the eggs. Was it my fault for cleaning her cage? Is she at risk of busting? Can she die from holding on to eggs for so long? Was she waiting for a fertile male to come along because my last one was a dud? Or is it possible (though not likely, from all the research ive done) that her eggs have appeared in the last 4 days? I really need some input from some one who has done this before and has experience with breeding. Thank you in advance for posting or even reading this.
 

Nicole

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One of my A. metallica females did this to me. She was mated, stayed huuuuuuuuuuuge forever with no sac. She wouldn't eat during most of that time, wasn't webbing, and generally just hung around stuck to the side of her tank, so I decided to give the male another go to see if it would spark any progress. After a couple of successful pairings, she started webbing, and 3-4 weeks after that she finally dropped her sac. I'm not sure if she was just waiting for another male like you say, or whatever, but it seemed to work.

I wouldn't worry about her - just keep her happy, fed if she wants, warm, etc., and you could have a sac in the next few weeks!
 

rustym3talh3ad

Arachnoangel
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One of my A. metallica females did this to me. She was mated, stayed huuuuuuuuuuuge forever with no sac. She wouldn't eat during most of that time, wasn't webbing, and generally just hung around stuck to the side of her tank, so I decided to give the male another go to see if it would spark any progress. After a couple of successful pairings, she started webbing, and 3-4 weeks after that she finally dropped her sac. I'm not sure if she was just waiting for another male like you say, or whatever, but it seemed to work.

I wouldn't worry about her - just keep her happy, fed if she wants, warm, etc., and you could have a sac in the next few weeks!
thanks. after posting this at like 3am i took a flash light into my T room and noticed that she had begun digging a hole in the substrate, where as before she was just sitting there. so fingers crossed i guess.
 

Redneck

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I dont have any advice but i was wondering if she made a sac web yet or no?
Doubt she did make any progress in the past 8 hours..

Rusty.. You know I am in the same situation.. Didnt you pair this MM with your females? Either way.. I am starting to think this one might be a dud.. Time will tell if it is or not.. But I have paired him with all three of my females..

The smaller one is just for an experiment.. Im sure she is going to molt out..

I found the molt to my second larger female last night.. So I decided to pair him with her to...

So... Time will tell if it takes or not... :rolleyes:

Hope to hear you get a sac from your girl soon..
 

rustym3talh3ad

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i did not pair any of my females with that male. now heres something strange. later that night after the candle lighting she went through dug a little bowl in the ground and laid just the tiniest bit of web in it. but that was 3 days ago and nothing has happened since then. as far as a dud male or not its strange that every male that ive come across has a different color carapace at molt. ive seen them very light creamy tan, gold iridescent, brown and even copper.

Im first to kick someone in the pants about hybrid talk but is it possible that someone way before our time screwed this genus up so bad that we've run out of a true blood line and most (not all) of our males or females (for that matter)are infertile? ive seen people get sacks from them, but maybe theirs is a WC within 1 or two generations and the genes havent been messed up so it still breeds true. It's just a thought.
 

Redneck

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i did not pair any of my females with that male. now heres something strange. later that night after the candle lighting she went through dug a little bowl in the ground and laid just the tiniest bit of web in it. but that was 3 days ago and nothing has happened since then. as far as a dud male or not its strange that every male that ive come across has a different color carapace at molt. ive seen them very light creamy tan, gold iridescent, brown and even copper.

Im first to kick someone in the pants about hybrid talk but is it possible that someone way before our time screwed this genus up so bad that we've run out of a true blood line and most (not all) of our males or females (for that matter)are infertile? ive seen people get sacks from them, but maybe theirs is a WC within 1 or two generations and the genes havent been messed up so it still breeds true. It's just a thought.
The guy I got mine from got them from Paul Becker when they were just tiny little slings about 3 years before I got them.. I wonder if there is a chance they are from a WC female... IDK.. I got my smaller one from Paul.. She was 1.5" when I got her...

As for the hybrid theory... I dont really know wha tto say to that.. Since well.. The only MM I have ever seen is this one.. I hope its not true... But I doubt it is.. Surely we both dont have fertile females.. Maybe they have a longer gestation period that what we know of...
 

robc

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Anyone else have any info regarding this weird breeding situation?
My Versi colors are doing the same....they have been gravid for almost 6 months:mad: won'r drop either!!! Veru frustrating!!
 

rustym3talh3ad

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My Versi colors are doing the same....they have been gravid for almost 6 months:mad: won'r drop either!!! Veru frustrating!!
yeah well the thing is i paired 3 different males with like 7 or 8 females (including loans and what tommy has done with the male i sent him) and the most ive seen was one dud sack. IDK what is going on its becoming kinda frustrating cuz this is a species i would love to have a clutch from. its not just a money maker or some crap, its been on my "Wish list of Egg Sacks" for some time now.
 

xhexdx

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She's probably just not comfortable in her setup. Maybe something will trigger her to drop, maybe not. I assume you have her housed 'properly' (I use that term lightly)...so I don't know what else to tell you other than to wait.

I did have a female H. incei cohabitate with a male until she ate him (about 2 weeks), then get fat and die. My theory was that she was eggbound, but I didn't dissect her to find out. She actually tried to lay a sac twice, but they were just web, no eggs.

Good luck, I hope she drops for you.
 

robc

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She's probably just not comfortable in her setup. Maybe something will trigger her to drop, maybe not. I assume you have her housed 'properly' (I use that term lightly)...so I don't know what else to tell you other than to wait.

I did have a female H. incei cohabitate with a male until she ate him (about 2 weeks), then get fat and die. My theory was that she was eggbound, but I didn't dissect her to find out. She actually tried to lay a sac twice, but they were just web, no eggs.

Good luck, I hope she drops for you.
Hey Joe! Where have you been???? This is about the only advice that can be really given.
 

rustym3talh3ad

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She's probably just not comfortable in her setup. Maybe something will trigger her to drop, maybe not. I assume you have her housed 'properly' (I use that term lightly)...so I don't know what else to tell you other than to wait.

I did have a female H. incei cohabitate with a male until she ate him (about 2 weeks), then get fat and die. My theory was that she was eggbound, but I didn't dissect her to find out. She actually tried to lay a sac twice, but they were just web, no eggs.

Good luck, I hope she drops for you.
Thank you Joe. Yes i have her housed as proper as i feel i can, her bedding is slightly moist but thats kind of beyond my control as its moist from when i made it up. i could put her in dry bedding but i feel that would just dry out the sack if it were ever laid. so what is happening is im just not adding any additional moisture to the set up, only to the water dish, its slowly drying out but thats the best i can say. she has as i mentioned dug a nice size hole, and began webbing it up but its just not the amount of webbing id normally expect to see from a gravid spider. i guess only time will tell.
 
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