Aphonopelma hentzi breeding!

[Colorado Ts]

I don't think it will be unless you don't have a way to ensure that the egg sac is rotated sufficiently, but I don't have any experience with it myself. I know that some breeders pull certain species' sacs because the mother has a tendency to eat it, or will pull sacs early as a matter of course and put them in a mechanical mom, but I don't know what the criteria are.

Has she abandoned the sac?

She's been ignoring the sac since late yesterday. If she's still ignoring the sac in the morning, I'll pull it and incubate the eggs artificially.

I’m just curious, why all of a sudden she’s completely changed her behavior towards the egg sac? Also, why is the egg sac looking like a flat tire..What's up with that?

 

[Colorado Ts]

Thirsty Girl

Headed off to bed, and checked to see how she’s doing.



From the time I noticed her drinking, till the time she stopped? 10 minutes, thirsty girl.

I’ll probably be pulling an egg sac in the morning.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

She's been ignoring the sac since late yesterday. If she's still ignoring the sac in the morning, I'll pull it and incubate the eggs artificially.

I’m just curious, why all of a sudden she’s completely changed her behavior towards the egg sac? Also, why is the egg sac looking like a flat tire..What's up with that?

The eggs probably went bad. What you do at this point is cut open the egg sack and dump the contents in your incubator cup to see how many are still good and remove any bad ones. This is when a hammock style incubator comes into play

 

[Colorado Ts]

The eggs probably went bad. What you do at this point is cut open the egg sack and dump the contents in your incubator cup to see how many are still good and remove any bad ones. This is when a hammock style incubator comes into play

Thank you for that advice. I’ll pull the egg sac in the morning and post images.

 

[Colorado Ts]

Pulling Egg Sac



I pulled the eg sac this morning, using a long set of tongs. The egg sac was laying in the substrate near the front of the burrow, so it was easy to obtain with a set of long tongs.



The egg sac wasn’t very full and firm. It looked much fuller days ago, now it was looking deflated. I used a sharp pair of scissors and very carefully cut the sac open. I was greeted with a view of hundreds of golden eggs.



It was a simple matter to carefully pour the eggs into the coffee filter portion of the hatcher. Some debris from the exterior of the egg sac fell into the coffee filter as I was trying to get every last egg. Surprisingly, all the eggs appeared viable, none of the eggs looked damaged or moldy or rotten.

This raises a question...why was she ignoring the egg sac? She seemed to be trying at one point to remove it from the burrow, failing that...she simply began ignoring the egg sac...why?



One thing is for sure...if this works, I’m going to need more soufflé cups.

I snapped on the lid to the hatcher, and carefully placed it into the sling cabinet near the thermometer. I’ll monitor it every few days and post images and updates as changes occur.

 

[CommanderBacon]

Ooh I think I read that at the early stage like this they should stay in the cocoon but I'm not an expert at all obvs. A friend of mine recently pulled and opened a sac at 20 days and it was okay? I dunno.

Best of luck!

 

[Colorado Ts]

Ooh I think I read that at the early stage like this they should stay in the cocoon but I'm not an expert at all obvs. A friend of mine recently pulled and opened a sac at 20 days and it was okay? I dunno.

Best of luck!

Everything that I've read says leave the sac with the female for at least 30 days. I agree completely, but if the momma abandons the sac, what's there to lose?

 

[CommanderBacon]

Everything that I've read says leave the sac with the female for at least 30 days. I agree completely, but if the momma abandons the sac, what's there to lose?

I thought the rotation of the eggs within the sac is key to development, but I don't know if opening it and dispensing the eggs at this point will affect them negatively or not.

I hope someone chimes in with info

 

[Colorado Ts]

Pulled Sac Aftermath



After the egg sac was pulled, the female wondered the enclosure for several hours, then returned to its burrow. Its been sitting in the burrow, unmoving, ever since. I’ll offer food later today.

 

[Colorado Ts]

22 Days



My Aphonopelma hentzi female laid he eggs and created an egg sac 22 days ago. So far everything looks good, none have died. I’m still wondering why she was ignoring the sac for so many days.



Looking at the eggs up close, there looks to be development....

 

[Colorado Ts]

25 Days



The eggs were laid 25 days ago. Changes are subtle but development is progressing. So far none of the eggs have turned black or are showing signs of infertility.



The development within the eggs is much more progressed than 3 days ago. I’m excited to see if I do have EWLs at 30 days.

 

[Chebe6886]

I don't think it will be unless you don't have a way to ensure that the egg sac is rotated sufficiently, but I don't have any experience with it myself. I know that some breeders pull certain species' sacs because the mother has a tendency to eat it, or will pull sacs early as a matter of course and put them in a mechanical mom, but I don't know what the criteria are.

Has she abandoned the sac?

Does anyone know if it’s feasible to rotate the eggs by hand? Or does it require too much regular rotation.
Just curious bc I used to rotate chicken eggs by hand but that only had to be done a couple times a day

 

[Colorado Ts]

As I understand it, the female spider rotates the egg sac to keep the eggs on the bottom from being crushed. By removing the eggs from the egg sac, pressure is removed from the eggs on the bottom....

 

[MrDeranged]

Please post a breeding report once this comes to a conclusion.

Tarantula - Aphonopelma hentzi

Aphonopelma hentzi breeding reports

arachnoboards.com

 

[Colorado Ts]

32 Days



Looks to be some big changes since my last post. 32 days after the egg sac was produced and a little over 1/2 the eggs have turned to a dark yellow and have shriveled up and dried out.



The eggs that have not dried and shriveled, look whitish and have developed a crusty exterior. No EWLs are observed at this time.

I’m wondering if I did something wrong. I did pull the sac after only 18 days...but for the eggs to dry out, there must be something wrong with my hatcher...I think I need a higher humidity...more ventilation.

Thoughts?

 

[CommanderBacon]

I was just curious how this turned out. What ended up happening?

 

[Colorado Ts]

None of the eggs produced...sad.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

32 Days

I’m wondering if I did something wrong. I did pull the sac after only 18 days...but for the eggs to dry out, there must be something wrong with my hatcher...I think I need a higher humidity...more ventilation.

Thoughts?

I don't think the eggs were fertilized and the mother spider knew it before you did. The last time I hatched out A. hentzi eggs it was really easy to do.