- Joined
- Feb 25, 2007
- Messages
- 458
I finally got what looks to be some success between my male and #4 female B. emilia. My #4 female is the heaviest of the group, but not the largest in terms of leg span.
I put the cages down on the floor. The female immediately ran into her flower pot.
Took the tops off. I only had to nudge the male once and he practically ran and jumped into her cage. Unlike previous trials, he wasted no time with picking his way around her cage. Dunno if he finally got his confidence built up or what. He fairly quickly went up to the entrance of the flower pot and started his little twitchy dance and got his groove on... he looked cute wiggling his booty. The female eventually got herself turned around inside her flower pot. After a 2 min. hesitation, he boldly strode up right on up to her and tapped her on the legs. She casually reared up and he moved in. My view of the whole thing wasn't that great since they were in the flower pot. From what I could see, he positioned himself and I could make out his tapping her on the abdomen with his pedipalps. He had her hooked up and all. After 5 min. though he backed off & out of the flower pot. It kinda looked like he didn't have the right angle. He spent a minute or two re-thinking his strategy while the female remained reared up inside the pot. He then went back in and picked up where he left off. They locked up for about 15 min. with only some minor leg rearrangements occasionally. Because of my blocked view, I don't know if he succeeded with any insertions (fingers crossed). He then disengaged her and backed out of the flower pot without any problems. It took her a min. or two before she finally lowered herself back down.
Now the funny / weird part.
he went for a walk towards the end of her cage to the water dish. Sat in the mostly empty water dish for a moment. Then instead of making his way back into his cage like I expected... he turned around and went back to her flower pot. He tapped the pot for a moment or two, then backed off again after she turned her back on him. He backed off a couple inches and then for all intents and purposes, it looked like he just flopped down on his right side leaning against some fake silk leaves. He totally reminded me of a person laying stretched out on the bed posed sexily with one arm propping their head up and opposite leg propped up next to the stretched out leg. He then spent the next 10 minutes sprawled out in front of her grooming himself? He was rubbing his front 3 left legs against each other and you could see the cheleicera and the pedipalps moving too and the tips of his legs being pulled under near the mouth. I have never seen this active of a grooming session with my spiders before.
Start to finish (with me finally shooing him back into his cage cause he was making me nervous with his grooming exhibition stunt) it took 45 minutes.
Now, for the questions.
I would think after breeding he would want to hightail it back to his cage instead of gloating and grooming in front of her when she could easily just rush out the few inches and hurt him. :? How common is this behavior?
And other question is.. I should ideally wait until another sperm web before another breeding attempt correct? And how many attempts should I make with them to help ensure a successful egg sac later down the road?
I put the cages down on the floor. The female immediately ran into her flower pot.
Took the tops off. I only had to nudge the male once and he practically ran and jumped into her cage. Unlike previous trials, he wasted no time with picking his way around her cage. Dunno if he finally got his confidence built up or what. He fairly quickly went up to the entrance of the flower pot and started his little twitchy dance and got his groove on... he looked cute wiggling his booty. The female eventually got herself turned around inside her flower pot. After a 2 min. hesitation, he boldly strode up right on up to her and tapped her on the legs. She casually reared up and he moved in. My view of the whole thing wasn't that great since they were in the flower pot. From what I could see, he positioned himself and I could make out his tapping her on the abdomen with his pedipalps. He had her hooked up and all. After 5 min. though he backed off & out of the flower pot. It kinda looked like he didn't have the right angle. He spent a minute or two re-thinking his strategy while the female remained reared up inside the pot. He then went back in and picked up where he left off. They locked up for about 15 min. with only some minor leg rearrangements occasionally. Because of my blocked view, I don't know if he succeeded with any insertions (fingers crossed). He then disengaged her and backed out of the flower pot without any problems. It took her a min. or two before she finally lowered herself back down.Now the funny / weird part.
he went for a walk towards the end of her cage to the water dish. Sat in the mostly empty water dish for a moment. Then instead of making his way back into his cage like I expected... he turned around and went back to her flower pot. He tapped the pot for a moment or two, then backed off again after she turned her back on him. He backed off a couple inches and then for all intents and purposes, it looked like he just flopped down on his right side leaning against some fake silk leaves. He totally reminded me of a person laying stretched out on the bed posed sexily with one arm propping their head up and opposite leg propped up next to the stretched out leg. He then spent the next 10 minutes sprawled out in front of her grooming himself? He was rubbing his front 3 left legs against each other and you could see the cheleicera and the pedipalps moving too and the tips of his legs being pulled under near the mouth. I have never seen this active of a grooming session with my spiders before.
Start to finish (with me finally shooing him back into his cage cause he was making me nervous with his grooming exhibition stunt) it took 45 minutes.
Now, for the questions.
I would think after breeding he would want to hightail it back to his cage instead of gloating and grooming in front of her when she could easily just rush out the few inches and hurt him. :? How common is this behavior?
And other question is.. I should ideally wait until another sperm web before another breeding attempt correct? And how many attempts should I make with them to help ensure a successful egg sac later down the road?
