Brachypelma klaasi

[Oasis Inverts]

Howdy.

Just thought We'd share this with you all......

Conditions
Temperature: 80 Degrees F
Humidity:69%
Lighting Conditions: Dimmed

Female Brachypelma klaasi Info: 6 1/2" Female molted on 4/10/2008.
Male Brachypelma klaasi Info: 5" Matured Male. molted on 8/15/08


Male was placed into the females enclosure and settled down on the substrate for several minutes. Moved around a bit then approached the female on the other side of the enclosure.

The female instantly picked up on the males scent and did some short drumming. He initiated the mating by some drumming very shortly while "twitching". The female walked down towards him from atop of her pot and put her front legs on his resting there for a bit.

He then drummed a bit more and lifted her front legs. No fangs were bared so I didn't interfere. He gently tounched her front 2 set of legs slowly lifting her and walked her backwards slightly just enough to pull her abdomen closer to him. While doing this he used his pedipalps to drum rapidly on her belly while lifting her up and arching her backwards.

He made 4 insertions and started lowering her down. Once that happend, she tried to grab him but was too far away. I intervened quickly and took him out placing him back into his enclosure for future breeding attempts.

Here is a picture showing what happened.

 

[Le Wasp]

Oh my, I can't believe there haven't been breeding reports on this species for about seven years! No wonder it's so hard to find B. klaasi.

Anyhow, I kept the male and female at different temperatures throughout their development in order to time their molts to line up. Originally, I was keeping the female at a warmer temperature (80 degrees F) and the male, which I thought was penultimate, at a cooler temperature (68 degrees F). However, on the male's next molt, he was still not mature, despite being very large (about 6 inches). I then switched him to the high temperature (80 degrees F) in order to speed the male through his final molt at a time that would work during the female's molting cycle. I then also switched the female to a cooler temperature (68 degrees F) to prolong her instar.

The male matured on 9/6/14 and the female last molted on 6/18/14. I then waited to observe sperm web evidence, which was found around 10/10/14.
They were mated on 10/19/14, 10/26/14 and 11/17/14. Each mating was apparently successful, with insertions observed. I was too focused on the process and concerned about protecting the male to get any good pictures during the process. Here is a picture of the male though: He's very large.


Each of the matings was performed by moving both of their enclosures side by side and removing the lids. All cage ornaments (water dish, hide) were removed prior to mating. I then took a small amount of her silk from her enclosure and placed it by the male to let him know there is a female nearby. If this did not prompt a response, I delicately dragged the silk along his front legs and pedipalps. This often generated a response to walk towards the silk and pursue the female. I led him into her cage on the opposite side of the female to give him room to signal. After entering her cage, he began to vibrate. The female was not observed responding.

The female did not show signs of aggression during either of the first two matings. However, I was proactive and did not give her a chance to be too aggressive by placing a deli cup over him immediately after he began to pull away. During the third mating, after insertion, the female appeared to be too eager to "hug" the male, which I interpreted to be signs of the mating going wrong. I then separated them with tongs and barricaded the male in a deli cup. A fourth mating attempt was initiated, but the female did not appear interested and the mission was aborted.

After the second mating, I moved the female to a sun-less window in a cold part of the house in order to gestate her eggs. I also provided plenty of moisture by flooding the substrate. Temperatures would average around 62 degrees F, with occasional night temperatures dipping lower.

Spring temperatures slowly warmed to around 72 degrees around 2/25/15, which is when the female was observed to be interested in burrowing. She dug a bowl-shaped depression on 3/31/15, and began putting web down on 4/3/15.

On the morning of 4/7/15, around 8:20am, she layed her eggs into the webbing (visible in the above picture). Later that day, she folded the webbing into an egg sac, and is now guarding it.


She is currently being held at 75 degrees F, with plastic wrap covering much of the ventilation to keep humidity up. She will remain with the egg sac as long as she is attending to it and not showing aggression.
<edit>

Update: She ate the egg sac! :cry: She was being a good mom for about a month and then decided to treat herself to a mother's day breakfast... When she was discovered eating the sac, the sac was in very bad shape and could not be salvaged. She was still strangely protective of the sac and wouldn't let me pull it from her grip. I couldn't diagnose if any eggs were still healthy at the time of her eating it, but there definitely weren't any good ones by the time I found it. The eggs did not have legs at this point, so they may have not been developing properly. I was a bit concerned about the egg sac initially, just due to its small size compared to her overall body size.