Breeding Damon diadema

[dtknow]

Ok, courtesy of KenTheBugGuy I got a beautiful male D. diadema. I have some questions though.

This male is smaller than my female(she's huge and molted for me recently also). Will that cause any problems?

How should I go about introducing them?

 

[lucanidae]

Put the male into the females container. Watch carefully, they should find each other pretty quickly and you will know fairly soon whether or not she will accept him. If she's REALLY aggressive (often first encounters look scary but are not) you should remove him and try again later. If things don't look to harsh, they can continue all the way until she has babies on her back. You can count the number of times they mated by the number of white sperm stalks left on the bark.

 

[dtknow]

What does the mating look like? Do I have a good chance of witnessing the actual spermatophore deposition/pickup?

 

[dtknow]

Ok, male is in the female's critter keeper. After walking for a bit one of his whips touched the females and she immediately became excited and her pedipalps opened. They were on the opposite sides of a piece of cork bark. After several taps the male backed away and then went to get a drink. They are now on opposite sides of the cork bark. The female waving her whips around. The male appears to be cleaning his pedipalps.

 

[JesseD]

I bred these guys twice. I just left the male and female together all the time well until it was near hatching time. Then I separated the female from the male. I never witnessed the depositing of the spermatophore, but finding one is a good sign that pretty soon you'll see your female will have eggs! Keep them humid with lots of vertical cage furniture with dark hiding spots. Humid I mean I kept mine at more than 80%. Enjoy!

 

[dtknow]

Thanks for the info! I am kind of nervous about leaving him in there as I am afraid of him getting munched. But right now they are ignoring each other.

 

[dtknow]

after some recent events...the male and females pedipalps are about indentical length. Of course, the females are much more powerful looking.

A few times upon whip contact the female avoided the male. I added in some water and for some reason the male began moving away from it and coincidentally touched the female. After some tentative brushes she came out and they came face to face. Both individuals, the female in particular, were vibrating their whips like crazy and the female appeared to be trying to gauge the size of the male. The distance would be closed and before long the male would reach forward and it appeared like he was attempting to grab the female...who would back up and then come closer again and perhaps return the favor. Eventually, the male got nervous and retreated away to the other side of the corkbark...which was smoother and the drama started again this time with lots of pushing and shoving. While the male was the shyer of the two eventually he got boisterous enough that the female backed up. Currently they are whips length of each other occasionally opening there pedipalps.

 

[dtknow]

This morning they were still going at it. I found them side by side caressing each other with their whips, and face to face with the male appearing to try open the females pedipalps on a few occasions. But everything looks very peaceful, a bit less animated than yesterday. I came back and found a spermatophore deposited. I wisht I was able to see the actual deposition and guiding. I suspect he probably deposited it, unhooked one of the female's pedipalps and like two people walking hand in hand guided her over it.

How long is it in between matings typically? I want to see the actual deposition and apparently they did it in the daytime so no need to stay up late.

 

[dtknow]

The new couple enjoying each other's company. you can see the spermatophore a little ways above the male.

Closeup of male

female up close

 

[lucanidae]

Seems like everything is going well! You'll probably see 4-6 spermatophore stalks left over, than you'll know the male has definitely done his job and you can rehouse him if you'd like, sometimes the females get randomly aggressive in the weeks after mating.

 

[JesseD]

dtknow,

I could be totally wrong, but yes the pedipalps do look exactly the same in that picture. Those are boths males. Not male and female. Female's palps are half the size. I just hope I am wrong for your sake.

 

[dtknow]

JesseD: The top one is a female, according to a very reliable source. Notice how much larger she is, and also that her palps are much bulkier than the males. At this size, a male's pedipalps would extend far past the first pair of walking legs. Her abdomen is also squared off at the rear, as opposed to pointed like the male. As far as I can see the spermatophore has been accepted, so I'm sure it is a pair.

lucanidae: Yes, will do. They are now hanging out side by side and the female is much more active than she was previously. Now she waves her whips around to find the male. The male seems to be doing these flexing/stretching pedipalp workouts...look real weird!

 

[JesseD]

Oh ok. Sorry my mistake. It's just my male was actually bigger than my female I had. What was really neat is that they hung out together often in a 33 gal tank full of big cork bark pieces.

 

[dtknow]

Yeah. They seem quite affectionate actually.

how long from mating til eggs are produced?

 

[JesseD]

I think it was about month. If was over a year ago. I'd say don't worry about it right now. I was surprised how easy it was. Just don't let the temp go below 70 and not above 80, keep em very humid and feed the female well. GUTLOAD THOSE CRICKETS!

 

[dtknow]

Yeah. Thefemale could care less but I've seen the male visiting the water dish multiple times.

 

[Zman16]

How big is the cage your keeping them in?

 

[JesseD]

I kept them in a 33 gal. A friend of mine bred them just fine in a 15 gal. I think it's as long as they have enough space to move around, hunt and maybe get some space from each other if needed they do quite well. My key factors seem to be the humidity, temperature and food. I think I had 42 babies the first time around. Then the second time maybe about 5-6 months later gave me 26, but the female died soon after. I guess she was old.

 

[dtknow]

Someone on here knows of one that has lived for 15 years and was imported as an adult. Perhaps they need to be rested between breedings?

Mine are in a 2.5 gallon critter keeper.

 

[Zman16]

Is it possible to have a pair of Damon diadema in a 2.5 gallon? If so I'm getting two.