Breeding Ts - a beginner's adventure...

[skadiwolf]

okay guys...now, i've heard that T. blondi have like 50 eggs that end up being 1" slings. this sounds fantastic. however, i don't want to breed them because of several reasons.

so...i ask these questions:

1. what is a good, beginner T to breed (easy) that is also docile and ideally doesn't lay 5000 eggs? (the less the better really i suppose)

2. what are your best suggestions for safely breeding Ts?

3. what are your best suggestions for caring for eggsacks effectively?

4. what are your best suggestions for separating eggs/slings and at what point would you do this?

i basically know nothing about breeding Ts but have heard it is a very rewarding and satisfying venture. i want to make sure i can find out all i can before doing this, so don't worry, i'm not leaping into it. i plan to do a LOT more reading/research. however, personal experience from this board i find invaluable at times.

i look forward to sharing in the wealth of your personal knowledge!!!

 

[Buspirone]

1. what is a good, beginner T to breed (easy) that is also docile and ideally doesn't lay 5000 eggs? (the less the better really i suppose)

I havn't bred any Ts yet but based on what you are looking for I'd lean toward Avicularia sp. or Brachypelma sp. I can't add anything as far as your other questions except to wish you luck

 

[Jeff_C]

skadiwolf,

based on my readings here I would have to say A avic. because of the average temperment and their acceptance of communal living.

some one else will have to chime in on the number of eggs in a sac but I dont think it's too many...plus you can always share with the rest of us

Jeff

 

[moorehed]

i think that most avics are somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-100 slings per eggsack on average.

 

[Charlie]

breeding

I have been mating my male and female rose hairs for a while now. It is my first attempt at breeding and I can tell you some of the major tips that I picked up in my research before I started.

1. Remove all food items from the cage where you want your T's to do the deed.

2. When you introduce the two, keep a piece of cardboard handy for seperating the two if things get nasty.

3. work with a docile breed first. I would hate to have to try and seperate a couple of baboon spiders on my first try for breeding.

That is as far as I have gotten. I have not gotten a sac yet although I am 99% sure that my rosie is pregnant. She has gotten a lot bigger and I have noticed that she is drinking a lot more water and eats every time I put crickets in the cage. She used to go on these 2 or 3 months fasts but not anymore.

From what I understand she could make a sac any time now.

I hope this was helpfull. I dont know much but these is just some of what I was told.

-Charlie

 

[Static_69]

i would have to say A. avic or G. rosea...but i've never bred before so maybe i don't know what i'm talking about.




Risto

 

[RugbyDave]

Hey skadi!!


Well, breedings the same with every T, so there's not one thats 'easier' per se, but i'd go with avics.

I've gotten anywhere from 50 to about 110 slings, but i think they can go up to 125?... sometimes you'll only get a couple, depending on how you do it (take it away from the mother/leave it/etc..). I say that because all could go well, you get the eggsac, and then 2 weeks into your incubation, the eggsac hits the substrate without you knowing it and like 90% of the eggs mold, so...

but generally i'd say about the 50-75 range is a solid average number for avic slings.....

I think the problem with the rosea is getting an eggsac? I've tried breeding my roseas and only got 1 eggsac ever. Maybe its just me, but from what i hear/read/see, its not as easy to get an eggsac from a rosea as you'd think. I'm not too too sure, though....

It really sounds and looks more daunting than it is, though!

its a really good experience, and if youreally get into this whole thing, its a really good way to start supplying yourself and other people with some pretty cool slings.

great fun too!

as for suggestions, i notice alot of disparity between people's views. Some people put the male in the females tank. Some people put the female in the males tank. Some people put the male in the females tank for a week or so (the male in a deli cup) so the female can get "used" to the male.

Me, I just bring the male into the females cage and let the drumming commence. I haven't had any problems yet, either. Everyone's got their own reasons, so you gotta find something that makes sense to you and then go with it.

make sure the female is fed fully before hand, and i'm definately down with the different-food deal. I start feeding my female different food items maybe 6 months before i breed her.. roaches, crickets, mice, some kind of worm, anoles... different nutrition you know.

as for the eggsac, it's pretty simple too!
I've learned this nylon-stocking method:
take the deli cup or whatever, put some substrate in there (damp obviously, but not WET), stretch a nylon stocking over the deli cup, put the eggsac INTO the nylon (so its like a hammock) and the eggsac will drop to the middle of the deli cup, halfway between the substrate and the top. Then place another nylon-stocking over the top (so no mites or bugs can get in) and then either put the lid back on, or leave it open.

keep it warm (i usually top off around 78), and turn it a couple times every day. This mimics the mothers kneading and turning of the eggsac.

do make sure the cage is clean prior to the eggsac being made.

and as for opening the eggsac, for avics, i'd say around 45-50 days, but it REALLY depends on the environmental conditions. You just have to open at, maybe, 45 days and see where they're at.. if they're still developing, close it back up and try again a couple days later.

try searching through the forums, there's a couple of good resources here!

* not edited for typos *

peace
dave

 

[Brandon]

I don’t know if people touched on this are not, but what is exactly safety when breeding tarantulas? I think it’s a huge misconception that female tarantulas are out to get male tarantulas. IV breed allot of tarantulas and only ever lost one male (Thanks Holley ) Safety...... I really don’t think there is ever such a thing, you can take precautions but 95% of the time the female will ignore him, breed to him or just chase him away. To avoid harsh contact just feed the female a day before breeding. If a female tarantula really wants to eat a male there is almost nothing you can do to stop her.

Sincerely,

Brandon

 

[RugbyDave]

Its true

and depending on what position the 2 Ts are in, you may have NO time to get in there to separate them..

i think that most people who lose male Ts have it happen BEFORE breeding, when the female isn't randy, and she just wants a meal.

from what i've heard in person and read on this forum, its always been "well, we put him in there and that was that." But even then, that rarely happens...

the males are usually pretty good and beating a hasty retreat.

peace
dave

 

[Brandon]

This is true, iv never really worried about a male, just make sure the female is feed put him in and that should be that. Best of luck to ya

Sincerely,

Brandon

 

[Mister Internet]

skadi,

There have been dozens of threads on breeding/eggsacs/mating in the past months... try using the forums search function and reading up on past threads. Since there is such a huge amount of information on it, maybe it would be better if you had specific questions instead of just an omnibus request for all possible info... most people aren't terribly excited about writing 4 pages in response to a post that may have been covered before, but everyone here would answer specific questions, I have no doubt. Good luck...

 

[skadiwolf]

that's true...sorry for the vast requests.

okay, mister, what do you think are good to breed?

hmmm...A. avics are awesome, but adults are SOoOOo expensive. (sigh) guess it'll be a bit longer than i thought.

thanks guys!

 

[RugbyDave]

expensive?

i just shipped 2 avics that i bought for $10 a piece!!
Although i suppose it depends on what you consider 'expensive', but $10-$15 to me isnt expensive. I'm sure stors near you sell them for cheap.. but again, i suppose it depends on what you consider "expensive"

hell, Petcos sell em for under $20

in fact, i'm gonna PM you -- check it.

peace
dave

 

[skadiwolf]

no no noooo, it's me, the moron.

i was thinking of A. versicolor as drool flooded down my chin is all. (grin)

i got an A. avic that i maybe paid $30 for...so worry not...lol.

i think i'll have some more caffiene...or something...yeah. (slaps self awake)

 

[RugbyDave]

haha its cool..
i was gonna say..

peace
dave

 

[skadiwolf]

pity, take pity... :8o

hopefully i've shown that even in just the month i've liked and owned Ts i know quite a bit more about them than to make such a stupid mistake.

i hope...arrggh. gods i feel dumb now. time for cheesecake!

 

[Mister Internet]

Originally posted by skadiwolf
that's true...sorry for the vast requests.

okay, mister, what do you think are good to breed?

NO problems, I'm just here to help people learn how to use the forums more efficiently...

I don't do T's, I only have one. I was just suggesting about forum use, mainly...

 

[dandare500]

Hi I have just mated my lividum and what gentle lovers they were, he held no fear and both females ignored him until he chased them. I have been told now that I need a dry season to get an eggsac which can take 6 months. I just wanted to say about the g rosea egg sac that I'm pretty sure they need a wet season to produce. I know that b abiloposum and b vagans etc need one and the recommended way to achieve this is to pour in a specified amount of water and flood the tank. This was talked about in detail on the BTS website www.thebts.co.uk So as you see there can be a bit of science involved, or is it geography? Hope this gets your mind going! Dan

 

[Garrick]

Hi Skadi!

G. rosea is pretty easy to mate, but the trouble is getting an eggsac. I've heard that they need a cool period during our summer, that they need a wet period, and a few other suppositions. However, I've paired 5 or 6 couples of that species under varying conditions. Two laid a sac, and they both happened to be red phase and recently imported. I don't think the captive mating induced their actions. Also, both of the sacs failed to hatch. Both mothers hardly webbed them up, and didn't tend to them at all.
I share Stan Shultz's opinion that VERY few G. rosea are actually captive bred. Most that are for sale as CB are quite possibly the results of mating in the wild.
In any case, they do "it" like rabbits, so they're a good one to watch if you want a species that'll mate on the coffee table while you have company over
On the downside, you need a separate container for the male and the female, as the girls get snappy toward the boys after the act.

If you want some to mate and actually get babies, go with A. avic or P. murinus. You can just leave the male with the female. Make sure they're well-fed, take the boy out after a week or three, and voila. I've only lost one P. murinus male that way, and he had already successfully mated with three females and was old. I've never lost a male Avic to a female, and one even made her sac while he still lived in there.
The only problems I've had breeding those two species is when the female was too far along in her molt cycle. They mated, but no eggs. Just make sure the female molted a couple months previous to pairing them.
For some breeding of those two species, I actually wrote down dates of things that happened, and what the temps were, how many babies, etc.
Browse around my site at
eight
and there's a little bit of info on breeding there.

Hope that helps,

Garrick