Can Mature Males Be Neutered?

mrbonzai211

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
534
I just had a thought and I was wondering what people thought......

Ok so as most people know, testosterone is a poison that attacks a creatures body and effectives the longevity of the creature (and yes that includes humans too). In every species, males always have shorter life spans because of the tole testosterone takes on the body. Tarantulas seem to be greatly effected by the appearance of male sexual organs and the injection of testosterone in the body. What I'm thinking is that would removing the boxing gloves from a male tarantula increase its life expectancy? I know it would be a painful and possibly dangerous procedure for both the tarantula and yourself, especially if you don't have a readily available method of closing the wound, but it would possibly save that T's life. If it is something that works, I would definitely do it to my T's because I would honestly say that the temporary pain would be worth the life of my T's.
 

mitchell123

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 9, 2007
Messages
156
lol , it's not just his box gloves but also his mind is set too mate with a female ,how would you feel like if i cut off your *** cause it makes you live longer :razz: spiders do a have brain lob thingy :p
 

mrbonzai211

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
534
We do it to our cats and dogs, and even humans (like eunuchs from ancient egypt). While it's still wired in their brains, the loss of the testes does seem to remove all sexual desire from all those I listed.

I'm not really asking about the morality, or the effects it will have on their sexual desire. I'm just asking will it, or will it not, expand the life of a tarantula.
 

Hedorah99

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
1,863
Tarantulas are not cats or dogs. Removing the palps is also not removing the sexual organs. Those are still located internally, the palps are just the means of the T inserting sperm into the females reproductive organs, also located internally. Its just a fact of life, male T's have a shorter lifespan. They either die trying to mate, die mating, or die after mating. Pretty much when they hook out, they are living on borrowed time.
 

By-Tor

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 18, 2006
Messages
149
this may be a long shot, but my sperm is made in my testes...and isn't there sperm from that extra little set of spinnerettes? so to be "neutering" said tarantula wouldn't you have to remove those? or is the testosterone created somewhere else in the body? Just a bit of thought...
 

mrbonzai211

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
534
this may be a long shot, but my sperm is made in my testes...and isn't there sperm from that extra little set of spinnerettes? so to be "neutering" said tarantula wouldn't you have to remove those? or is the testosterone created somewhere else in the body? Just a bit of thought...
Yeah, I'm not very knowledgeable with tarantula sexual anatomy.... which is part of the reason why I'm asking this. Plus, I have a suspicion that my girlfriend's avic is a male and I don't want her to lose him. I won't be able to properly sex him until the next molt, but I'm crossing my fingers for a female.
 

pitbulllady

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
May 1, 2004
Messages
2,290
The testes of a male tarantula are located within its abdominal cavity, not within its spinnerettes or pedipalps. It would be impossible to perform intra-abdominal invasive surgery on a spider without killing it. The pedipalps are simply a means of getting sperm into the female, but they do not produce the sperm or the testosterone. What would be the point in killing an animal to try and increase its lifespan?

I've had LOTS of experience with various "higher" animals, and I've seen absolutely NO evidence that castration increases their lifespans, other than it might reduce the urge to do things that might get the animal killed prematurely in the first place. I've had intact male dogs live for over 15 years, and these were large dogs, not Toy breeds. That's longer than average for large-breed dogs, intact or otherwise. With cats, neutered males tend to have more health issues, especially with regards to their kidneys and bladder, than intact male cats, but it's nearly impossible to live with an intact male cat indoors, and I don't keep cats outside. Neutering animals is done primarily for three reasons-it makes it easier for them to live with us and easier to control(especially in the case of large hoofed animals), or makes them more fit to EAT, and it eliminates unwanted litters in animals that are allowed to roam at large. Basically, each animal is genetically coded to live for a given amount of time, though factors like food and environment can shorten this span, or allow it to progress to its fullest. Once that lifespan is reached, the animal dies, whether it's neutered or not, whether it's male or female. Female animals of most species don't live any longer than males, so implicating testosterone in the shortened male lifespan doesn't make sense.

pitbulllady
 

Parahybana3590

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
162
Yeah, I'm not very knowledgeable with tarantula sexual anatomy.... which is part of the reason why I'm asking this. Plus, I have a suspicion that my girlfriend's avic is a male and I don't want her to lose him. I won't be able to properly sex him until the next molt, but I'm crossing my fingers for a female.
get her a mature female to mate with the male
 

Thoth

Arachnopharoah
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 9, 2005
Messages
1,321
you could always gut load the crickets with estrogen pills (Premarin et c) and then feed them to your t to chemically castrate him. :eek:
 

LeilaNami

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 8, 2006
Messages
2,164
Think if it this way, your body still produces all these hormones and your testes are where you'd expect but your ***** is on your face and you have two of them....That's what I think of the palps on a T. ;P It's only a means of transporting sperm to the female much like a human ***** but if you cut them off, your body still produces sperm that has no where to go as well as hormones.
 

mrbonzai211

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
534
Just to save people fro, saying the same thing over and over. My curiosity has been fulfilled. Thank you everyone for your help


***END OF THREAD***
 

Merfolk

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Messages
1,323
Hell no, I think it's a cool idea.... well, pretty hard to acheive indeed, as clearly stated by pitbulllady...

But, I have to ad:

-Sexuality doesn't cause or prevent death in other animals, but in male T's, the body and behavior changes endured to enable it are direct cause of the death. Because, if it stayed in its immature stage forever, it'd live long as well.

- We are not even sure if testosterone is the hormone responsible for this, we and spiders are to far apart to be sure.

Even if we can "castrate" a male T succesfully, nothing's garanted about the outcome. Perhaps what kills males is colateral to sexuality and not affected by the removal of sexual hormones.
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
i would think the chemical neutering would be the way to go

i'm actually really curious about what the possibilities are in that regard.

it would go great with my plan to figure out how to keep cats as kittens their whole (or most, rather) life

Neoteny For Sale
 
Top