Cobalt Blue Color?

[kitty_b]

I've gotten the impression from pictures that the females exhibit the blue, while the males tend to remain brown/black.

my unsexed yearling was finally identifiable as a coblat blue after its last molt. (it had an identity crisis... i bought it for $10 from a pet store... it had only 6 legs, and acted arboreal.) it appeared lighter, almost smokey blue when it molted. it's now become darker, but when i took a picture with my flash it came out blue in the photo.

is it still possible that this little baby is a female? here's the picture, for reference.

http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j211/kitty_b/Tarantulas/?action=view&current=Blue23-27-06.jpg

:wall:

 

[Windchaser]

Both male and female H. lividum are blue. It is only after reaching maturity that a male will be more brown or gray. Based purely on the picture that you posted it is impossible to say if you have a male or a female. Also, the colors will darken as it nears a molt. In addition, the lighting that you are looking at it under will effect how blue they appear.

 

[kitty_b]

that makes me feel better. i'll watch for its next molt (as i would anyway) and hopefully that will shed more light on this little one's ambiguity!

 

[The Juice]

Thats a good price you paid for it even if it is missing legs.

 

[kitty_b]

yeah, it was a steal. the shop was a fish shop, and not very knowledgeable. they thought it grew to, like, a foot, so it could "eat birds." and despire only being about 2" in legspan, they had put it in a 2 gallon critter keeper.

it's legs were back after a single molt (which surprised me... i expected it to grow back in stages, like my baby b. smiti), and it's never shown any problems.

now if i could only ask it why it spent the first 6 months making a tunnel web up the side of its cage.... even my ornamental baboons are too lazy to build one of those!