- Joined
- Apr 16, 2009
- Messages
- 843
So this wee guy moulted yesterday which is surprising seen as though his last moult was mid way through January... Anyway I thought I would post some pictures of him and also show you how easy it is to sex smaller tarantulas without needing a USB microscope. All you will need to have is a digital camera (preferably with a macro setting) Although it doesn't really matter if it doesn't. This thread is just a quick pictorial to show how easy it is to sex tarantulas at smaller sizes.
First off you need to remove the moult, obviously wait until the tarantula has actually evacuated it... Its better to try and retrieve it sooner rather than later though as if it gets too dried up or dismantled by the tarantula you haven't much chance of it being any use.
Once you have got your moult out I find sometimes its easier to open the area you need to look at if you give it a light mist with a spray bottle. The area of interest is between the anterior book lungs.
The area marked in red is where the tarantulas sexual organs are, if this tarantula was female you would see a protruding flap of skin called a Spermathecae. That would indicate the tarantula is female, although as you can see on the above photo this tarantula doesn't have anything on the spot which is arrowed so therefore it is male. Here's a close up of the area below.
You'll find that even at smaller sizes this technique is fairly easy to do, this little Grammostola pulchra was just under 2.5" leg span.
And here he is now sat near his moulting mat, all he needs to do now is stretch out and harden up and he will be ready for his first meal since moulting in about a week or so.
First off you need to remove the moult, obviously wait until the tarantula has actually evacuated it... Its better to try and retrieve it sooner rather than later though as if it gets too dried up or dismantled by the tarantula you haven't much chance of it being any use.
Once you have got your moult out I find sometimes its easier to open the area you need to look at if you give it a light mist with a spray bottle. The area of interest is between the anterior book lungs.
The area marked in red is where the tarantulas sexual organs are, if this tarantula was female you would see a protruding flap of skin called a Spermathecae. That would indicate the tarantula is female, although as you can see on the above photo this tarantula doesn't have anything on the spot which is arrowed so therefore it is male. Here's a close up of the area below.
You'll find that even at smaller sizes this technique is fairly easy to do, this little Grammostola pulchra was just under 2.5" leg span.
And here he is now sat near his moulting mat, all he needs to do now is stretch out and harden up and he will be ready for his first meal since moulting in about a week or so.
