- Joined
- Jun 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,381
BTW ...I realize that there is more than one camp here on the true spiders forum ...and that I have been posting a bunch (here and at VL). If any of you feel I have reached the level of "post hog", just say the word ...or PM me. 
This girl is one of five hesps that I collected locally (my yard infact) which I have called my "Gamma" line. I have kept three, passed on 1 and one died(propably poisoned yard cricket) . I have to conclude that all of these are from the same line or are very closely related. My yard has a tall cinderblock fence ...new blood gets in, but I am sure its a trickle compared to what would happen if the fence wasnt there. I have to also conclude that these more colorful girls are part of or closely related to the much more common huge, deep black (and no red dorsal markings) girls that share my yard with them. I call the BBWs my Alpha line ...and have reduced my keepers of that line to a special few. I have seen hundreds of the BBWs this last year, but only 5 of the smaller, browns with markings after maturity...all 5 were of course collected. Even though these girls maintain a significantly lighter color abdomen w/dorsal markings well after final molt, they do tend to loose vibrance over time. This girl has held on to her markings very well ...more than the other two. Regarding the other two, one was WCG and the other i mated with a nicely marked "oddball" male. I was hoping to use a male sibling from that pairing to mate this one, but I have greatly neglected my hesps and somhow have not ended up with a male ...actually did raise a couple, but they ended up not so special. So, she has been put on hold until the perfect boy came my way. BTW...I am only assuming that the look and feel of the male will factor into things. It may not work out that way. Im no genetics expert...thats for sure. But, the fun is in the trying..I always say.
Heres the female...
This pic sorta s*cks, but I wanted to show her nice chevron(proper term?)
This male was a surprise find ...collected about three feet from outside my studio/spider room door! I spotted, what I thought to be a very richly marked sub-adult female. She was a he and I realized so after he molted after a good feeding. This male is huge...but not my largest. I have a much larger boy awaiting, but he is not nearly this dark and beautiful. But, look at him ...he does not look like an adult male hesp...yes his markings do, but his shape is more like a variolus male. He stopped eating and began rushing the lid, but he never slimmed down like most hesp males do. I was actually surpised to see him start his dance when introduced to the female ...I thought he must have another molt to go.
Look at how much he wrapped her up! He had to do so several times before she stopped panicking and kicking his webbing off.
I have seen a couple males get snared up in their own webbing when female throws it off like this. Missing limbs seems to be the result! This boy was smart and knew when to stay and when to go.
Ok...now for the more juicy bits...
The male survived the encounter without a scratch. :Rockon:
This girl is one of five hesps that I collected locally (my yard infact) which I have called my "Gamma" line. I have kept three, passed on 1 and one died(propably poisoned yard cricket) . I have to conclude that all of these are from the same line or are very closely related. My yard has a tall cinderblock fence ...new blood gets in, but I am sure its a trickle compared to what would happen if the fence wasnt there. I have to also conclude that these more colorful girls are part of or closely related to the much more common huge, deep black (and no red dorsal markings) girls that share my yard with them. I call the BBWs my Alpha line ...and have reduced my keepers of that line to a special few. I have seen hundreds of the BBWs this last year, but only 5 of the smaller, browns with markings after maturity...all 5 were of course collected. Even though these girls maintain a significantly lighter color abdomen w/dorsal markings well after final molt, they do tend to loose vibrance over time. This girl has held on to her markings very well ...more than the other two. Regarding the other two, one was WCG and the other i mated with a nicely marked "oddball" male. I was hoping to use a male sibling from that pairing to mate this one, but I have greatly neglected my hesps and somhow have not ended up with a male ...actually did raise a couple, but they ended up not so special. So, she has been put on hold until the perfect boy came my way. BTW...I am only assuming that the look and feel of the male will factor into things. It may not work out that way. Im no genetics expert...thats for sure. But, the fun is in the trying..I always say.
Heres the female...
This pic sorta s*cks, but I wanted to show her nice chevron(proper term?)
This male was a surprise find ...collected about three feet from outside my studio/spider room door! I spotted, what I thought to be a very richly marked sub-adult female. She was a he and I realized so after he molted after a good feeding. This male is huge...but not my largest. I have a much larger boy awaiting, but he is not nearly this dark and beautiful. But, look at him ...he does not look like an adult male hesp...yes his markings do, but his shape is more like a variolus male. He stopped eating and began rushing the lid, but he never slimmed down like most hesp males do. I was actually surpised to see him start his dance when introduced to the female ...I thought he must have another molt to go.
Look at how much he wrapped her up! He had to do so several times before she stopped panicking and kicking his webbing off.
I have seen a couple males get snared up in their own webbing when female throws it off like this. Missing limbs seems to be the result!
This boy was smart and knew when to stay and when to go.
Ok...now for the more juicy bits...
The male survived the encounter without a scratch. :Rockon:
