How big should my Xenesthis sp blue female be in order to mate)

[Roger Gan]

She just molted a month ago and is around 4.5 inches so what's the proper size for it to mate?

 

[l4nsky]

Typically you'll want a female to be about 75% full grown in order to have decent odds at an eggsack, but technically they're mature when the spermatheca becomes darkened and sclerotized. I don't have experience breeding Xenesthis sp, but if I was going to, then 4.5" DLS seems a bit too small to me. I'd probably wait until 5.75" DLS minimum, but I feel like I'd have better odds at 6.25"+ DLS.

Edit: Spelling

 

[cold blood]

its spermatheca need to be sclerotized.

 

[heiwut819]

Spermatheca on their ~6" molt are not sclerotized yet, so anything below 6" I wouldn't even bother to try. Depending on how you are measuring it, 4.5" is roughly N6 (DLS fully stretched) or N7 (Legspan not fully stretched) only and not matured.

And even if the spermatheca did sclerotized, breeding young females are more likely to fail, and if it did success they tend to produce less eggs too. Not worth it especially for species like Xenesthis spp. where males can be very expensive too.

 

[cold blood]

Spermatheca on their ~6" molt are not sclerotized yet, so anything below 6" I wouldn't even bother to try. Depending on how you are measuring it, 4.5" is roughly N6 (DLS fully stretched) or N7 (Legspan not fully stretched) only and not matured.

Great info, helpful.

And even if the spermatheca did sclerotized, breeding young females are more likely to fail, and if it did success, they tend to produce less eggs too.

I don't necessarily agree with this however. In my experiences freshly matured females seem to be eager to drop sacs, in fact they are often the ones dropping phantom sacs. I have always had great success rates with young, but mature females.... especially with regards to fast growing species.

JME anyway.