How can u tell if a T is mature or not?

[TigerWoman]

Could someone please tell me this! Haven`t cuite figured that out jet....:?

 

[mebebraz]

uh, the way he/she stands there with his/her hands on his/her hips......=D
I do know that when the male matures, it hooks out, not sure on females yet......after a few more posts on this thread though, i think ill know.

 

[jwb121377]

With females it can be tricky. The only sure fire ways is to have a shed skin of the tarantula, and even then you have to know what to look for. If you have mature male you find find out that way, by puting him in with the female. Or if she lays eggs (gravid) then she's mature. If you have the tarantulas keepers guide you can use it for further info, or Taratulas and othe arachnids by Marshall.
For males the boxing gloves on the pedipals. Tibal hooks is another thing to look for.

I know it's not much help, but it's not a cut and dry question. Maybe someone else may have a better reply for you.

 

[Code Monkey]

Actually the shed skin won't tell you thing with a female that just looking at her won't. The spermathecae are visible in the shed skin long, long before they're mature.

Females undergo less distinctive changes upon maturity. A mature female is evidenced by full sclerotization of the lips of the genital opening at the epigastric furrow. A mature female will have what appears to be black plastic lips on the bottom of her abdomen between the opening of the anterior set of book lungs. This is really the only distinctive character that you can use.

Unfortunately, being mature for females does not necessarily mean they are breedable. You usually have to use a little guess work taking size and sclerotized genital lips into account to determine that.

Males the palps and hooks for the majority of them, along with the color change for some, and extra legginess of many are all pretty tell tale.

 

[Botar]

For the species with tibial spurs, determining the maturity of the male is fairly easy... if you can get a good look at him. The tibial spurs are small hooks under the first set of legs. You'll be able to find pictures on this forum with the search tool. As far as I know, all males will have the "boxing gloves" on the ends of their pedipalps when mature. This is what I'm currently waiting for on my T. blondi that I was able to sex via it's exuvium.

As for females, sexual maturity is much different. Most people go by size/age of the T itself. If the description of the T species indicates it will reach 5" on average and your T is 5" w/o tibial hooks or "boxing gloves" on the ends of it's pedipalps, then it is most likely a mature female. Sex can be determined fairly easily in a large T from it's exuvium. I say "easily" because I have done it and I'm not an expert by any means. I'm not certain if maturity can be determined in the same manner though. Pictures to assist you with sexing by the shed can also be found using the search forum. I'm not trying to be rude by pointing you in that direction, I just don't know how to post a link to the threads... perhaps we'll both learn something in this thread from the more experienced.

Botar

Edit: Looks like you beat me to it CM... if I'd known you were on, I'd have waited for your reply.

 

[Code Monkey]

Originally posted by Botar
Edit: Looks like you beat me to it CM... if I'd known you were on, I'd have waited for your reply.

Hey, nothing wrong with others contributing, I could have been on but been too busy railing against emotional, kneejerk reactions in the watering hole to answer