Local P. met breeding project (help needed)

[Abyss]

Cant catch her stretched out. The pic i took, speculation is between 5"-6"

IMG_0174

• Abyss
• Feb 15, 2017
• 15

If shes comfortably 4" crunched up, what do we speculate her true DLS is???
I say shes an easy...

I know/knew going into it she's young, so its feasible surely that shes a moult or 2 away from maturity. I was going from size alone as she has completly destroyed the last 2 moults

 

[Angel Minkov]

She's mature, don't worry about it. Try introducing the male into her enclosure and watch them. Be ready to intercept any defensiveness from her part. If the male is close to her, tapping, and she's either crunched up or takes a step or two towards him without vibrating, I'd intervene before she munches him, although in my experience Poecilotheria males always escape from eventual attacks.

 

[Abyss]

She's mature, don't worry about it. Try introducing the male into her enclosure and watch them. Be ready to intercept any defensiveness from her part. If the male is close to her, tapping, and she's either crunched up or takes a step or two towards him without vibrating, I'd intervene before she munches him, although in my experience Poecilotheria males always escape from eventual attacks.

Thnx!

 

[Abyss]

Welp, either tonight or tomorrow we will attempt a supervised date!!!!!.

I have our sunroom all cleaned up an the floor is completly empty. If shes not digging him and/or he just wants to bolt, theres TONS of room for him to exit her enclosure in a hurry.

Fingers crossed and will let ya know how it goes!!!

 

[Abyss]

Here we go!!!
Tonights the nite!!!!
MM owner is on the way over and his boy made a fresh sperm web last nite so at least hes ready for a date for sure. We are gonna give it a go and see what she thinks of him!!!!!

Fingers crossed we DONT need to attempt to save the male. My fear is that shes gonna lite him up good

 

[Abyss]

Also any last min advice about seperating them in an attempt to save his male if need be?
I hear alot about females munching males in general and while pokies are fairly tolerant of each other as i understand it, my biggest fear is of him defending himself and getting a good bite on her and injuring/killing her......

 

[Abyss]

Well its a no go sadly
I soeculate shes not quite mature yet perhaps?
Male went into her enclosure (we opted into leaving the lid off to give him clear escape possibility).
We all sat and watched as he started to walk the enclosure and eventually found her.
He did not drum or show any signs of interest in her (he just climbed on her and around her then wandered off).
She never even flinched so to me, she didn't seem bothered by him one way or the other.
We collected the male once he re-exited her enclosure and i advised the VERY nice owners to check here for sale/loan possibilities for their MM while we wait for her to moult again (and hipefully not mutilate the exo so i can hopefully confirm maturity).

Thanks to everyone who commented, I really appreciate all the ideas/advice.
@Trenor
@Haksilence
@louise f
@Angel Minkov
@Blue Jaye
@EulersK
@viper69
@Christian Jocson
@Andrea82
If i missed anyone, i apologize and thank you as well for the help/advice!!!

Maybe after a moult or 2 i can find her another date w/more success!!!!!!

 

[Trenor]

Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you man. Give her another molt and check it good to see if she is ready.

I hope they do find another breeder to make use of that male. We need more of theses in the hobby.

 

[Abyss]

Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you man. Give her another molt and check it good to see if she is ready.

I hope they do find another breeder to make use of that male. We need more of theses in the hobby.

100% agreed and its all good, was a very informative and fun experience and now i feel far better prepaired for future attempts w/ her having had everyones support and advice
Now im pretty pumped about seeing what the future holds for this gorgeous girl!!!!

 

[Haksilence]

i think you should have given a bit more time. peocilotheria are notoriously bad with their horridly long courting, which is why a lot of people cohab. i think @cold blood actually said he hasnt seen a Poecilotheria pairing yet (maybe thinking of someone else) despite having produced a few sacs. At her size there is no doubt she was mature. all in all the experience was undoubtedly important and glad to hear you got to try your hand at it!

 

[cold blood]

I've only recently begun pairing poecs....very often I find the female very interested, bobbing and acting noticeably excited....If I don't see this, I try again at a later date. If I do, and usually I have, then I co-hab for the night and remove in the am. I've spend lots of time watching, and saw a lot of courtship, but never the actual act. I am certain my vitatta and at least one of my regalis are gravid....Ive never seen pokies so fat in such a manner.

Usually in the am the male is on the opposite side and ready to go back home...or at least get out of her home.

 

[Abyss]

i think you should have given a bit more time. peocilotheria are notoriously bad with their horridly long courting, which is why a lot of people cohab. i think @cold blood actually said he hasnt seen a Poecilotheria pairing yet (maybe thinking of someone else) despite having produced a few sacs. At her size there is no doubt she was mature. all in all the experience was undoubtedly important and glad to hear you got to try your hand at it!

Got ya, perhaps i should have let them spend the nite then lol. I guess i figured no matter her interest lvl, at least he would have drummed especially being soooo close to her. To be honest, since he didnt drum and she didnt do anything i was afraid she wasnt rdy and wouod be lunch if i lsdt them unsupervised lol

 

[Abyss]

I've only recently begun pairing poecs....very often I find the female very interested, bobbing and acting noticeably excited....If I don't see this, I try again at a later date. If I do, and usually I have, then I co-hab for the night and remove in the am. I've spend lots of time watching, and saw a lot of courtship, but never the actual act. I am certain my vitatta and at least one of my regalis are gravid....Ive never seen pokies so fat in such a manner.

Usually in the am the male is on the opposite side and ready to go back home...or at least get out of her home.

Thnx for the info sir

 

[Haksilence]

Got ya, perhaps i should have let them spend the nite then lol. I guess i figured no matter her interest lvl, at least he would have drummed especially being soooo close to her. To be honest, since he didnt drum and she didnt do anything i was afraid she wasnt rdy and wouod be lunch if i lsdt them unsupervised lol

ive seen this quite a bit and it seems to be just a stressed male. sometimes they just need a few minutes to settle in tot he females enclosure before they notice and get to work. for example, with S calc the male didnt start drumming for almost an hour. he huddled in the corner balled up and once he felt a little more comfortable he went exploring and started doing his thing. patients is the most important tool in this hobby

 

[Abyss]

ive seen this quite a bit and it seems to be just a stressed male. sometimes they just need a few minutes to settle in tot he females enclosure before they notice and get to work. for example, with S calc the male didnt start drumming for almost an hour. he huddled in the corner balled up and once he felt a little more comfortable he went exploring and started doing his thing. patients is the most important tool in this hobby

Being my 1st attwmpt i just didnt wanna risk the MM as it wasnt my spider so i maybe did "give up" too soon lol. I will be more bold w/ a cohab next time im sure and feel alot more confident in trying again now that i have gather alot of ya'lls info/experience!!!

 

[Haksilence]

Being my 1st attwmpt i just didnt wanna risk the MM as it wasnt my spider so i maybe did "give up" too soon lol. I will be more bold w/ a cohab next time im sure and feel alot more confident in trying again now that i have gather alot of ya'lls info/experience!!!

yeah i definitely understand that feeling. i didnt make my first pairing until i owned the pair myself. it is unnerving

 

[Angel Minkov]

What relevance does the female's maturity have to the male's reluctance to tap? Just because HE didn't want to tap does not mean SHE wasn't mature. Take him out and try tomorrow.

 

[Abyss]

What relevance does the female's maturity have to the male's reluctance to tap? Just because HE didn't want to tap does not mean SHE wasn't mature. Take him out and try tomorrow.

I was simply operating on the assumption that if he was picking up on her maturity, he'd have tried. It was a 1st attempt and since neither showed any signs of being "happy in the same room" i thought it best to give him back and let the owners try again elsewhere.
Perhaps i gave up to quickly sure. But thats the course of events and as i said, next time im sure i can be more bold now that its not completly brand new to me

 

[Angel Minkov]

Poecilotheria males sometimes need hours to start tapping, hence why if I don't have the patience I just leave the male in the female's enclosure before I even see anything. Did it once with a C. elegans male, quite recently actually. He never wanted to tap, even though I offered him 2 different females, one 100% mature. Left him in with the larger female and he disappeared after around a month or two. Fingers crossed he paired up before dying/becoming a meal.

 

[Trenor]

I got my MM P.fasciata in on Thursday. I housed him up beside my female (who I have been feeding heavily) that night. I didn't notice anything Friday or Saturday but last night he was tapping. She was out and two other mature females were out as well. I almost put him in last night but work comes early so I decided to wait till I had more time. One of those (0.1 P.reduncus) I've only seen a few times since I bought her. The other was an 0.1 P.cam. The way they both were acting I need to hunt down a MM for each of them too.

In this case it seemed like it took a day or two to get going, but it seems safe to say love is in the air in my T room ATM.