At that size for a female, it should have either a fully develop spermathecae or close to a fully developed one. I'm guessing the male is mature based on that size?? But I can't say the female is ready, unless her spermathecae is fully developed. But I recommend them both to be atleast close to the same size before breeding.Hello,
im about to try pairing my G. Pulchripes. Male is 14cm long and Female 12.5cm.
will that be okay ? or i shouldn't mate them ?
Thank you
If the op means DLS with these sizes males do get longer legs and can grow to about 20cm
Males are leggy for G. pulchripes, as what you stated. But I have never seen a 20cm MM G. pulchripes in person before. Most MM G. pulchripes average from 5.5''-6'' (14cm-15.25cm). Even a 7'' MM is quite the size for them. Even my G. pulchripes MM was only 5.75'' (around 14.5 cm). I didn't say that they have to be close to the same size to breed. I just "recommended" it. But as I already stated, spermathecae development is what is important for the female to determine maturity.
Probs better the male is bigger it should have more of chance of survival
what's the sign of fully developed spermatheca ?
A good sign is a fully formed flap (spermathecae) on a molt. If you can find her last molt and check her spermathecae it should be one flap. The best I can explain it is that most young female tarantulas will have a two small flaps, and as they mature the flap infuses becoming one sing flap.
I see, but i just bought this a couple days ago, i dont have the skin.
Well..... that ventral looks to be the female?? If it is the female, then you can't breed her like that just yet. You really need to feed her a lot before introducing the male. Because if you don't, she is going to eat him for a snack during breeding. The only way to know now is to try to breed them, to see if she is responsive to the male. But you really got to feed her, That abdomen is way too skinny for breeding. I would legit feed her like 2-4 large female dubias before trying to breed her.
Noted, will do thank you so much for your advices. Cheers mate, will update with the result.
Also the spermacethae will be darkened.
Never have I seen MM pulchripes even close to that size...MMs do not reach the sizes females do generally.
Even that would be an unusually large MM.
That's not how it works.
They will be darkened, the term is sclerotized.
This will give no indication of maturity.
I know just a joke BTW lol
Thank you for replying. Is there anyway i can know she is ready for pairing by now ?
Yap planning to pair em in next two weeks
No, you cannot. Spermecathae are only visible in the molt. What you see on the outside is the epigastric furrow.
Why rush?
You cannot present this statement as fact. There is always a risk to either spider in a pairing... being larger than the female does not automatically make the male safe, nor does being smaller than the male automatically make the female at risk.
You are pushing this unnecessarily and you could end up with a dead male. Mature males of this species last a long time and, while it is better to breed a 'fresh' male, he won't be any use to you later on if he's dead. Waiting until the female moults, confirming that she is in fact mature, and ensuring that she won't moult before laying an egg sac is important with this species. This is not a species who lays an egg sac six weeks after pairing like some species.