Monocentropus balfouri

[JoeRossi]

Unsuccessful

Breeding : Took place on 2-22-2010

Female and Male were set up in a divided 10 gallon aquarium with a tunnel at he top large enough for the male to retreat back to one side and breed when he wanted too. The pair breeded several times and cohabitated.

The female had a sac and I noticed she started a loud hissing any time I came near her area (have to add water to the water dish to keep humidity up.) She ate her sac yesterday.




Would love to see some sucess in the U.S. please

 

[AlainL]

No idea why I never posted a report here:? This is actually a old breeding project and it was SUCCESSFUL I believe it was a first in America.

The male reached maturity the 1st of December 2008. I introduced him to the young female(about a year old) on 2 occasions, first time was the 17th of December 2008, and second time was the 24th, I left him in the female terrarium for 24 hours both times. Mating went very smoothly, no aggression at all from the female and they were both very receptive. My terrarium was about 18"x12"x12" and I had around 10" of substrate, a mix of coco fiber and sand that I kept extremely dry at all time, I made sure the water dish was always full and the female was fed on a regular basis(2 times a week). temperature was around 25 Celsius and air was dry, around 30-40%.

The sac was laid sometime in March of 2009, and the baby's came out on the 11th of April I took them out right away. final count was 23.

Sorry for my bad english I hope everyone understand the report anyway

If anyone have any questions, contact me by pm!

Thanks!

Alain

 

[Scarab]

Breeding Monocentropus balfouri

Hi all.

From reading a few comments elsewhere on this forum, and in fear of cluttering that thread with "off topic" comments, I decided to post some info in this thread. It would be great if you share what you experience and use this thread to get breeding blue Baboons...

I have already posted this info on another forum, but it seems very few folks visit "that" forum, so if you will forgive me, I will also post it here. Furthermore, it is a compilation of posts, the info may not be 100% sequential, hopefully it will all still make sense and be of use. I trust some will find it informative and will have many "blue babies" soon.

REPORT​

Genus: Monocentropus
Species: balfouri
Date female moulted last: Can't recall, 2010.
Date male matured: Can't recall, 2010.
Last mating date: Various matings, although unnecessary as one is enough.
Mating behaviour: There is noting difficult about mating M balfouri. Females are keen, males are a bit nervous initially, but then the party seems to be never ending. They mate as long as it takes me to finish a bottle of wine.
Tank conditions and temperatures before mating: I keep them dry, then I keep them even dryer, and then some. They seldom see water, nor do they have water bowls. In the enclosures with plants, I only water the plant, maybe once a month, and only slightly.
Feeding schedule before mating: The normal few fat female crickets a week.
Feeding schedule after mating: As above, until she stopped feeding.
Date egg sac produced: 22 or 23 or 24 April 2011.
Date egg sac removed: Not removed.
Development time of nymphs: About 30 days.
Total number of spiderlings: Yet unknown

Additional notes:

I made a lot of mistakes last year. Removing the egg case from M balfouri seems to be a fatal mistake, and I did it 10 times during the 2010 "breeding cycle". :blush:

This is an image of some mating last year. I gave up on dating the matings, purely because there are just to many pictures to order properly. There are some new folks that might just be keen to see..

The image below is of one of last years sacs I stupidly removed after 21 days. The current female constructed a sac deep down the burrow, so it was impossible to photograph. This just an illustration of what a M balfouri sac looks like.

The female closed of the entrance to her burrow about a month before constructing the sac. I placed the enclosure close to a heat source, which dried it out to the extreme. Although I was curious, that enclosure was not touched or disturbed in any way. Some remains of her last molt was carried out prior to her sealing the burrow entrance. I left it there with a dead cricket or two and a roaming roach.

The entrance to her burrow circled.

As burrowing spiders sometimes excavate right up to the glass, so did this female. By peeping into a small opening with a torch, I was able to see the egg case, took a few pictures without luck.

On Monday, I went to see what she was up to, but could not see the egg case. The female was sitting with her abdomen towards me, in a "feeding" position, raised up from the substrate. My first thought was that she is eating the eggs, the words I used to tell her what I think are not suitable here.

On closer inspection, I detected some movement on the sides of the burrow and in her webbing, and this is what I found.

It is impossible to know how many babies are sharing her nest, one only knows that they have between 20 and 40 at a time. These spiderlings are VERY small. I am not even sure what instar they are, because from what I hear and read, there is an extra life stage in there somewhere, perhaps between nymph and first intsar. (I had a female produce 78 offspring recently, so this figure is outdated).

They will stay with the mother for at least three months. When she breaks the surface to start hunting and feed the bunch, I will update this thread. I will not feed the babies as I learnt that she takes care of them.

I trust the info, trails and errors I made will prevent others from wasting time and keep this magnificent Baboon alive and well in the hobby.

*****************​

I went to inspect the female and her brood this afternoon. Although inside her burrow, and very difficult to get a handheld camera to focus on what you want to (FFS), I was able to see the female with a clutch of babies on her chelicerae and/or mouth parts. There were not many, estimate about ten. The rest were all over the inside of the burrow, but the clutch on the female was a surprise. I have also noticed some on her legs, clambering about...

Is she eating them you may ask? Of what I have learned from lots of reading, I seriously doubt it...

The picture is not crystal, but the yellow abdomens of the babies and the figure of the mother unmistakable... Believe me, they are there as described.

*****************​

As usual, I went to inspect the progress in my little room (04H15).

The mother has broken the surface and webbed up a HUGE area outside her burrow. She did not exit where I expected (which I should have expected), but chose a corner of the enclosure.

About a week ago, I carefully opened her enclosure and added sufficient decorations around the area where her burrow used to be. I knew when she came to the surface, she would require anchorage for her webbing and a safe haven for the young. The cork bark I added is now webbed up, and knowing these spiders, she will web it over completely in due course.

Being "underground" for months, I knew she would be starving, so I added a cricket which she took almost immediately. As she crabbed the cricket, she exposed a number of young that must have been hiding under her. As she went back down the burrow with her catch, the young followed, presumably to be fed.

*****************​

The parental behavior I have witnessed thus far makes me beleive I can leave them as long as I want. The environs are not suited for this though. I will probably remove them on 3rd or 4th instar. Ten will be into a communal.

*****************​

It is a bit strange how the spiderlings would "seclude" themselves to molt. They are normally bunched in groups, yet they go off to a separate area of the webbing to molt in private. A few chose the outside of the burrow while others must have molted, or are busy molting inside the burrow. The mother does not seem fazed by any of this and hunts whatever I introduce.

The ones that have molted did not increase much in size, but I suppose they will be stronger for the next cycle...

*****************​

Waiting for them to molt to third instar. I must admit, I have not seen any of the babies for a week or so now. They seem to be hiding somewhere down the burrow. The mother comes out now and then, usually takes a cricket down with her. I must presume she is still feeding them, because the last time I saw a baby, its abdomen was nice and round. I refuse to beleive that the mother has done them any harm, it is not like M balfouri to turn on their young.

Image of some second instar slings, one busy molting...

*****************​

I turned the enclosure around, suspecting the family to be close to the heat source in stead of outside... This is what I found...

A minute later, the mother moved away from the side, into the darkness of her burrow...

*****************​

I have never fed these babies, they have not had water in their enclosure for a VERY long time. The enclosure is sealed with cling wrap to prevent stray slings wonder into our bedroom. I chuck in a fat crick or two once a week, which disappears every time without me noticing the female.

It does not take a rocket scientist (or a Stanley Schultz) to see that these slings are fat as hell... the mother MUST feed them somehow... totally freaken awesome !!!

*****************​

I have noticed this with the previous egg case, but this batch confirms this behavior. A few days before they molt, they leave the safety of the burrow and clutch together outside. This ONLY happens during the day. Come evening, they make their way back into the burrow and spend most of the night in close proximity to the female. From about ten in the morning, they would leave again. The ones that actually molt would MAYBE spend more time outside until they are strong enough, then go back into the burrow.

One would think that in the wild, this behavior would be contra-survival, being exposed during this crucial and vulnerable time. Why they do this is beyond me, it defies all logic, but then again, so do most all Tarantulas...

From these pictures, the slings do not look in pre molt, but believe me, they flip over one by one, the webbing outside the burrow cluttered with minute little exuviae. Also noticeable is the fat little abdomens, notwithstanding the fact that I have only ever fed the female. What she gives them I still can't fathom, but whatever it is, it sure as hell plumps up the babies.

*****************​

When the spiderlings exit the egg case, they are tiny (in comparison to for example the Ostrich like eggs my Pokies produce). Their first meals come from the female WITHOUT any prey being offered. During this time, she MUST regurgitate something. Whatever that is MUST be very nutritional because the slings put on serious girth within days. Only after this stage (presumably second instar) have I noticed the female present them with food I gave her.

I might have mentioned this previously, but at the risk of being repetitive, here is how it happens.

The female catches a cricket, then takes it into her nest. At this point already, the babies start gathering, some climbing onto her legs. She remains in the feeding position, elevated from the surface, while seemingly "crushing" the cricket with her fangs and pedipalps. I can only guess that some venom is injected into the prey which would (as you said) start the digestive process. After about five minutes, she puts the prey down on the floor and walks away, clearly for the young to feed. In a matter of minutes, the prey is covered by young, not unlike Vultures on a carcass. This feeding frenzy lasts for about twenty minutes, after which there is no sign of the cricket. The young would now disperse throughout the nest.

Even more fascinating, when I introduce a second cricket, the female would not share but feed alone, away from the babies.

It has been mentioned in some article or foreign forum that M balfouri can stridulate. Call me crazy, but I have wondered how the babies know food is available. When the female enters the nest carrying food, the babies start gathering. Why? We often ridiculously assign human traits to animals, but is it possible she "calls" them by stridulating? I seriously doubt that "smell" or "sight" is involved. Just a though...

*****************​

These are the babies from the third sac. They are just as healthy as the previous batches, yet not as numerous. No idea how many there are, yet.

In my mind, this is one of the traits that separates M bafouri from a vast number of other Tarantulas, dedicated parental care. There might well be other species that do the same, I have not witnessed it first hand like I have with these.

*****************​

So the job is done... I removed them from the nest, placed in tubs. The enclosure was restored to its former glory, but without all the spectacular webbing. The female went back into the hide, and sat in one spot until this morning. As I did previously, I gave five of the babies back to her. Went to check on them moments ago. From introducing the five young back into her nest, it took the female three hours to start excavating and webbing a new home. The babies are all over her after being separated for 24 hours...

What I find absolutely fascinating is that the female obviously looses substantial interest in everything, until she has her young back, even if it is only five. Her activity kick started again by the presence of the young. I anticipate she will have a spanking new nest within a day...

These five youngsters will stay with her until they are fifth or sixth instar, then be placed into the communal.

I can only marvel at these spiders... nothing less !!

*****************​

One nights work...

OH, the forth female made an egg sac Tuesday 27/9/2011...

Thanks for reading, good luck with your M balfouri adventures...

 

[TarantulaHomes]

Female's last molt: 10/15/2011

Male's ultimate molt: 10/12/2011

Mating: male lived with the female for 2 weeks from 11/04 to 11/18.

02/04/2012 - Female sealed the entrance to her burrow with thick webbing

02/09/2012 - Female laid eggs and finished the sac by 1 am

03/13/2012 (34 days) - Removed sac from the female and slightly opened it. At first it seemed like there were dried eggs inside, but on closer inspection I realized those were TINY (~1/8" leg span) spiderlings. 3 of them managed to get out of the sac and were fully mobile. Sac was returned to mother and in a matter of minutes she started restoring webbing around her burrow.

03/16/2012 - First spiderlings observed moving inside the burrow. Total count unknown, but as far as I could tell there were plenty of them in the sac and no bad eggs at all.

Female on sac:

March 29: first spiderlings just emerged from the burrow

 

[TarantulaHomes]

Here's another breeding attempt that didn't go well:

Female (sibling to previous one): last molt - October 15, 2011

Male's ultimate molt: 10/12/2011

Mating: male lived with the female for 2 weeks from 11/18 to 12/01.

02/19/2012 - Female enclosed herself inside the burrow.

Date of the egg-sac was unknown, but my guess was sometime around February 23-27.

This time I decided to let the mom take care of the sac and open it on her own. Turned out it was a mistake. On April 11 I removed the sac and opened it just to find 54 fully formed DEAD 1st instars.

 

[Tonys spiders]

Successful!!

Male and female were paired 3 different times from 5/17/12-5/25/12. About 10 days later she completely redid her burrow and webbed it shut. On 6/22/12 i first noticed the egg sack in the lower back corner of her burrow. I left the female in a quiet corner and kept a small potho plant lightly watered and i first noticed 1st instar slings on 7/23/12. They all fed from the mother and stayed very healthy and molted into 2nd instar on 8/21/12. All slings are now 2nd instar and roaming the outside of her burrow. I tried to get a basic count and outside the burrow i counted around 50 and there must have been more in the burrow.


2nd instar molt



2nd instar slings



male and female pairing



black- 1st instar about to molt
green- molt

 

[Protectyaaaneck]

Successful!

This female was paired all the way back on 7/19/11 and a few more times after that until the male finally expired of old age. An eggsac was produced sometime in January or February of 2012. That eggsac was pulled on 4/3/12 and turned out to be a dud filled with a bunch of dried up undeveloped eggs. I was preparing for a molt from her after this result, but apparently she double clutched for me. While I was away on vacation from 7/25-8/9 they must of hatched out, because when I came home I found a bunch of what I presumed to be 1st instars roaming her enclosure. I kept her well fed over the course of the next few months and periodically dampened random spots in her substrate to keep her and the slings happy. Every sling was always well fed by mom and they treated her like a jungle gym. There was never a time when there wasn't a sling on her or close by her. I pulled the slings from mom on 10/17/12 after every one of them had molted at least two times. The temps were kept at a constant 65-80 degrees and the humidity was probably around 60-75% within her burrow. The final count was 32 healthy 3rd and 4th instars.

I kept mom happy by leaving 6 slings in there with her.

 

[Protectyaaaneck]

Successful!

This female was paired 12/9/12. An eggsac was found on 5/8/13. I decided to pull the eggsac myself and open it since it seemed like the mom was about to eat the eggsac. Upon opening the eggsac I found a small amount of 1st instars. Once opened, I made the choice to put them back into her enclosure. She gladly accepted the kids while slapping and stridulating at me. I left the slings in there for a while until they reached what seemed to be 4th or 5th instar. I finally separated them on 10/1 and counted 12 slings. I took half out and left half in there to grow up with her. The temps fluctuated between 65-80 degrees throughout the entire process. The humidity greatly varied and I'm unsure of the exact percentage. Sometimes it was hardly any humidity while other times it was near 100% with the floodings.

 

[Thistles]

Success!

This is a sort of short thread and I have tomorrow off, so here goes!

Female: purchased as an adult, last molted 8 months before pairing, kept at room temp. I was concerned that she might be due for a molt. Fed her about a roach per week or 2 but she's always been a light eater.
http://i.imgur.com/iOpArUO.jpg

Male: purchased as a juvenile, matured 2 months prior to pairing. I was moving and didn't want to pair then drive across the continent with them so I waited to get settled in.
http://i.imgur.com/9esqcWH.jpg

Pairing: introduced male to female's enclosure 3 nights in a row from 8/10/13 to 8/13/13. She initiated pairing every time by both drumming and emerging to meet him. After pairing she would stay raised up for 10-15 min and then patrol the enclosure, even climbing on the screen top. Once there was a clear liquid (venom?) dripping from her mouth and onto the glass. She was very agitated! I attempted a 4th pairing for good measure, but this time introduced the female to the male's tank (for science!). She attempted to eat him, but I intervened. The male is still alive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5ON_-3aHRA Terrible vid, terrible light, goofy (but awesome!) song. I apologize!
http://i.imgur.com/fDUkH8X.jpg This is how she stays for SO LONG after pairing.

Sac: I allow my female to burrow, so I never saw the sac. I let her tend it. She webbed off the burrow only a couple weeks after pairing, so I had a suspicion that she had something brewing but it had also been a long time since she molted so I was afraid she might be doing that instead. I keep my enclosure very dry for this species. She does have a water dish which I occasionally overflow very slightly but I did not do this while I suspected she had a sac as the burrow runs right under where the dish is.

Slings: I saw the first slings emerge from the burrow on 10/7/13. They molted to 2i this week and the max count I have been able to get out of the burrow at the same time so far is 34. I still have them in with mama, so I'm not certain of the final count.
http://i.imgur.com/CXYjWU1.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0sNBWlV.jpg

Here's mom feeding the slings. The last time I added a cricket was 2 days prior to this picture. She took the cricket immediately. I dunno how she's doing this, but it's pretty cool!
http://i.imgur.com/6Xo1OV4.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7cmDJwU.jpg

 

[Thistles]

My girl is super regular. Paired her again this July and found kids on Hallowe'en. Two years and exactly one week from the last batch! The count from the last sac was around 60 if I recall correctly.

I still have 3 females and a male from the first sac. Her son just matured last week. I've also got an unrelated female, so he's going to be a busy boy.

This time there was minimal webbing before and during the time she had the sac. She remained active and eating the entire time.