My huntsman's aren't mating

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 4, 2005
Messages
8,982
Hey Oli, I have some Huntsman also. Is it easy to tell mature males with these? Are the bulbs on the pedipalps real obvious?
 

revilo

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
173
hi,

what species do you have ?

i only have experience with holconia sp.

in this genus i can see clearly if a male is adult or not.
generally in sparassidae it's a little bit harder to see than in other families - in case you don't have experience with this, because the pedipalps are in both sexes a little bit "round".
but the palps of a adult male are distinctly bigger and "rounder" and in adult males you can see the sexual function structures, because the ventral side is "open" and this structures are very distinct in sparassidae (so far in this genera i know).

bye, oli
 

huntsman

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 5, 2011
Messages
26
Huntsmans FTW ;)
I am a bit confused because in lots of spider books a pieces of information it says
that when a male spider casts his final moult he will cease feeding and divert all his energy to finding a mate.
 

revilo

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
173
hi,

what i tell now is my own experience and opinion about this. and this is a different one than i read in a lot of articles/books.
but i believe a lot of hobby keeper and breeder have a similar experience...

in the last about 8 years, i was keeping males of at least 10 different sp. (i believe more, but at least) and i offered food and water to the adult males regularly. and the males of nearly every species was taking this for a long time !
rule : males that are adult but didn't mated can live very long in a lot of species ! in fact longer than every literature (i know) teaches...
for example i have now at present time an adult male of lycosa tarantula -he is adult now for 7 month !
another example is my ancylometes rufus male, he is adult now since exactly 07.07.2010 and still he is fit ! BUT his brother - adult two days before - is dead since a few weeks and he WAS MATED.

in fact UNmated males live longer than mated ones (most times).

adult males don't eat as much as females, but they eat regularly.

all this is observation in captivity ! i can't compare this with observations in nature - because i didn't had chance to do this...:eek:

but what ever : simply relax ;) one of your females is mated now - so you will have a lot of slings :D
and i'm sure that he will mate the other one the same after a SHORT break...

bye, oli

p.s.: my illness is to write to long posts {D
 

huntsman

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 5, 2011
Messages
26
hi,

what i tell now is my own experience and opinion about this. and this is a different one than i read in a lot of articles/books.
but i believe a lot of hobby keeper and breeder have a similar experience...

in the last about 8 years, i was keeping males of at least 10 different sp. (i believe more, but at least) and i offered food and water to the adult males regularly. and the males of nearly every species was taking this for a long time !
rule : males that are adult but didn't mated can live very long in a lot of species ! in fact longer than every literature (i know) teaches...
for example i have now at present time an adult male of lycosa tarantula -he is adult now for 7 month !
another example is my ancylometes rufus male, he is adult now since exactly 07.07.2010 and still he is fit ! BUT his brother - adult two days before - is dead since a few weeks and he WAS MATED.

in fact UNmated males live longer than mated ones (most times).

adult males don't eat as much as females, but they eat regularly.

all this is observation in captivity ! i can't compare this with observations in nature - because i didn't had chance to do this...:eek:

but what ever : simply relax ;) one of your females is mated now - so you will have a lot of slings :D
and i'm sure that he will mate the other one the same after a SHORT break...

bye, oli

p.s.: my illness is to write to long posts {D
Haha, well I just killed a cockroach and put it with my male,
He ate it, he alway seems to like dead insects.
If the female runs away from the male does this mean the female is mated?
 

revilo

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
173
hi brad,

a mind to the prefering of dead food : maybe the offered food is to big ?!
normaly spiders prefer food that is alive and males sometimes are "afraid" of big food - try to give him smaller insects.

a few reasons are possible why the female is running away...
maybe she is not adult yet ? or just since a very short time ?
does she do webbings - that means a few single lines through the container - because a lot of adult females do this. the weblines (right to explain in english ??) are equiped with pheromones to attract males.
maybe she IS mated ? maybe it is another species (but you are sure with species, i think ;) )?
maybe it's the wrong time (of the year) ? maybe...other users have any other ideas ? :)

cheers, oli
 

huntsman

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 5, 2011
Messages
26
Yay for the second time, I found a mature female and they are now mating :)
PS what are some signs that a female is pregnant, apart from a growing abdomen?
 

revilo

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
173
hi,

increasing hunger.
after eaten enough searching for a good place in the container to build a eggsac - that mean walking around more often at first and than, after find a place, hiding there...

more i can't remind yet...

cheers, oli
 

huntsman

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 5, 2011
Messages
26
Hi sorry I haven't posted for a while i've been pretty busy with school and stuff haha.
Thanks Oli, there is so much I don't know about these spiders!
Just wandering can a female huntsman ever be to old to mate?
and my pregnant females abdomen seem to be getting big and then shrinking again.
 

kenstarh

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
2
Hey huntsman just hadda good read of ur post very interesting, has ur female made its egg sack yet?

I've got a pet huntsman myself its a badged huntman not sure of the technical name of it but its the only one ive seen in my life, its colours is just stunning. wish i had a pair of them so i can breed them because i dont think ill be able to come across another one of these again.
 

huntsman

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 5, 2011
Messages
26
Hey huntsman just hadda good read of ur post very interesting, has ur female made its egg sack yet?

I've got a pet huntsman myself its a badged huntman not sure of the technical name of it but its the only one ive seen in my life, its colours is just stunning. wish i had a pair of them so i can breed them because i dont think ill be able to come across another one of these again.
hi, yes my huntsman have hatched 2 days ago!{D i have a threaad about that,
sorry I haven't checked this thread for a while.
Cool you have badge huntsmans, iv'e always wanted to see one of them.
 
Top