Need help sexing these two new OBTs. [PICS]

[BrynWilliams]

Hey Guys

I took delivery of my two new OBTs this morning and wow are they are more beautiful than I ever thought they'd be.

I've run into a prob because the seller stated that one was sexed as a female and that the other was unsexed. I thought fair enough. To my dismay, the seller has not indicated on the tubs they came in which is the female. Frankly I'd really like to know the sexes of both so I'm writing here to call upon the master skills of the fellow forumers.

They are both P. murinus RCF and are both approx 3 inches in LS.

I did my best to get good ventrals as they both charged around doing laps of their new enclosures so I hope these are ok for now. If they are a bit crap please do say as I'll try get some better ones.

Spider 1:

Spider 2

A big thank you in advance to anyone who decides to help out, I always appreciate the great input from everyone!

Bryn

 

[Rupert]

Im no expert so compare my reply to other more experienced members but I would say both female,

 

[BrynWilliams]

I hope you're right

Im no expert so compare my reply to other more experienced members but I would say both female,

 

[Draiman]

Spider #1 is female, #2 is male.

 

[BrynWilliams]

Purely out of interest can I ask how you know this? I'd like to learn about sexing these little guys as much as possible

Spider #1 is female, #2 is male.

 

[Bird Man]

Spider #1 is female, #2 is male.

+1 I agree.

 

[agama]

both are female

 

[xhexdx]

I say both female too.

 

[BrynWilliams]

Bit of a mixed bag of responses but it seems there's a cohort going for both female, I hope that's the case

 

[BrynWilliams]

well i've just checked on them and one of them has completely webbed itself into a tube without any entrances and is sitting remarkably still. This differs entirely from the other who is pacing the new enclosure and putting down long washing line style webs all over

I was wondering if it's possible that the first one (in the closed tube) is in premoult and has made itself a secluded spot for this reason? Having not owned these before nor seen a moult from any of my six yet, I'm interested in how they go about it normally or wether this sounds premoult-esque or more like just a settling in period.

 

[jbm150]

Both look like females to me too. And stunners to boot

 

[cacoseraph]

get 'em a brazilian and take pics again =P


if i had to guess i would go with what Draiman said... but i wouldn't want to bet more than $0.05 on it.






ah, you'll be able to appreciate this more than most, as you are heap big edjumacated


ventral sexing only has definite positive for male. that is, if you see the epiandrous fusilae arch just "north" of the epigastric furrow then you can say it is a male... but if you don't see it, it doesn't guarantee it is female.

similarly molt sexing only has a definite positive for female. that is, if you can see the shed spermathecae lining you can guarantee it is female. but if you don't see it, it doesn't guarantee it is male

in both instances you could just be missing the diagnostic feature that is actually present

or, to put it shortly, absence of proof is not proof of absence =P

of course, not seeing anything from an almost full size molt is a bit more indicative of a male compared to not seeing the EF being indicative of female. well developed spermathecae shed are generally harder to miss than the EF.

but if you want to be absolutely sure... only molt confirms female and only EF confirms male