Nephila clavata mating advice?

[Pulk]

Hi, I only have one male so I want to do it right. I also want to do it ASAP, because I don't know how long I can keep him alive. Does anyone have any advice/instructions on breeding orb weavers?

 

[Bastian Drolshagen]

hi,
try to introduce him to the well fed female by placing him in the outer part of the web or near the web (not into the center!!!). He will know what to do from then on...males always know
He will probably be killed by the female, but that´s how it goes.

 

[Widowman10]

do you have more than 1 female you wish to mate?

 

[Pulk]

Improver: I suspected that's all one can do. Thanks!

I have three females, one is a few molts from maturity, one might already be gravid, and one is mature and almost certainly not gravid. So it really only matters for one.

 

[Widowman10]

So it really only matters for one.

good! haha, if you really needed to save the male, i would have suggested getting up close and personal between the two with a brush or something to separate them when they were done- that is, if you were quick enough;P

let us know how the mating goes, and get pics if possible!

 

[Pulk]

good! haha, if you really needed to save the male, i would have suggested getting up close and personal between the two with a brush or something to separate them when they were done- that is, if you were quick enough;P

let us know how the mating goes, and get pics if possible!

actually i'll try to do all three of those.

 

[harveythefly]

i don't know if nephila clavata is the same as nephila clavipes but if so it may be a little too late in the season to start breeding...the females are going to be slowing down and getting ready to die soon

but it can't hurt to try...so what i would do if i were you is stick the male at the very top of the web gently as to not disturb the female too much...in the wild the males of nephila actually cohabitate in the same web as the females and usually live in the top section of the webs...and breeding tends to take place at night so keep the room dark (if they're inside) or introduce the male at night (if it's outside)...also the males tend to die off after breeding anyway so i wouldn't worry too much about trying to save him...

another thing to watch out for is the female's eggs...nephila don't make a traditional egg sac per say...they make sort of an egg mass which is laid on a leaf or the trunk of a tree then covered over with a silk bubble kind of thing that's flat on the leaf and bulges out...so you might need to provide something for her to lay on

hope this helps
Harvey

 

[Pulk]

i don't know if nephila clavata is the same as nephila clavipes but if so it may be a little too late in the season to start breeding...the females are going to be slowing down and getting ready to die soon

Yeah, I'm worried that might be the case. But in the place I got them I found very few slings and couldn't find any sacs (and there were millions of females)... so wouldn't that seem to indicate that the females are supposed to make sacs soon?

but it can't hurt to try...so what i would do if i were you is stick the male at the very top of the web gently as to not disturb the female too much...in the wild the males of nephila actually cohabitate in the same web as the females and usually live in the top section of the webs...and breeding tends to take place at night so keep the room dark (if they're inside) or introduce the male at night (if it's outside)...also the males tend to die off after breeding anyway so i wouldn't worry too much about trying to save him...

good point... I'll keep the lights dim, thanks!

another thing to watch out for is the female's eggs...nephila don't make a traditional egg sac per say...they make sort of an egg mass which is laid on a leaf or the trunk of a tree then covered over with a silk bubble kind of thing that's flat on the leaf and bulges out...so you might need to provide something for her to lay on

let's not get ahead of ourselves...

 

[harveythefly]

Yeah, I'm worried that might be the case. But in the place I got them I found very few slings and couldn't find any sacs (and there were millions of females)... so wouldn't that seem to indicate that the females are supposed to make sacs soon?

did i read in another post that these nephila came from china? if that's the case then everything i said in my last post was pure speculation really...i'm basing my thoughts on experience with our north american species nephila clavipes...and if you were finding slings that could mean the life cycle is totally different over there...where i live the nephila usually follow a pretty strict seasonal cycle with slings never being seen till late april at the earliest so it seems like the species you have may be a little more different than i originally thought...

so sorry if i jumped the gun a little bit there:8o

Harvey

 

[Pulk]

did i read in another post that these nephila came from china? if that's the case then everything i said in my last post was pure speculation really...i'm basing my thoughts on experience with our north american species nephila clavipes...and if you were finding slings that could mean the life cycle is totally different over there...where i live the nephila usually follow a pretty strict seasonal cycle with slings never being seen till late april at the earliest so it seems like the species you have may be a little more different than i originally thought...

so sorry if i jumped the gun a little bit there:8o

Harvey

Yup, these came from China... I know clavipes is probably a little different from clavata.
Also, what I was saying is that I -didn't- find slings. That's good, right?

 

[CustomNature]

Pulk, that's awesome that you're attempting this breeding project. I'm on a mission of sorts to make the Nephila genus a bit more popular in the states. These are awesome spiders and make one heck of a display invert. Please keep us updated with your breeding experiences. And for the matter, I'd love to see some pictures of your spiders just as-is. It's a beautiful species. :worship:

 

[Pulk]

Pulk, that's awesome that you're attempting this breeding project. I'm on a mission of sorts to make the Nephila genus a bit more popular in the states. These are awesome spiders and make one heck of a display invert. Please keep us updated with your breeding experiences. And for the matter, I'd love to see some pictures of your spiders just as-is. It's a beautiful species. :worship:

Well... I've never bred anything before.

 

[harveythefly]

Yup, these came from China... I know clavipes is probably a little different from clavata.
Also, what I was saying is that I -didn't- find slings. That's good, right?

to be honest i can't be certain ...if the clavata life cycle is similar to clavipes then the absent slings could mean the sacs are already laid and the eggs are overwintering to hatch in the spring...if the life cycle is vastly different i can't really say...i just don't know enough about chinese nephila to be 100% sure...i'm really sorry that i can't give you a more specific answer

Harvey

 

[Pulk]

to be honest i can't be certain ...if the clavata life cycle is similar to clavipes then the absent slings could mean the sacs are already laid and the eggs are overwintering to hatch in the spring...if the life cycle is vastly different i can't really say...i just don't know enough about chinese nephila to be 100% sure...i'm really sorry that i can't give you a more specific answer

Harvey

But I didn't see any sacs, so I'm thinking it must be/have been the gravid female stage.

That's not very helpful anymore though because the one I'm not trying to mate (hoping is gravid) suddenly started dying today. Its legs are fairly curled up and it's pretty unresponsive.

On the positive side the other girl hasn't eaten the male yet.

I should know this by now, but... how do feed a cohabiting male?

 

[harveythefly]

But I didn't see any sacs, so I'm thinking it must be/have been the gravid female stage.

That's not very helpful anymore though because the one I'm not trying to mate (hoping is gravid) suddenly started dying today. Its legs are fairly curled up and it's pretty unresponsive.

On the positive side the other girl hasn't eaten the male yet.

I should know this by now, but... how do feed a cohabiting male?

i've had some luck getting males to eat by placing small insects in the web gently with tongs very close to where the male has situated himself...and by small i mean just a little larger than pinhead cricket size critters...he seemed to enjoy march flies (some people call them love bugs) a great deal and they were small enough that their vibrations didn't attract the female...but i'm sure small crickets would do the job just as well as march flies...

also you might try distracting the female with a larger prey item before introducing anything to the male...i've never tried that myself but it may be worth a shot

Harvey