New male, new try

[Alice]

hi all,

as some of you might have read, my last attempt at breeding a. geniculata was a total catastrophe. well, not total, the male didn't get munched, though not due to lack of trying on the female's side :wall:.

on the other hand, the last male was very old so i got him for free (more than a year since ultimate molt). when i put him in with her, she tried to snack him, and he totally panicked. i fed her up until her butt was HUGE and tried again. and again, and...

i tried about a dozen times in two weeks, and it was always the same: she got less agressive the more i fed her, but he panicked as soon as he was aware of her presence. in the end, i gave up.

today i got another male (traded him for two 2nd instar g. aureostriata and a 3rd instar l. klugi sling), and he's molted only a week ago! so hopefully, this time i'll have better luck.

i don't think it's the female, she's a good 6 inches and relatively freshly molted.

do you have any tips, ticks or black secrets for breeding this species you'd share? anything to encourage them to do their thing? cooling period or no? and so on. i'll post pics of them - how about one nice picture for every useful hint?

 

[Mina]

Not that I'm going to be a ton of help. I have only bred T's once and that was a few days ago.
I was told to make sure the female is freshly moulted (within a couple of months) and very well fed and watered. Then put some of the male's webbing in with the female, and some of the female's webbing in with the male. Let them be that way for a couple of days to a week, then try introducing them.
It worked for us, she was receptive and didn't try to eat him, but I bred B. albopilosum, not geniculatas.
Good luck!!!!!!!!!

 

[Alice]

thnx mina - i did all of that with the last male and it still went wrong. oh well, maybe the new boy has more courage

 

[Ice Cold Milk]

Try all different times of day. Sometimes the male won't be interested except at like 2-3 o'clock in the morning.
Pay attention to what times of day/night he is walking around a lot. Males are usually more eager to mate when they are actively walking around. (and keep lights dim).

Try heating up the room, cooling down the room, etc.

For most of my males, it's trial and error figuring out exactly what conditions make the male eager enough to breed.

-=ICM=-

 

[Mina]

I'm sorry. Maybe your female wasn't in the mood. Or it is possible that the female just didn't like the male.
Try it again with the new male and see how it goes, maybe this one is more motivated to mate.

 

[Alice]

lol mina, no need to apologize, it's good advice but those bugs just have their own ways...
i tried the last male in the mornings as well as at noon and in the evening. maybe he was just too old. i really hope this one is more eager to mate. he certainly looks more healthy