Newbie in need of some help from you pros!

[Luke]

I have been browsing through some discussions and i have been seeing some terminology that is pretty foriegn to me... like "post ultimate" or "pen ultimate"? I'm assuming these have something to do with molting but can anyone offer a definition for it? :? Also if anyone can just give me a quick run down of some terms that are commonly used here or in the tarantula world it would be greatly appreciated! Think of it this way..i am so new to this hobby that i really only truely know that tarantulas are arachnids, females eat males after mating, and they are truely AWESOME animals that dont deserve the bad publicity associated with them. lol

Thank you in advance!

Luke

 

[JOBAH]

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=145454

 

[curiousme]

females eat males after mating,

This is not true. A closely watched (and lucky)male can mate with several females before it dies.

and they are truely AWESOME animals that dont deserve the bad publicity associated with them. lol

Thank you in advance!

Luke

The link provided for you in the above post(the link is also in my signature) has answers to the questions you are asking, plus many more that you can think of along the way. Welcome to the forum!

 

[Nicole]

Postultimate and penultimate usually refer to lifestages of a male tarantula. Tarantulas molt several times before becoming sexually mature, and while females may live long lives and molt many times after, when a male molts out to sexually mature, it is his last or "ultimate" molt. His purpose is only to breed and usually he will not live very long. "Penultimate" refers to the next-to-last molt, and "postultimate" refers to a sexually mature male that has molted for the (presumably - there are rare exceptions) last time.