P. regalis breeding

[BobGrill]

I've decided to breed mine. I have a few questions however. You'll have to bare with me if these seem a bit noobish, but I'm a first-time breeder, and to be honest, I am pretty nervous about this. My main question is how exactly should I get the male into the females tank? I don't want to startle him and have him bolt and run right into the female and have her mistake him for prey. Also I have read some breeding reports, and some say that the female is sometimes known for eating the male. How often does this occur? Is mating normally peaceful with this species or not? Finally, how often do males make sperm webs?

 

[The Weed Man]

You should make sure your female is heavily fed before. You want to introduce the male in the females enclosure farthest away from her. Males from what I been hearing do get eaten quite often but I think that's because they leave them in overnight. It's a long process and takes a lot of patience if you actually want to see the mating occur. Mating can go many different ways depending on the female the mature male is always wanting to mate so it's not really up to him. They make sperm webs rather quickly. Anywhere from 3-7 days.

 

[BobGrill]

Really? I have heard mating is rather quick and abrupt once they start going at it.

 

[Pandinus97]

Weed man is right, feed the Female heavily before mating so the male doesn't become a snack just as if you wood a mantis.

 

[Poec54]

Really? I have heard mating is rather quick and abrupt once they start going at it.

Poecs have a long courtship ritual, unlike most other tarantulas. I pair them up in the evening and let them have a night together. I gently put the male in a 32 oz deli cup, with a minimum of commotion, and let him settle down for a few minutes. Then I put him in the female's cage, away from her, without disturbing her. You want them focused on each other, not you. He should pick up her scent in the air or by touching her slik, and start drumming his palps within minutes. If not, I give him 20 or 30 minutes, and if he's still not drumming, I take him out and try again another day. You can't force a romance.

Ideally the female responds to the male's drumming by frantically tapping her first two pair of legs. They'll go all over the cage doing this. If the female doesn't respond, I take the male the male out and try again another day (sound familiar?). Both need to be courting. I'll wait with a deli cup in one hand and an unsharpened pencil in the other (like a referee) until I see both courting, then I leave the room. Usually Poecs don't fight, but it does happen, especially if the female is old, isn't in the mood, or the cage is too small. Some people leave the male in for days or weeks, and eventually the male gets killed and eaten; once in a while the female gets killed. One night at a time is plenty. If you want a rematch, do it a week later, again for one night. When you have two horny nocturnal spiders in a confined space for 12 hours in the dark, they will find each other and they will breed. While they're together, no loud noises or vibrations (music, TV blaring, doors slamming, etc). I'd also recommend that you not have any odors or fragrances on yourself, that might compete with the female's scent.

I've done a couple dozen Poec pairings this year, 3 last night in fact, and have never seen them actually mate. The courtship drags on and gets tedious to watch. As was mentioned, female tarantulas of any species should be well fed prior to going on a date. Male's will make a sperm web after their final molt, once they've started eating again. You probably won't see it, so don't wait for that too long. 3 weeks tops, from molting. Tarantulas wouldn't have survived this long if absent-minded males wandered around with empty palps. Some people get all panicky if they don't see a male constantly make sperm webs, which is ridiculous. They only make them after they've emptied their palps. They can only hold so much sperm.

Poecs are one of the easiest tarantulas to pair up, so follow a few basic steps and it should go smoothly. There's always a chance, with any species, that the female will molt after mating, sometimes unexpectedly soon after her last molt, and it's a good idea to have the male on hand (and not sacrifice him by leaving him in the female's cage too long). If you get a sac, I can guide you thru that. Good luck.

 

[BobGrill]

Poecs have a long courtship ritual, unlike most other tarantulas. I pair them up in the evening and let them have a night together. I gently put the male in a 32 oz deli cup, with a minimum of commotion, and let him settle down for a few minutes. Then I put him in the female's cage, away from her, without disturbing her. You want them focused on each other, not you. He should pick up her scent in the air or by touching her slik, and start drumming his palps within minutes. If not, I give him 20 or 30 minutes, and if he's still not drumming, I take him out and try again another day. You can't force a romance.

Ideally the female responds to the male's drumming by frantically tapping her first two pair of legs. They'll go all over the cage doing this. If the female doesn't respond, I take the male the male out and try again another day (sound familiar?). Both need to be courting. I'll wait with a deli cup in one hand and an unsharpened pencil in the other (like a referee) until I see both courting, then I leave the room. Usually Poecs don't fight, but it does happen, especially if the female is old, isn't in the mood, or the cage is too small. Some people leave the male in for days or weeks, and eventually the male gets killed and eaten; once in a while the female gets killed. One night at a time is plenty. If you want a rematch, do it a week later, again for one night. When you have two horny nocturnal spiders in a confined space for 12 hours in the dark, they will find each other and they will breed. While they're together, no loud noises or vibrations (music, TV blaring, doors slamming, etc). I'd also recommend that you not have any odors or fragrances on yourself, that might compete with the female's scent.

I've done a couple dozen Poec pairings this year, 3 last night in fact, and have never seen them actually mate. The courtship drags on and gets tedious to watch. As was mentioned, female tarantulas of any species should be well fed prior to going on a date. Male's will make a sperm web after their final molt, once they've started eating again. You probably won't see it, so don't wait for that too long. 3 weeks tops, from molting. Tarantulas wouldn't have survived this long if absent-minded males wandered around with empty palps. Some people get all panicky if they don't see a male constantly make sperm webs, which is ridiculous. They only make them after they've emptied their palps. They can only hold so much sperm.

Poecs are one of the easiest tarantulas to pair up, so follow a few basic steps and it should go smoothly. There's always a chance, with any species, that the female will molt after mating, sometimes unexpectedly soon after her last molt, and it's a good idea to have the male on hand (and not sacrifice him by leaving him in the female's cage too long). If you get a sac, I can guide you thru that. Good luck.

Thanks for the info. When you say you leave the male in "for the night", do you literally mean the whole night, as in go to bed and then take him out in the morning? Also, I still don't see how I can't startle the male at all, given how skittish they are.

 

[Poec54]

Thanks for the info. When you say you leave the male in "for the night", do you literally mean the whole night, as in go to bed and then take him out in the morning? Also, I still don't see how I can't startle the male at all, given how skittish they are.

Yes, from 8-9PM to 7-8AM. A proper Poec date night. Not one of those 'rent the motel room for an hour' trysts. Disrupt the male as little as possible in and out of the cup, with slow, gentle prods. You don't want him bolting, but sometimes it happens. Ideally, if he does bolt, he won't run right into the female. But that happens once in a while too, and you really have to be ready to break up a fight then (although it can be peaceful). The more worked up the male gets, the more he's thinking about you, and the less he's thinking about the female. If the female's cage is big enough, you can set the cup in there, take off the lid, and let him wander out on his own. What you want to do as much as possible, is recreate what happens in the wild: he searches and finds females on his own without distractions. That also means low light, and you holding still. There should be nothing else going on in the room when you're pairing up any tarantulas.

If the female's cage is cramped, put it inside a larger cage (I have a big, clear storage box for those occasions). The tighter the cage, the more likely the male will be killed, and that may be prior to mating.

Like I said, in all my Poec pairings, I've never seen an insertion. The courtship is very long by tarantula standards.

 

[BobGrill]

Yes, from 8-9PM to 7-8AM. A proper Poec date night. Not one of those 'rent the motel room for an hour' trysts. Disrupt the male as little as possible in and out of the cup, with slow, gentle prods. You don't want him bolting, but sometimes it happens. Ideally, if he does bolt, he won't run right into the female. But that happens once in a while too, and you really have to be ready to break up a fight then (although it can be peaceful). The more worked up the male gets, the more he's thinking about you, and the less he's thinking about the female. If the female's cage is big enough, you can set the cup in there, take off the lid, and let him wander out on his own. What you want to do as much as possible, is recreate what happens in the wild: he searches and finds females on his own without distractions. That also means low light, and you holding still. There should be nothing else going on in the room when you're pairing up any tarantulas.

If the female's cage is cramped, put it inside a larger cage (I have a big, clear storage box for those occasions). The tighter the cage, the more likely the male will be killed, and that may be prior to mating.

Like I said, in all my Poec pairings, I've never seen an insertion. The courtship is very long by tarantula standards.

The cage is definitely big enough, so I doubt I have to worry about that. I think what I may try is to attempt to coax the male out at an upward angle, as my female usually hangs out towards the bottom of her enclosure in the lower right corner. That way in case he bolts, he'll end up at an opposite angle from where the female is. Hopefully he won't end up on the outside of his container. I hate it when that happens with arboreals.

 

[JadeWilliamson]

I have two females that I paired with a male that was on loan from kyahalhai21311. He mated with the two females on and off 7-14 days at a time and kept switching between them whenever the female he was with seemed uninterested. This procedure lasted from April until September (the smaller female molted in August and ate him in September). They are both currently very plump and eating everything that comes their way. I essentially did what Poec54 did when I added him to the tank. Just watch and make sure he's not going to immediately become a meal. Since P regalis is a cohabitable species (I personally have a commune of 9) they seem extremely tolerant of one another. I think it's a great species to start getting breeding experience from compared to some others I've personally paired before (I'm looking at you, N chromatus!). I think you'll do well.
One recurring bit of advice I've read consistently is after your female starts getting plumper and plumper, let the tank dry out until it's roughly time for her to lay her eggs (see breeding reports to gather a rough timeline) and flood the tank when it's time to drop. This should stimulate your female to web fiercely and go into hiding to make her sac.

Poec54, please correct me if I'm wrong or add any missing information.

 

[BobGrill]

I have two females that I paired with a male that was on loan from kyahalhai21311. He mated with the two females on and off 7-14 days at a time and kept switching between them whenever the female he was with seemed uninterested. This procedure lasted from April until September (the smaller female molted in August and ate him in September). They are both currently very plump and eating everything that comes their way. I essentially did what Poec54 did when I added him to the tank. Just watch and make sure he's not going to immediately become a meal. Since P regalis is a cohabitable species (I personally have a commune of 9) they seem extremely tolerant of one another. I think it's a great species to start getting breeding experience from compared to some others I've personally paired before (I'm looking at you, N chromatus!). I think you'll do well.
One recurring bit of advice I've read consistently is after your female starts getting plumper and plumper, let the tank dry out until it's roughly time for her to lay her eggs (see breeding reports to gather a rough timeline) and flood the tank when it's time to drop. This should stimulate your female to web fiercely and go into hiding to make her sac.

Poec54, please correct me if I'm wrong or add any missing information.

I have heard something similar to this. I'm not sure about flooding, but a lot of people have said they mist like crazy to keep the humidity up when she's about to drop the sac. I'll wait for poec54 to reply though, since he clearly has the most experience here from what I can tell.

 

[SCTarantula]

If you are that concerned about the male bolting and your tank is a nice size as indicated then how about trying the catch cup method like Poec54 mentioned. This way he can calm down in the catch cup and come out whenever he is ready to.