Poecilotheria sexing by black line on butt

[Hedrus]

I keep hearing about being able to sex Poecilotheria species by the black line on there abdomen. Is this true? Males are supposed to have darker and thicker black lines as juvies and females more pale to non existent black line. Thats my understanding anyway. I tried searching to find any info on this but my searches came up with nothing. The 3 females I have seem to support it at least in that they all have very slight black to no black lines down the center of there abdomens. If this is true, how accurate is it? And how old does the T need to be before it works? Also, does the specific species have variation in this type of sexing? Like ornata being differenet than regalis or the others?

I don't hold much faith in this theory but before I just say its rubbish I would like to know what other people think. Thanks!


Kenzie

 

[David_F]

It's somewhere in the Genus Poecilotheria thread. Search that just thread using the word folio. I think it's in the first five pages or so.

 

[ShadowBlade]

First off, this is tricky, and requires some experience, even then, you can't guarantee the sex this way (say to sell them).

Second, it depends on what species you have.

-Sean

 

[Dadrulesathome]

Hey bud!!

How many do you have?

 

[TheDarkFinder]

Like sean said. It is nearly impossible if you do not know what you are doing. P. ornata is all most impossbile, you can do it but it is more by over all coloring, the males are a lot lighter then the females in over all coloring. But females retain the darker strip until they are 8" or so. P. regalis is the easiest and you can tell by the time they are around 3 inches., as with striata, fasciata. formosa, pederseni are very hard to do it by.

But it is possible. But you need to have more then just one of them, and you need to compare them in the same light.

So I would never sale one by doral striping.

 

[Hedrus]

This method seems very limited and not that easy to do or be very accurate. I read all through the Pokie thread and here is a quote from Martin H.

Be aware: this method is not 100% sure and there might be exceptions. The
larger the specimens are, the more unerring it is. For small slings it
doesn't work. In my experiences it works best with P. ornata and P.
fasciata. P. regalis ist not as easy, but with a little bit of practise
(and larger specimens) it should work also. I doesn't work (for me) with P.
subfusca and I am still not sure, if it works with P. rufilata (haven't had
enough specimens to compare). And a few weeks ago, I have tried it with
about 15 - 20 larger slings of P. smithi, but it didn't work. Perhaps they
where still too small, or it doesn't work with this species, dunno.

That quote really got me worried... Now I get this response in here from TheDarkFinder.

Like sean said. It is nearly impossible if you do not know what you are doing. P. ornata is all most impossbile, you can do it but it is more by over all coloring, the males are a lot lighter then the females in over all coloring. But females retain the darker strip until they are 8" or so. P. regalis is the easiest and you can tell by the time they are around 3 inches., as with striata, fasciata. formosa, pederseni are very hard to do it by.

But it is possible. But you need to have more then just one of them, and you need to compare them in the same light.

So I would never sale one by doral striping.

That is more or less the exact opposite about ornata. All that tells me is there is differing opinions on this and that means this method isn't much of a method in the first place then. Thanks guys for responding and informing me. Take care,

Kenzie

 

[Uehling]

We have about 7 diffrent pokies and so far going by the dark stripe has been accurate. We have 2-7" P. pederseni's and both just molted less than 2 weeks ago and the stripe matched the old molt. (as far as sexing)
But I'm not sure I would trust this method well enough to sell them that way.
It also worked with our regalis's

 

[Hedrus]

Interesting. Has anyone done tests with ornata? I see very opposite posts about that species. Any way you look at it, this is a guesstimate at the very best with a few of the species being a tad more likely. Well, one day after I've had 100s of pokies and watched them mature I might know more... LOL. As for now the few dozen I've had don't tell me much other than that I really like them.


Kenzie

 

[TheDarkFinder]

If martin h says it is the other way then believe him. I was just posting from experience I post on this but have lost the pictures.

Here is my point though I have 3 ornata's from one sack one male two females. all have like 7 others and seem to be the case.

Here is the female Notice the dark stripe. She was as dark as the male before he molted out. And at least twice as dark then in this picture.

 

[Hedrus]

Wow she is so pretty! I love how dark she is. Most pictures I've seen of mature females aren't that dark. I think even Martin says it is only a good way to tell when they are near mature. A couple of others in that thread said you could tell much younger. If you had a female that looked exactly like a male until she was 6" then there is a chance that any ornata could have that same thing happen. Even if only 1 out of 10 are like that it makes that method unreliable.


Kenzie

 

[Hedrus]

I have 4 juvies that all have really dard black lines. Did your girl look like these?

They are around 3" diagonally.

Kenzie

 

[grnlfr]

I am even more confused than before but this is what I got maybe some one can make heads or toes of it for me. I think that both these 3.5" pokies are male. Both have a white stripe down their abdomen with a darker stripe in the middle of it. Here is the under side pics of my ornta first and then my regalis. The undersides seem to have a male bump like a bracy would but...?