Some question about breeding Theraphosa stirmi

mingu

Arachnoknight
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I would love to breed this species. I know it's difficult to get a viable eggsac + this would be my first breeding attempt. So, any feedback/ thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
I have 1.3 Theraphosa stirmi adult and 1.0 subadult (will probably mature next month).

Temperature is between 20-25 degrees celsius.

This is what I plan to do.

Step 1
1.0 Theraphosa sp. => Spermweb
0.1 Theraphosa sp. => Freshly/recently molted + well fed

Step 2
Introduce the male with the female => insertion (till the female is gravid)
Female gravid => Rainy/dry season simulation?


Step 3
Simulation
Rainy season => Pour ''warm'' water on the side of the cage ( half flooded)
Dry season => Let the cage dry out a little + fresh waterdish at all time (Let top layer dry out)

Step 4
Eggsac

My questions:
1) Is there no changes needed in temperature?
2) When do I best apply the rainy/dry season simulation?
3) Do you leave the male with the female or do you take the male out after each insertion?
4) Do you take the eggsac or do you leave it with the mother to hatch?
5) Do I need more males?

Setup Theraphosa species.

Big adult female in premolt.

Mature male Theraphosa stirmi.
 

Poec54

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If you're lucky the mating can be fast. My first stirmi pairing was 3 minutes, from the time he entered her cage until he left. However, I tried him with several other females, and he wasn't nearly as enthusiastic, and no insertions took place. I wouldn't leave him in with her unsupervised. Females can be hostile once they're done mating, or if they're not in the mood. These are 8-legged food processors and anything that moves is a possible meal to them.

Stirmi seem to need moist conditions all the time, so I don't think there's a pronounced dry season/wet season. And because of that, they also may breed and lay sacs year round. With almost all, the biggest determination for timing with any species is when both are recently-molted.
 

mingu

Arachnoknight
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Stirmi seem to need moist conditions all the time, so I don't think there's a pronounced dry season/wet season. And because of that, they also may breed and lay sacs year round. With almost all, the biggest determination for timing with any species is when both are recently-molted.
I tought the season simulation was needed to get them to drop a sac?
 

Poec54

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I tought the season simulation was needed to get them to drop a sac?
I don't know about wet, tropical rain forest species. When there's rain most, or all of year, I don't know that that's nearly the trigger it is with species that have a pronounced dry season. Anything near the equator is used to relatively consistent day lengths, so that may not have much effect on them either. In a more-or-less consistent climate, is there a benefit to follow small variations in seasons? Or do slings have a good chance of survival no matter when they're born?
 

mingu

Arachnoknight
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I gathering more info about breeding Theraphosa sp. for now and Poec54, thanks for your comments. Btw, how is you're breeding with T. stirmi going?
I'll keep you all updated, when my male produced his spermweb.
 

LordWaffle

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Pretty interesting to read about the methodology for this. Keep us posted on how it goes and what you do if it works out!
 

xhexdx

ArachnoGod
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The Europeans have had great success working with Theraphosa sp. I'd see if you can touch base with some of them.
 

AphonopelmaTX

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The BTS would be a good place to start. Also, seek out these articles and the ones in their bibliography for additional information. Yes, I realize they are about T. blondi and T. apophysis, but they may prove to be useful for T. stirmi.

Striffler, B. (2005). Life history of Goliath Birdeaters – Theraphosa apophysis and Theraphosa blondi (Araneae, Theraphosidae, Theraphosinae). Journal of the British Tarantula Society, 21 (1): 26-33.

Gabriel, R. (2003). Notes on the Husbandry and Captive Breeding of Theraphosa blondi. Journal of the British Tarantula Society, 18 (2): 54–57.
 

herpguy

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The best way to simulate "flooding" is with a false bottom tank. That way the substrate never really stays soggy and water slowly retreats back to the reservoir as it dries. False bottoms are actually the best way to provide humidity for Theraphosa sp. IMO.
Theraphosa don't really treat the males too badly, but problems can happen. You can also give the female something to hold in her chelicerae while the male is doing his work, it makes her much less likely to want to chomp down.
 

Poec54

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The best way to simulate "flooding" is with a false bottom tank. That way the substrate never really stays soggy and water slowly retreats back to the reservoir as it dries. False bottoms are actually the best way to provide humidity for Theraphosa sp. IMO.
Theraphosa don't really treat the males too badly, but problems can happen. You can also give the female something to hold in her chelicerae while the male is doing his work, it makes her much less likely to want to chomp down.
Have you been able to hatch out any Theraphosa?
 

herpguy

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No unfortunately not. By the time I was really getting serious into breeding them I had to leave the hobby for a few years. Like most people, many successful matings, but no viable sac...
For that reason my recommendation needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
I am hopefully going to be starting it up again very very soon. From what I've heard the Europeans follow the local range weather patterns to a T (no pun intended). However, this is difficult since The area where Theraphosa stirmi is found has a relatively consistent weather pattern all year, with only about 2 2 month periods of "drier" weather.
 

mingu

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Little update
Last molt:
Female nr 1 in august 2013
Female nr 2 in september 2013
Female nr 3 in december 2013


Male nr 1 matured in december 2013 and still no spermweb.
Male nr 2 matured in januari 2014 and it looks like he made a spermweb this morning 28-01-14.


My question is, is he ready to go and how do I best introduce the male to the female? (just put him in the female cage?).
All females are well fed, but not too fat.
Female nr 1 and 3, I rehoused recently in to bigger cages and they didn't take their big hide yet. Is this a problem for breeding?

I'm a little nervous, because this would be my first breeding with tarantulas.
 
Last edited:

mingu

Arachnoknight
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Update: Today, I saw my male Theraphosa stirmi tapping, wandering in his enclosure, but I never saw a spermweb in is cage. Is he ready to mate?
 

CitizenNumber9

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Since you have 3 females, why not try different conditions with each one? Theoretically, you would be most likely to get a sac that way and you would know which way works best (after testing it out a few more times).
 

mingu

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Update: Succesfull insertion on 28-02-14 female nr 1
Unsuccesfull insertion on 01/03/14, female nr 3
Succesfull insertion on 02/03/14, female nr 2
All mated with the same male that produced a spermweb on 13-02-14 and 24-02-14



Video of the last two matings, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt8ZbHWYgSI

Since you have 3 females, why not try different conditions with each one? Theoretically, you would be most likely to get a sac that way and you would know which way works best (after testing it out a few more times).
I'm going to keep it simple for now and keep this sp. moist all the time.
 

Poec54

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The best way to simulate "flooding" is with a false bottom tank. That way the substrate never really stays soggy and water slowly retreats back to the reservoir as it dries. False bottoms are actually the best way to provide humidity for Theraphosa sp.
I'm not a proponent of flooding. It takes a while to dry out, and you have to deal with a soggy mess in the meantime.
 

JZC

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I'd love to breed my girl for a challenging first project. We need more Theraphosa in the hobby.
 

Poec54

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I'd love to breed my girl for a challenging first project. We need more Theraphosa in the hobby.
+1. With all the wild caught stirmi being imported, we have an obligation to reproduce them. At some point there won't be any more coming in.
 

JZC

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+1. With all the wild caught stirmi being imported, we have an obligation to reproduce them. At some point there won't be any more coming in.
Yup. And I agree with you saying in other threads that too many Ts are dying virgins. Plus, Theraphosas are massively underrated.
 
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