Today on are they Pregnant, fat, or about to molt

[starlight_kitsune]

This A. seemanni was a gift from my mom last November. They haven't molted for me yet and they're suspected to be female (ventrally sexed so I'm taking it with a gigantic grain of salt for now.) She's most likely wild caught unfortunately. Today I rehoused her due to an enclosure issue (stupid hinge busted when I refilled the water) and she is very fat compared to the last time I saw her. She last ate a month ago, hasn't been out or interested since then.

So who wants to play a game of "Is she pregnant, considering molting soon, or just got the booty?" with me?

Sorry for the poor lighting, I didn't want to stress her out more than she already is.

Editing to add: she's about 5" DLS

 

[BoyFromLA]

stupid hinge busted when I refilled the water

Now, that’s rare…

 

[starlight_kitsune]

Now, that’s rare…

I've never had a cage break before for a T or a reptile. Definitely never had a hinge just snap a piece off the acrylic either. I'm still pretty annoyed about it tbh. I had tabled the idea of rehousing her until further notice because she seemed all good and content, and its not really what I wanted to mess with tonight.

 

[BoyFromLA]

Aphonopelma seemanni:

• It worked! I am finally breaking out of this place!

Starlight_kitsune:

• I am rehousing it.

 

[LucN]

If you have reason to believe it's WC, there's a good chance it could be gravid. You'll know as time goes on. Having a sudden sac of seemanni slings wouldn't be such a bad thing, now would it ?

 

[Scorpiobsession]

A. seemanni was a gift from my mom last November.

Now why don't I get gifts like that?

 

[Arachnophobphile]

This A. seemanni was a gift from my mom last November. They haven't molted for me yet and they're suspected to be female (ventrally sexed so I'm taking it with a gigantic grain of salt for now.) She's most likely wild caught unfortunately. Today I rehoused her due to an enclosure issue (stupid hinge busted when I refilled the water) and she is very fat compared to the last time I saw her. She last ate a month ago, hasn't been out or interested since then.

So who wants to play a game of "Is she pregnant, considering molting soon, or just got the booty?" with me?

Sorry for the poor lighting, I didn't want to stress her out more than she already is.

Editing to add: she's about 5" DLS
View attachment 384582

If it is truly 5 inches dls it looks female to me. Males have thinner, spindly longer legs.

She also looks well cared for. I would not feed her for quite some time. Anymore food she'll be obese.

 

[starlight_kitsune]

If you have reason to believe it's WC, there's a good chance it could be gravid. You'll know as time goes on. Having a sudden sac of seemanni slings wouldn't be such a bad thing, now would it ?

Well, it wouldn't be SO bad but where would I even put them? My poor books are already slowly being put away into storage to make room for tarantulas.

I am pretty confident she's WC just based off the place my mom got her from. It's a questionablee at best pet store. She was really low priced too so I'd be surprised to see a CB at that rate. I've been side-eying her the entire time I've had her waiting to see her molt just because of how many "My tarantula dropped a surprise sac" posts I see from wild caught Ts.

If it is truly 5 inches dls it looks female to me. Males have thinner, spindly longer legs.

She also looks well cared for. I would not feed her for quite some time. Anymore food she'll be obese.

I was thinking she looks too stocky to be a male, plus she was sold as female but you know... questionable shop so I took it with a grain of salt. She is technically just barely under 5", but very barely under.

She hasn't eaten for a month already and I wasn't planning on feeding her for a while yet. She tends to rest at her burrow entrance when she's hungry, and she's really only been wanting food every other month or two since I've had her. I don't plan to let her get obese or anything.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

Well, it wouldn't be SO bad but where would I even put them? My poor books are already slowly being put away into storage to make room for tarantulas.

I am pretty confident she's WC just based off the place my mom got her from. It's a questionablee at best pet store. She was really low priced too so I'd be surprised to see a CB at that rate. I've been side-eying her the entire time I've had her waiting to see her molt just because of how many "My tarantula dropped a surprise sac" posts I see from wild caught Ts.



I was thinking she looks too stocky to be a male, plus she was sold as female but you know... questionable shop so I took it with a grain of salt. She is technically just barely under 5", but very barely under.

She hasn't eaten for a month already and I wasn't planning on feeding her for a while yet. She tends to rest at her burrow entrance when she's hungry, and she's really only been wanting food every other month or two since I've had her. I don't plan to let her get obese or anything.

I bought my A. chalcodes as a female and was 3.5 inches dls. It looked female in every way then it molted into a 5 inch dls mature male.

I did not have it long enough to get a prior molt. It never molted in my care until the one.

Then there is my T. vagans I bought last year. It was 1 inch dls. As it grew I was convinced it was male. It just completed a molt on 5/10/21 and went from 4.5 inches dls to 6 inches dls and no tibial hooks.

Soooooo could be female and I don't have a usb microscope to confirm it's sex. I haven't had the time to see if I can sex it visually with no microscope yet.

 

[l4nsky]

If she hasn't burrowed down yet, you can take her out and candle her through a clear plastic enclosure. Basically place a flashlight as close to the bottom of her abdomen as possible and shine the light into her abdomen. If she's gravid, the bottom of her abdomen will glow with a deep amber color.

 

[starlight_kitsune]

If she hasn't burrowed down yet, you can take her out and candle her through a clear plastic enclosure. Basically place a flashlight as close to the bottom of her abdomen as possible and shine the light into her abdomen. If she's gravid, the bottom of her abdomen will glow with a deep amber color.

Oooh. I didn't think of candling. I've done that to check if chicken eggs are fertile before, didn't think of applying something similar to tarantulas. She hasn't burrowed yet, so after the toddler is in bed I'll go catch cup her real quick and try this. Thank you!

 

[LucN]

It will likely web much, much more than a typical molting mat if it's ready to lay eggs. I wish I could be in your shoes, seemanni are not so common here in Canada. Please do keep us updated on any developments.

 

[l4nsky]

Oooh. I didn't think of candling. I've done that to check if chicken eggs are fertile before, didn't think of applying something similar to tarantulas. She hasn't burrowed yet, so after the toddler is in bed I'll go catch cup her real quick and try this. Thank you!

Any updates?

 

[starlight_kitsune]

Any updates?

Not yet. I went to go get her about about thirty minutes after saying I was going to check her out, and I swear she overheard the plan and said "Nah, no thanks." She was digging and deep. She peeked out briefly this morning to go to her water dish, so I'm keeping an eye on her today to see if I can find a time to scoop her and check.

 

[starlight_kitsune]

Update, went in and caught her out and about wandering, was able to catch cup her and try the flashlight method. Absolutely no sign of an amber glow whatsoever, went ahead and checked her bum out while she was out to check for impaction because my partner got me paranoid about it but she looked clear. I'm going to guess she's just holding onto her food really well or chunking up in prep for a molt. Of course that could still be months away with her being an A. seemanni lol.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

Update, went in and caught her out and about wandering, was able to catch cup her and try the flashlight method. Absolutely no sign of an amber glow whatsoever, went ahead and checked her bum out while she was out to check for impaction because my partner got me paranoid about it but she looked clear. I'm going to guess she's just holding onto her food really well or chunking up in prep for a molt. Of course that could still be months away with her being an A. seemanni lol.

Well I don't know much about time length to next molt with that species but chalcodes seems like it is forever before a molt. Like year/s.

Aphonopelma genus in general are very slow growers. However I'm sure there's been some that grew a little faster just like any other genus and species.