Will an undersize female breed?

squamata99

Arachnosquire
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Say a T is one shed away from becoming the adult size her species should reach, can she produce a case. Say the adult size is 6" and she's 5".
 

P. Novak

ArachnoGod
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I would say yes, its actually quite surprising what size some females can breed at.
 

Mina

Arachnoking
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I have a small I'd say 3 to 31/2 inch female avic avic and she is a proven breeder. I also talked to another breeder I know and he said that specifically with avics he has bred them at two inchs.
I would assume that means that most of them could be bred before reaching full size, but I imagine that would also affect the size of the eggsack.
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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I have never done an avic breeding but with ground dwelling Ts I would wait till at least 4" to try... and 4.5 would be a little safer.
 

Bigboy

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Can a thirteen year old girl become pregnant? Sometimes, but it isn't exactly the best idea as far as health is concerned.
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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Can a thirteen year old girl become pregnant? Sometimes, but it isn't exactly the best idea as far as health is concerned.
What health concerns would you be talking about. I have several females that produced very well from 4.5" and has they got bigger they became worse mothers. The clutches might be smaller when the T is smaller but other then that I dont see any outstanding health concerns.
 

padkison

Arachnoangel
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Not saying you aren't right, but spiders are different enough from humans that one can't make this analogy with any certainty.

Can a thirteen year old girl become pregnant? Sometimes, but it isn't exactly the best idea as far as health is concerned.
 
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Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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Even with humans.... its only society that thinks its not ok for young women to have babies........ does not mean they cant. I have way to many friends from back in the day that had kids when we were in highschool, some are fine now and doing well and some of those moms are well not so good. But that was nothing health related.
 

Stylopidae

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Say a T is one shed away from becoming the adult size her species should reach, can she produce a case. Say the adult size is 6" and she's 5".
OK...anyways. This discussion isn't about humans, and I've yet to see any studies about whether or not breeding affects female tarantula health (although, breeding is occasionally hazardous to male T health ;) ) so anything anyone says from this point is speculation unless you can dig up a research paper.

Most species can breed within a few inches of adult size, however their willingness to accept a male can vary greatly between species.

I have an A. seemani that's within an inch of adult size and she wouldn't let a male go near her, and somebody on here has apparrently bred an avic at 3 inches.

So, I'd say try it. If the male is larger than the female, then just watch him carefully. Larger males have been known to very occasionally munch smaller females.
 
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