P. metallica - To feed or not to feed

I'm looking for a bit of input on something I'm in two minds about.

I have a very gravid P. metallica at the moment - It's been 6 and a half months since insertion, she's hugging the heat, and has pulled down most of her old webbing, so she could produce a sac any day really - (I have been informed that the average time for a metallica sac is between 5 and a half to 7 months).

The thing is, up until last week, she fasted for about 4 months or so - she sealed herself in for a good 2 and a half of those. Last saturday she took 3 small locusts, and webbed up her hide almost immediately afterwards. A few days ago, she unsealed her hide again.

To me, this would say that she's either receptive to feeding, or has been having a drink. If it was just a drink she was after, I'd have expected her to seal herself back in again.

Now here's the thing. The male was a bit thick, and didn't get an insertion until a few months after she moulted. It's now coming up to about 10 months since her last moult. Since then, she's only had around 15 small/medium locusts and a couple of black crickets, and she's not showing signs of premoult thankfully.

Assuming I'm correct, and she has unsealed her hide due to being on the hungry side (I'd be hungry to after fasting for 4 months), the last thing I want to do is possibly prompt a moult by suddenly resuming feeding (which I imagine could possibly be construed as a seasonal change).

A good friend of mine, Colin D. Wilson, has voiced experiences that he has had wherein a couple of gravid female pokies moulted out shortly after resuming feeding.

However, I have been told by a metallica breeder that the female would start to feast heavily in the last month leading up to dropping a sac.

I've only had regalis sacs before, and one of those was eaten - Possibly due to insufficient feeding before laying.

Currently, I'm in the mindset of leaving her be and maybe feeding her again in another week if she remains unsealed. But then again, has she not made a sac already because she's not eaten quite enough? :?

Any thoughts?

I am not an expert by any means...but if I was in your situation I would feed her.

In my limited experience with pokies the females that had been mated ate some food here and there then stopped for a long while. They then resumed heavy feeding toward the later stages of being gravid, taking prey all the way up to the the day they sealed themselves off permanently to produce an egg sac.

So I would feed.

Bottom line, not reason not to feed. If she doesn't need the food, she won't eat.

The pokies i've breed always sealed themselves in there tubes before laying
there egg cases.If she pulled down her web?That doesn't sound good to me.
But Metallica is a pokie i've never bred and I hope to breed soon.I fed my
pokies until thay closed of there web.Thats how I new thay were close to
laying a sac.

Satellite Rob said:

there egg cases.If she pulled down her web?That doesn't sound good to me.

Click to expand...

That happens all the time, there are no bad conclusions to draw from that behavior.

Webbing taken down is an indication they are out and about at night looking for food and water. Webbing up, means they want to be left alone for one reason or another sac/molt/ ect.