Postultimate male survives another molt!

RoseK

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 2, 2013
Messages
52
I have a MM A. avic who is nothing like any T I'ever ever owned. And I've owned them for over 20 years!

I've mentioned him on this forum before. I got him as a MM, albeit a tiny one (hence his name, Bilbo) and in mid-February of this year he survived a post-ultimate molt, minus one palp. Once he stabilized, I noticed that he and one of my MFs were 'signaling' to each other, so I mated them and he became a postultimate dad to ten slings. I posted a thread about that right here. All 10 slings are growing and doing well. One will be going to Jon Sosiak (Jon3800 on YouTube) but I'm keeping the rest to see how they grow, if they're fertile, etc.

Saturday morning I went to check on Bilbo, as he'd been off his food and I was worried that his time was near. To my shock, he'd performed a SECOND post-ultimate molt and not only grown in size but regenerated his missing palp. He was on top of his old molt so I thought he was stuck in it, but as soon as I opened his enclosure he struggled away from it and made his way up his cork bark hide.

As of today he's still alive, although obviously recovering from the molt. I've put fresh water where he can reach it, as his abdomen looks small, and am keeping my fingers crossed. As soon as he's hardened enough to safely take out, I'm going to post pictures.

Just thought I would share. This boy has amazed me.
 

Rayenicole

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Messages
30
I have a MM A. avic who is nothing like any T I'ever ever owned. And I've owned them for over 20 years!

I've mentioned him on this forum before. I got him as a MM, albeit a tiny one (hence his name, Bilbo) and in mid-February of this year he survived a post-ultimate molt, minus one palp. Once he stabilized, I noticed that he and one of my MFs were 'signaling' to each other, so I mated them and he became a postultimate dad to ten slings. I posted a thread about that right here. All 10 slings are growing and doing well. One will be going to Jon Sosiak (Jon3800 on YouTube) but I'm keeping the rest to see how they grow, if they're fertile, etc.

Saturday morning I went to check on Bilbo, as he'd been off his food and I was worried that his time was near. To my shock, he'd performed a SECOND post-ultimate molt and not only grown in size but regenerated his missing palp. He was on top of his old molt so I thought he was stuck in it, but as soon as I opened his enclosure he struggled away from it and made his way up his cork bark hide.

As of today he's still alive, although obviously recovering from the molt. I've put fresh water where he can reach it, as his abdomen looks small, and am keeping my fingers crossed. As soon as he's hardened enough to safely take out, I'm going to post pictures.

Just thought I would share. This boy has amazed me.
You're going to create a new super T that is genetically superior to others. The end result will be fast growing and long lived males who wind up huge and eat cattle. Good luck.
 

klawfran3

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Messages
645
Does anyone know of anything like this happening before? this is one of the coolest things to happen to a male tarantula. If he survives long enough to create a sperm web, try and mate him if you can. see if he's fertile, and if he is, the babies could possibly be like him and survive MUCH longer in to adulthood.

and if he is just a plain old avic that has no superior genes, well that means you must be doing something very right!
 

RoseK

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 2, 2013
Messages
52
You're going to create a new super T that is genetically superior to others. The end result will be fast growing and long lived males who wind up huge and eat cattle. Good luck.
LOL I'd love to take credit for that, but I didn't originally breed him so know nothing about his antecedents. All I know about his past is that he was raised communally in a large ExoTerra with other a. avics and was the tiniest MM of his species that I'd ever seen.

---------- Post added 08-18-2014 at 10:53 AM ----------

Does anyone know of anything like this happening before? this is one of the coolest things to happen to a male tarantula. If he survives long enough to create a sperm web, try and mate him if you can. see if he's fertile, and if he is, the babies could possibly be like him and survive MUCH longer in to adulthood.

and if he is just a plain old avic that has no superior genes, well that means you must be doing something very right!
Thanks, klawfran :) All credit goes to him, not me! I've never seen this happen in over 20 years. One of the slings is going to Jon in September: I'm asking him to keep us up to date on his / her lifespan and breeding habits on video.
 

awiec

Arachnoprince
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
1,325
Very impressive little guy. I think that his small maturity size may have something to do with with his amazing suitability, which I believe you inferred this as well, I will be curious to see if his children from the first molt will do well. Now he has both his palps back I am curious to see if he has the same fertility as he did before his first post ultimate molt or perhaps his sperm may be affected by age like it is in other animals.
 

RoseK

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 2, 2013
Messages
52
you might consider renaming him Jason, as in Jason from Friday the 13th. he can't be killed!
LOL. You have a point there.

---------- Post added 08-18-2014 at 05:58 PM ----------

Very impressive little guy. I think that his small maturity size may have something to do with with his amazing suitability, which I believe you inferred this as well, I will be curious to see if his children from the first molt will do well. Now he has both his palps back I am curious to see if he has the same fertility as he did before his first post ultimate molt or perhaps his sperm may be affected by age like it is in other animals.
Thanks, awiec. Like you, I think early maturity was a factor. He was raised communally, so I suspect that constant proximity to adult females may have triggered it. Since few hobbyists raise their avics in groups for long, it's never been observed in captivity (that I know of). Perhaps this is routine in the wild?
 

freedumbdclxvi

Arachnoprince
Joined
May 28, 2012
Messages
1,426
I would continue to keep detailed records of his actions. As far as I am aware, this is the first time a postultimate male has attemptrd another post ultimate molt *and* survived. This is amazing.
 

RoseK

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 2, 2013
Messages
52
I would continue to keep detailed records of his actions. As far as I am aware, this is the first time a postultimate male has attemptrd another post ultimate molt *and* survived. This is amazing.
Wow- you've never heard of one either?

I just got home after a nail-biting day at work, and Bilbo is still with us. He's doing OK: he sits on his cork bar and does stretches. I will take a vid this weekend and post it.
 

pyro fiend

Arachnoprince
Joined
Dec 29, 2013
Messages
1,216
The only other T iv heard of is the occasional rosea/porteri. And bring the slow growers they are i dont think some make it to the 2nd post ultamatemolt just by age alone.. i know a few people who still have post ultamate molt porteri but its like 20sum by now. Hard telling if hell molt again hes on a 2-3 yr cycle
 

Pociemon

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
911
I have a MM A. avic who is nothing like any T I'ever ever owned. And I've owned them for over 20 years!

I've mentioned him on this forum before. I got him as a MM, albeit a tiny one (hence his name, Bilbo) and in mid-February of this year he survived a post-ultimate molt, minus one palp. Once he stabilized, I noticed that he and one of my MFs were 'signaling' to each other, so I mated them and he became a postultimate dad to ten slings. I posted a thread about that right here. All 10 slings are growing and doing well. One will be going to Jon Sosiak (Jon3800 on YouTube) but I'm keeping the rest to see how they grow, if they're fertile, etc.

Saturday morning I went to check on Bilbo, as he'd been off his food and I was worried that his time was near. To my shock, he'd performed a SECOND post-ultimate molt and not only grown in size but regenerated his missing palp. He was on top of his old molt so I thought he was stuck in it, but as soon as I opened his enclosure he struggled away from it and made his way up his cork bark hide.

As of today he's still alive, although obviously recovering from the molt. I've put fresh water where he can reach it, as his abdomen looks small, and am keeping my fingers crossed. As soon as he's hardened enough to safely take out, I'm going to post pictures.

Just thought I would share. This boy has amazed me.
Such a male would quickly become my favorite guy ;-)
 

Smokehound714

Arachnoking
Joined
Mar 23, 2013
Messages
3,091
I think i remember seeing another mature male that molted after his ultimate, and his legs were absurdly long.. At this point it looked more like a true haha..

Cant remember the species though, but he was shown here at AB
 

RoseK

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 2, 2013
Messages
52
I checked on him this morning and found him on his cork bark hide, grooming himself. His abdomen looks a lot better. He's a bit wobbly when he walks, but hopefully that will improve as he hardens more. If necessary, I'll feed him prekilled crickets.
 

awiec

Arachnoprince
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
1,325
I checked on him this morning and found him on his cork bark hide, grooming himself. His abdomen looks a lot better. He's a bit wobbly when he walks, but hopefully that will improve as he hardens more. If necessary, I'll feed him prekilled crickets.
Doesn't sound like a bad idea or at least maim them so he does not have to put much effort into catching them.
 

belewfripp

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 17, 2002
Messages
344
I would continue to keep detailed records of his actions. As far as I am aware, this is the first time a postultimate male has attemptrd another post ultimate molt *and* survived. This is amazing.
It happens occasionally. I had a male G. rosea RCF pull the same trick, though I never made an attempt to breed him. That's the part of this particular story that surprises me the most - that he was able to mate after his postultimate molt, and that he was viable. My experience has been that, when they successfully have a 2nd postultimate molt, their palps go back to "normal", that is, no more emboli. If that is the case here, then an additional breeding attempt is probably not going to work out.

The fact that he managed it even the one time is amazing on its own, though.
 

RoseK

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 2, 2013
Messages
52
Definitely! I am taking photos of him tomorrow and will post them here.
 

RoseK

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 2, 2013
Messages
52
Here's a video of Bilbo crawling across a counter with me running interference. As you can see, he can move quickly but not as smoothly as other avics, as his legs are still misshapen from the first postultimate molt. He can climb textured surfaces like cork bark but has difficultly with plastic or glass, so he has a big piece of cork in his enclosure.

He ended up throwing off one of his palps (not the regenerated one) but he's otherwise doing very well. Ate a post-molt meal today. And yes, he started drumming to the female avic in the next page.

[YOUTUBE]wB8B3X79zuM[/YOUTUBE]
 

freedumbdclxvi

Arachnoprince
Joined
May 28, 2012
Messages
1,426
It happens occasionally. I had a male G. rosea RCF pull the same trick, though I never made an attempt to breed him. That's the part of this particular story that surprises me the most - that he was able to mate after his postultimate molt, and that he was viable. My experience has been that, when they successfully have a 2nd postultimate molt, their palps go back to "normal", that is, no more emboli. If that is the case here, then an additional breeding attempt is probably not going to work out.

The fact that he managed it even the one time is amazing on its own, though.
That's interesting to note. Did you kept records on it?
 
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