C. elegans husbandry

Hello. I am finally going to get C. elegans slings and I was wondering several things about their husbandry. As far as I know, they're burrowers and their substrate should be moist. Feeding is basic and pretty much like all other Ts, except the prey size. What I was wondering is how much time it takes for both genders to mature? How, for the life of little spiders, am I supposed to sex these guys from early to make plans on breeding. I'll be getting 3 or 4 slings. Any breeding info would be appreciated.

I can can only give a bit of help. My C. ritae MM took around 20 months to hook out. Male coloration appeared in the molt immediately before he hooked out. Unfortunately I've no experience with females. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

from my understanding on this SP. is that its ofcourse a dwarf, and is from a tropical climate, so kinda moist but not dripping.
also if your planning on that entire group to mate.. think again males will mature out way before your females do.. however time depends.. fin says his male hooked at 20 months but with different species, me and a friend got the male may hook out in as little as 10 months. it all depends on the temp, how its fed, how much.. litterally giving an amount of time is rolling dice.. and the fm will take minimum of 18months for most sp imo and thats if shes kept hot, fed often and a fast grower...

the rest ill leave to the actual c. ele keepers

What about the sexing? Microscope?

I don't have experience with this genus but I have 2 mature females H. incei which are also Trinidad dwarfs. I've raised them from slings and have had them for almost an year. They're about 2 1/2". I didn't sex them via molt but it was obvious by their size, structure and age. I keep mine with dry substrate and a water bolw and they do just fine. No problems with molting. I've read that Cyriocosmus get about 2" so I think you will be able to sex them shortly before they mature (I have problems with unfolding small molts). I won't say anything more regarding the breeding but I think the males mature long before the females. The only thing I don't like about dwarfs is their shorter lifespan and that's why I'm planning to breed my females soon.

---------- Post added 03-31-2015 at 02:33 PM ----------

I forgot: the spermatheca of H. incei is pretty big at 2". That's everything I can say.

They are sexually dimorphic. My ritae was obviously male on the molt before he hooked out. These guys are about 2". Steady hands to handle the exuvium. My little guy before he sailed off to lovers lane.

Well then, Ill need my school's microscope. Cant breed if the males die before females mature.

Angel Minkov said:

Cant breed if the males die before females mature.

Click to expand...

That's the case with all tarantulas, and probably all spider species. To get the timing of maturities right, you really have to manipulate growth rates, as females often mature a year or two later than their brothers.

Hence my questions on sexing. I want to sex them early.

Poec54 said:

That's the case with all tarantulas, and probably all spider species. To get the timing of maturities right, you really have to manipulate growth rates, as females often mature a year or two later than their brothers.

Click to expand...

I had both P.vittata females and H.villosella females matured before the males. and they were from same egg sac. I didn't do something special to grow the females faster.
They were all fed at same time.

I hadn't realized how quickly my ritae had matured. Just looked at molt dates. Barely 5 months between his last molt and his ultimate molt and he had eaten a few weeks before. They grow up so fast

Cyriocosmus is one of my favorites. So much color and attitude. Good luck with them.