P. cancerides breeding size

Sam_Peanuts · Apr 2, 2015

It's apparently molting week for my Phormictopus cancerides since my smaller female molted last weekend and I found my biggest on her back when I woke up this morning.

I wanted people opinions on what size they should be before trying to breed them since I'll have a male at the end of the month and I was wondering if I should also try to breed my smaller one since she seems to have grown bigger than I expected her to(haven't had a good look at her yet since I didn't want to disturb her too much) and the timing would be perfect.

Poec54 · Apr 2, 2015

How big is the female? I wouldn't think of pairing up a cancerides until she was 6". Technically they may be 'mature' before that, but you're much more likely to have issues: that she'll molt before laying a sac, that the sac will be small, or that the eggs/slings will have a low survival rate. They have just so many resources in their body to use, and if they're still getting up to normal adult size, that competes with egg production; one or both will be shorted.

Sam_Peanuts · Apr 2, 2015

The second sentence is what I was looking for.

I know it can cause problems if she's mature but too small which is why I wanted to have peoples opinion on how big they would wait for them to get before breeding them.

As I said, I didn't have a good look at her yet, but she seemed to be around 6" from right front leg to right back leg and not quite fully extended when I checked using a ruler on the side of her tank this morning.

Not the most reliable way to measure and I wasn't in the best angle so I'm not quite sure yet, but it's looking good. I'll be rehousing her very soon since she's getting too big for her enclosure(and I'll be able to recover the giant piece of cork she fully buried) so It'll be easier to measure her.

pyro fiend · Apr 3, 2015

Sam_Peanuts said:
The second sentence is what I was looking for.

I know it can cause problems if she's mature but too small which is why I wanted to have peoples opinion on how big they would wait for them to get before breeding them.

As I said, I didn't have a good look at her yet, but she seemed to be around 6" from right front leg to right back leg and not quite fully extended when I checked using a ruler on the side of her tank this morning.

Not the most reliable way to measure and I wasn't in the best angle so I'm not quite sure yet, but it's looking good. I'll be rehousing her very soon since she's getting too big for her enclosure(and I'll be able to recover the giant piece of cork she fully buried) so It'll be easier to measure her.

If your reading at or close to 6 from one leg to the other on the same size and shes scrunched a little, id think you have a big enough girl.. But may wat to be sure and "wiat till she molts".. JUST KIDDING! Sounds about right.. Good luck on undigging your cork as well ^.^

keep up updated, you nut ;D

P. cancerides breeding size

Sam_Peanuts

Arachnobaron

Poec54

Arachnoemperor

Sam_Peanuts

Arachnobaron

pyro fiend

Arachnoprince