Theraphosa blondi

Hello.

With conditions just right I went ahead with pairing these guys up.

Temperature: 79 Degrees F
Humidity:77%
Lighting Conditions: Dimmed

Male was placed into the females enclosure using the "cupping" method. But with a BIGGER cup.....LMAO!

The male instantly picked up on the females scent. He initiated the mating by some drumming very shortly. The female walked toward him and lifted her front legs and pedipalps. No fangs were bared so I didn't interfere. He gently tounched her frong 2 set up legs slowly lifting her and walked her backwards slightly just enough to pull her abdomen closer to him.

He made 4 insertions and started lowering her down. Once that happend I took him out and placed him back into his enclsure for future breeding attempt.

Here are a small series of pics showing what happend..... to view the whole mating sequence..please visit my link below in my signature and look for the Theraphosa breeding album

Enjoy!

Dysfunctional Blondi

i attempted to breed my female with <darkeye>'s male on june 22. he did a lot of pushing and such, but never really lifted her up. he rubbed her underside, but never inserted.

separated them, fed them, and re-tried tonite (june 24). even less success: he didn't even attempt to lift her. instead, he touched her front legs with his, and eventually they both stood in upright positions, no contact. then he turned around and walked out.

:wall:

video clip of the male on loan trying to figure out the mating business.

a week later, i think he finally got an insert!

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=73209

Fresh MM came to me on loan on 08/07/07 for a female that was in heavy premolt. Luck be it the female then molted later that day.

Some history on this female, she has made a sac for me before but ate the sac a few days after making it. So this time I messed a bit with her husbandry. After waiting 9 days past her molt which put her at about 7.5” I decided to pair them. The rest goes as follows.

Lighting- lamp in the corner so I could see but others wise dim.

Temps- 78-80.

Breeding took place in the evening.

The MM was coaxed into the females tank opposite of her. A sperm web was seen being constructed the night before. The female was in her hide and the MM made his way in her direction tapping and shaking while walking. The female was un responsive at first and I almost took him out figuring the female needed more time to harden up. But a few moments later the female shot out half way to meet the MM. The male then began slapping the female with the tips of his legs and trying to get her out of the hide. Several times he tried to make inserts but the hide was preventing him from lifting her, so I reached in and removed the hide. The MM and the female parted briefly from the disturbance but resumed mating shortly after that. 4 good inserts were witnessed and the MM made a clean break. After allowing some time for the female to eat a few roaches the MM was introduced again on 08/25/07/. The mating was just as straight forward as the first and with the same results.

Following the breedings no temp change was made. The females tank was allowed to dry some, but I did continue to keep half the tank moist. The female spent some time on the moist substrate and some of the time on the dry side of the tank. Feeding was unrestricted. She ate about a dozen large roaches, and a few mice. Her last meal was on 11/29/07 and she is currently refusing food now (which is a first Lol). A few days ago a hide was re introduced to her tank and heavy misting was conducted. She took to the hide right away. And this evening she has pushed out a bunch of substrate and is throwing webbing all around the tank. I expect a sac will be constructed in the coming days maybe weeks. Eggs are clearly seen in her abdomen so there is no doubt she is gravid, I just need to pay attention to the conditions now and make her comfortable enough to give me a sac. (fingers crossed.)
Updates of this female will be posted when there are results.

Here is a picture of the pairing.

Unsuccessful

Pulled sac because bad eggs were seen inside with a flashlight when the sac was near the side of the tank. 164 eggs were found inside the sac turning black.

Hoping for the best!

April 3, 2008

Temp. 75-80 degrees F.
Humidity no lower than 70%

Mature male arrived Dec. 9th and had hid own place to recover from shipping. On Dec.10th the females cage was flooded, ponding in the low spots forced her to higher ground. By Dec. 15th the water had receded below the soil line. At that point the Male was introduced. They cohabitated for two weeks in the female's 45 gallon tank. Several sperm webs were constructed and matings were noticed, usually in the early morning.


The male was sent on to Florida to try and continue his legacy at the end of December.

Being March 4th the female started excavating under her nice exo-terra hide. It was the first time in 8 years she ever pushed dirt around. On the 17th, the entrance was lightly sealed. For the next few days the webbing was constantly being torn down and rebuilt. The final seal was put up April 1st.


April 3rd, the eggs were laid.



Updates will be given as time progresses. Mommy will keep her sac until the end.

April 4, 2008 Sac was eaten

Hi

Temp -about 25°c (77°F) day and 20°c (68°F) night. (give or take a few deegrees at diferent times for a few hours depending on outside temperture)
Humidity - in no way measured except by common sense.
Mated - May - September
Eggsac - 27th september
Eggsac removed - 5th December
First spiderlings - sometime in January.(pic not shown)
105 eggs, 72 of which made it through to spiderling.




Cheers
Chris.:1:

Success

Attempted mating went sorely wrong the first try as the male came in nearly atop the female (who was not very freshly molted) and became fuel for a molt. This was in January/February. Female molted well and hardened up.
Second male was introduced to her with much better results
Mated several times between March and April 2009. by the end of April she had enough of his foolishness and began running him off. Female fed very well including 1 frozen/thawed rat pup, she ate the entire thing.
June 4 Egg sac made. Looked in today and saw said sac moving. Pulled sac and found this. Note the black eggs are eggs with legs and are being consumed by the 1st instars.
looks to be around 100 slings. 1st instars at near 1" ls already.

T.blondi breeding

Throne Room Invertebrates put "Ogra" and "Sweetie" together in aprox. mid June 2009.
I noticed her digging her hide out about a week ago - and today I see she's sitting on a sac.
No special accommodations were provided.
No extra cycling, no flooding. Ambient humidity is whatever it is in her tank at all times. (Damp coco substrate)
Ogra was fed normally. She is kept in the busiest section of the work room (she's my buddy) and apparently is unbothered by loud music, constant lights on and off, barking dogs and squealing teen aged girls. Go figure, lol.

The male was raised by TRI.

The pair were put together once.

I will update with more details, as they unfold.

babies are turning black and look about to pop into 2nd instars .

Successful!

Spider room temperature typically ranges between 78 and 85 degrees F.

Male Tbbl#10 Matured Feb/2009.

Male Tbbl#9 Matured 2/23/2008 (Yeah he was an old man, but he still knew what to do).

Female Tbbl #3 molted 4/2/2009

Pairings were done at night and supervised to preserve the male.

Pairings with Male Tbbl#10: 5/5/2009 and 6/26/2009

Pairings with Male Tbbl#9: 5/29/2009

Eggsac was produced by Tbbl#3 on 8/23/2009.

Eggsac was pulled 10/25/2009:

107 1st instars. No dud eggs or dead eggs with legs. There were a number of very large 1st instars, so that may be where all the duds went if any were there.

Ogra's progress during the "big move"

After moving Ogra's tank up the basement stairs, trucking her in a cold Dodge across town and reinstalling her on a very old and bouncy wooden farmhouse floor - she's still holding her sac. She is in the master bedroom with the same old lights on and off, squealing teenage girls and groovy Motown R&B music thumping while I unpack endless boxes.
All digits tangled for her success. I think she's deadly serious about hatching her baseball...lol!