Avicularia metallica

Hello...F.Y.I.

I had just bought a Female A. metallica this past week for my matured male. I gave her a couple days to adjust in which she did easily. She's been eating and going about her buisness.

The male which had built a sperm web on the 15th was introduced to her of this morning. I had taken the male from his cage and let him walk onto the glass on the inside of her cage. As soon as I brought my hand out of the enclosure, the female started drumming like she knew what was in there. Totally suprised me! He then picked up on her right after her drumming. He drummed and this went on for about 10 mintues. They finally met up and she started turning different directions like she was trying to avoid him. He finally manipluated her to face him by tapping on her hind legs.

She started to advance away from him with him following very closley. After reaching the other side of the enclosure.....she stopped. He got her to turn again and then it was on. He lifted her right up and started a drumming on the belly for about 10 seconds. Then he started moving his pedipalps around... in a circular and upward/ downward direction. He started to pulse kind of like a shiver moving his abdomen around. He then released her. Once doing this she started advancing towards him slowly. They went about 7 inches before she caught up to him. He lifted her again and did the same thing.

Then as quit as it started, it was all over. He did a retreat to the lid and I let him out. She sat around for about a minute and then climbed the nearest wall.

*********************UPDATE ***************************

I had gone downstairs to do a daily check to find a completely webbed up corner in my A. metallica famles enclosure. I snapped some pics of what I believe to be a eggsack.

*********************UPDATE ***************************

I figured I'd update the post. She ate the sac last night and I don't know why. She was undisturbed and in peace.

Successful Breeding
Eggsack was Laid
Eggsack was Eaten

Avicularia metallica mating

Hello.
It has been time since this thread had started. The first attempt was somewhat successful. The female had the sack but ate it.....hopefully this time around we will have better luck.

Here are the details of the start of a "NEW" Breeding session.

Date Bred:
07-29-2005 @ 7:15 PM

Conditions:
80 Degrees F & 80% Ambient Humidity

Species Details:
Female Adult 5"
Male and freshly matured on loan from (ScorpDemon)

Pairing
Male had been inserted into the females encloure. She was out and about. The male immediatley started to drum on on a piece of cork bark laying on the ground. The female sensing that, turned slightly and allowed the male to get a bit closer to her while placing a leg on her carapace.

The male continued to drum for about 3-4 more minutes and the female started to drum. Once the drumming started, she turned towards him and it was like textbook breeding from there! Legs waiving all over and saw several good insertions.


I have taken some pics and put them into an album for viewing. Here are some for viewing here:




Album link here:http://community.webshots.com/album/407833814VftOFi

********************UPDATE***************************
08-15-2005
She is totally webbed up in a corner! Hopefully she is doing a good thing in there!


********************UPDATE*************************
08-21-2005
We have a eggsack sitting in there with her!


********************UPDATE*************************
08-27-2005
I have pulled the eggsack for incubation to ensure sack survival while rotating it and keeping the conditions just right. Another week and I can open it up and check on things.


********************UPDATE*************************
09-04-2005
I opened the eggsack up to check on things. The eggs are in very good condition. I placed them into a hammock for further incubation. There are approx. 60 eggs. Hopefully most of them will hatch!


********************UPDATE*************************
09-12-2005
I noticed the first egg had shed the outer layer and a Post-embreyo emerged. This may be a great start to a great beginning!


********************UPDATE*************************
10-03-2005
Post-emberyo's are nearing molt into 2nd Instar. Only two have made it to this point. None of the other eggs have developed.


********************UPDATE*************************
10-13-2005
Post-emberyo's molted into 2nd Instar spiderlings today. We lost the second one and one made it. Only one good thing came out of this breeding attempt....1 little Avicularia metallica. The little one and the male are going back to the owner of the male.

Well I found this in her cage this morning....

Conditions
Temperature: 80 Degrees F
Humidity:74%
Lighting Conditions: Dimmed

Female - Aviculaira metallica - Info: 5 ½” Female molted on 8/11/2008. And she was mated a total of 7 times over the course of a month the first breeding took place from 10/1/08 - 11/2/08

Male - Aviculaira metallica - Info: 5" Matured Male. molted on 9/21/08

Male - Was placed into the females enclosure and settled down on the side of her enclosure each time for several minutes. Then started tapping he then walked over to her but then would stop, He then would approach the female from behind...

The female would instantly turn toward him did a little short drumming. He initiated the mating at that time,They would lift her front legs. They gently would touch her front 2 set of legs slowly lifting her and walked her backwards slightly just enough to pull her abdomen closer to them. While doing this he used his pedipalps to drum rapidly on her belly while lifting her up and arching her backwards.

Here is a pic of her with her egg sac...

Successful? Yes.
Any special care or preliminary notes for the lovers? The male matured in my care on 05/09/2010. I acquired the female on 05/27/10 with no exact record of her most recent molt. I observed him building and tearing down sperm webs on two occasions before the first introduction. Both were fed heavily prior to each pairing.
How they were paired: I placed the male on the edge of the female’s open enclosure both times that they were paired and allowed him to enter at his own pace.
Any observations on the hookup(s)? The first pairing took place on 06/03/2010. The male seemed very reluctant, but the female was receptive and did a great deal of drumming. I did not witness any insertions. The second pairing took place on 06/19/2010. Both were very receptive and drummed to each other. I witnessed one insertion on this date.
Any special post-mating care? I did not make any environmental changes to the female’s enclosure. I only made sure that she had an adequate supply of prey and access to water.
Time to sac: The female constructed a golfball sized sac on 08/08/2010.
Care of the sac: The sac was left with the female, who sealed herself inside her hide.
Time to emerge/hatch: I observed 2nd instars emerging on 10/20/2010.
The final details: There were a total of 198 2nd instar offspring removed from the female’s enclosure.
Crappy A. metallica pairing pics:





A. metallica with sac:




A. metallica 2nd instars in female’s enclosure (photos taken by and used with kind permission of xhexdx):