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Beginners Query part 2

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  • Beginners Query part 2

    Hi, Thanks for the replies. I have the skin but it is a little crumpled (the spider sat on it for 2 days before I could retrieve it). I have no idea how to sex it, so if you could assist that would be great.
    The flooring is vermiculite and is not wet at all, but is dampened occasionally. Usually the spider is happy to walk on it.
    The humidity guage reads 45% - should the substrate be kept reasonably damp or misted? I have a large water dish in the viv.

    Cheers, Mark.
    Mark E

  • #2
    Try placeing the skin soapy water (not too soapy) until its plyable enough to unfold the skin without breaking it. Do this very carefully and pay special attention to the abdomen.
    To tell the sex you need to look at the skin from the inside and on the abdomen part of it.
    Once unfolded you should see 4 whiteish patches (2 on either side of the skin)these are the book lungs.
    Now locate the top pair of book lungs(ones closest to the cephalothorax).
    Inbetween this pair are the shed genital openings for a tarantula.
    If the skin is flat but there looks to be a kind of flap/sail that sticks out inbetween the book lungs,then the chances are it is a spermathecae,in which case you have a female.
    If there is a complete absence of this flap/sail then the chances are it is male.
    This can be tricky and what I have writen is only a simplefied way to sex the tarantula.If you really are not sure about sexing the skin yourself wrap the skin in damp tisue paper and send it to Carl Portman or Jon-Paul Lamoureux ,they provide a sexing service.Email address for these people can be found on the "Contact us" page of this site.
    If your spider always sits over the water dish then it could be that there is not enough humidity,if it does´nt then im sure your spider is fine.
    Hope this helps

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