another dillema on breeding

[Adam Smith]

I have just received my adult male Thrixopelma pruriens to breed with my female and hes tiny compared to her if she doesnt eat him he will find it very difficult to hold her up by the fangs to mate she must be 10 times his size easy. I always new the male was smaller but this is at the utmost extreme. Should I introduce him and hope for the best that he will succeed?

[J M Clegg]

Adam, it's not uncommon to find huge size disparity beween the spider sexes. Before you throw him in to potentially his last action, it may be an idea to keep an eye on him for a week or two to make sure he has built a sperm web and loaded his palps. If he hasn't he could potentially be "shooting blanks" and may end up getting eaten without succesfully "knocking up" his lady!

Jay

[Adam Smith]

Well last thing I want is the breeding to fail or worse being a very filling meal. I have the male kept in a cricket tub in her tank and going to leave it for a few days and see what happens. Im aware of the size different but didnt think at that extent, on the other hand I received the female as an adult and if it is a good few years old and dropped a few egg sacs in the past it will no doubt be bigger than say a fresh mature female.

[Adam Smith]

I have to say she is a very large tarantula so maybe the male is a normal size. She has leg span of 20-25 cm and a large body girth. In any case see what happens. The guy who sent the male said that there was a sperm web before I aquired it or at least the remains of what was a sperm web

[Andy Miller]

I Have mated this sp before and although the male is tiny in comparrison to the female he is very strong and he does not hessitate when he mates with her and he does lift her up.

[Adam Smith]

I Have mated this sp before and although the male is tiny in comparrison to the female he is very strong and he does not hessitate when he mates with her and he does lift her up.

Well update on the situation and its looking better but havent mated yet. ON 2 occasions the male and female where in some courting ritual where there legs twitched and vibratedd responding to each other and the male would brush his legs against hers and push against her chelicera but thats as far as it has gone on both occasions.
Amazingly she is very calm and has made no attempt to eat him and has become very tolerable with him which is strange as she isnt the most docile species I have.
SO update is they have had interaction twice so far however the female doesnt proceed any further than twitching, has not raised her body to mate wit him yet. Happy that she hasnt eaten him yet so cant complain there.

[Andrew Young]

Hi adam things seem to be going well shes maybe just gona play hard to get for a little while lol hope the end result is good for u sounds like a challenge keep u the good work and take some pics if u can.

Andy

[Adam Smith]

well so for on the 2 occassions the courting went one for good 2-3 hours but one gives up and they both go seperate ways, no aggression between them so should eventually pay off