First time breeding.

[Rebecca Norris]

I plan to mate my Grammostola rosea female. Now i've never done this before. She moulted on Sunday 12th August. I've been away from home since the sunday after, but offered her food the day i left, which she refused. I'm home today so will start feeding her up.

I have borrowed a male (50/50) and am picking him up today.

My concern is though.. this female is nasty! She is only small, about 4" legspan, but she is like a P.murinus in a pink fluffy coat LOL Does this mean she is likely to attack the male?
Obviously i'm waiting a while (about a month i'm advised?) to feed her up, let the male produce a sperm web etc before attempting to pair them. I'm going to be sitting watching constantly, with paintbrush and tweezers at the ready!!
As she is nasty is it worth sharking him until she is interested? Obviously my highest interest is her NOT having him for dinner!

Also, jumping the band waggon a bit.. how long are these gravid for? How long is it before i can expect to be setting her up to lay the sac etc What are the triggers for this species? Cooling? Flooding? Warming up?
Noob as you can tell hahaha

Any tips, breeding notes etc much appreciated!
Many thanks

[Kain Prestwood]

I'll be watching this thread very carefully Rebecca, as breeding is something I would like to do too!

Kain

[Michael Olsinia]

Hi Becky,

I can't give any advice from experience, but perhaps this thread may be of use:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=14037

Mike.

[James Box]

i'm curious about this too, in case my G. roseas turn out to be male and female!
i bet Colin has alot of knowledge in this area.

[Rebecca Norris]

Hi Becky,

I can't give any advice from experience, but perhaps this thread may be of use:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=14037

Mike.

Excellent thread. Thanks Mike!

[Richard Goram]

I wouldn't worry too much about her being a 'nasty' spider. In my experience the more skittish, defensive females have accepted males easier than the calm ones.
Put the males tank right next to the females with the tanks touching and put some of her web in his tank so he knows there's a female in the area.
Here's a brief report of our G.rosea breeding attempt: http://tarantulabay.freephpbbforum.c...opic.php?t=105

[Rebecca Norris]

Thanks Richard!

[Colin D Wilson]

a few excerpts from my own experiences.

introduce male into female enclosure, slowly and carefully, at the opposite end to the female, ideally you won't have disturbed either too much just before this time.

have ready dividing equipment, be it tongs (not ideal) card, a lid off a tub, anytging with a flat wide surface is ideal.

you'll soon find out if the female is definitey NOT ready as she will show severe signs of aggression (ie running at the male, chasing him off etc) rearing up and exposing fangs is not a worry. this is the only time when Grammostolas show true aggression i've noticed in my experience.

he may drum (my lot dont drum a lot, they tend to be more tactile and feel their way to the female very slowly). if he drums and she moves towards him quickly don't assume this is aggression straight away, just be ready with the divider.

mating can be as quick as 20 - 30 seconds or can last minutes, just seem to be dependent on the day really. he will either just move back when finished or retire very quickly eitherway be ready with his original enclosure or the divider again.

i have left males in with females for days before but i dont reccomend this for the first time, try several mating attempts and look for definite signs of insertion. (a good clear side view really is a must)

really thats all there is to the introduction of male to female, the main act is up to them.
It's a shame if you're not quick enough, or don't recognise the signs of aggression the first time, and lose the male but this only happened twice in my experience and was down to my error in judgement.

as far as mating triggering, i've had them mate throughout the year, (although i haven't made note as to related success of failure from these different periods)
I give them longer periods of daylight in the summer months and drop the temp a couple of degrees in the winter and lessen the daylight hours slightly, this is just inbuilt from keeping reptiles for so long though, can't really say if its benficial or not in my case.

If you want to try another male, i could pop mine over he's just mated with on of my females but has, surprisingly, been seen creating another sperm web and restocked as it were (this is number four web). you're only 10-15 miles away so i'ts not a problem.

as an extra, if you dont get a possitive mating from the first attempt, leave it 24+ hours before trying again, keep an eye on him and the first introduction may insite him to create a sperm web. he may not have "charged" his palps already is he hasn't been mature for long.

[James Box]

good luck with the breeding!!!
hoping mine are male and female so i can try with them someday

[Rebecca Norris]

a few excerpts from my own experiences.

introduce male into female enclosure, slowly and carefully, at the opposite end to the female, ideally you won't have disturbed either too much just before this time.

have ready dividing equipment, be it tongs (not ideal) card, a lid off a tub, anytging with a flat wide surface is ideal.

you'll soon find out if the female is definitey NOT ready as she will show severe signs of aggression (ie running at the male, chasing him off etc) rearing up and exposing fangs is not a worry. this is the only time when Grammostolas show true aggression i've noticed in my experience.

he may drum (my lot dont drum a lot, they tend to be more tactile and feel their way to the female very slowly). if he drums and she moves towards him quickly don't assume this is aggression straight away, just be ready with the divider.

mating can be as quick as 20 - 30 seconds or can last minutes, just seem to be dependent on the day really. he will either just move back when finished or retire very quickly eitherway be ready with his original enclosure or the divider again.

i have left males in with females for days before but i dont reccomend this for the first time, try several mating attempts and look for definite signs of insertion. (a good clear side view really is a must)

really thats all there is to the introduction of male to female, the main act is up to them.
It's a shame if you're not quick enough, or don't recognise the signs of aggression the first time, and lose the male but this only happened twice in my experience and was down to my error in judgement.

as far as mating triggering, i've had them mate throughout the year, (although i haven't made note as to related success of failure from these different periods)
I give them longer periods of daylight in the summer months and drop the temp a couple of degrees in the winter and lessen the daylight hours slightly, this is just inbuilt from keeping reptiles for so long though, can't really say if its benficial or not in my case.

If you want to try another male, i could pop mine over he's just mated with on of my females but has, surprisingly, been seen creating another sperm web and restocked as it were (this is number four web). you're only 10-15 miles away so i'ts not a problem.

as an extra, if you dont get a possitive mating from the first attempt, leave it 24+ hours before trying again, keep an eye on him and the first introduction may insite him to create a sperm web. he may not have "charged" his palps already is he hasn't been mature for long.

Wow thanks Colin thats fantastic! Marvellous.. just what i needed He's settling in here now. Got him yesterday. He's in a KK, staying put on his bit of cork bark after a wander round the tank walls at first lol He did take a cricket last night so doubt he's too stressed
God i hope he doesn't get eaten!! I guess the male owner takes this risk everytime he sends a male out? I'm gonna look and feel a right idiot if she does. She's an evil baggage! He is a lot bigger than her and apparently he's really fast. Rushes in and over powers the girls lol
Today she had her first feed since she moulted. So will fatten her up and let him produce his sperm web then get to it

Woohoo! Can't wait!

How long is the average time between a successful mating and egg sac laying?

[Colin D Wilson]

I've seen just over a month, and up to two and a half months between mating and egg sac creation.
after what seems a succesfull mating keep her well (but not over) fed, this, in my experience lowers the chance of her tearing the sac and eating the eggs.

lastly, there's always the pain in the backside scenario that she will "moult out" instead of create an egg sac. this has been the norm this year for me and i've had 7 (including a G formosa) moult .
normally, as we all know it goes "lovely, a successful moult, i've got a healthy spider!!"
this turns into "damn, she's moulted, where's the nearest male?"