Haplopelma lividium

[Nicola Dolby]

Hi everyone,
have been trying to breed haplopelmas recently and have had strange results. first I covered the tank with bin liner except for the front, and an area to allow for ventilation. I put the male in the female's tank and after 2 days the female abandoned her burrow, covered it over and went to live at the back of the tank with the male! They've been together happily in there for 9 days now. Is this normal?

Here's a picture of the tank


And here's the male this morning.


and the female this morning.


talk about the happy couple! still don't know if they've bred successfully though.

[Toran Tanner]

if they stick together than I say thats fine she might make a meal of him at some point but who know lets just see were it goes

[Colin D Wilson]

Thats not something i'd expect, i'd always assumed that lividium females were quite intollerable of males hanging around. Lets hope it all works out for you Nicola

Whilst we're on the subject of the unusual.........
I have a pair of Hysterocrates sp. gigas sharing a tank at the mo.
what's strange here is the female has dug two nice burrows (she obviousely didn't like the first too much) over the last week and the male has now occupied the first one as his own.
They've done their "thing" twice now (to my knowledge) so hoping its all gone well.

[Phil Rea]

Good luck Nicola and Colin

[James Box]

good luck indeed!

[Colin D Wilson]

Well the inevitable happened today...
They were having another bash at the act in question and after a tumble and (what seemed to be) a successful insertion (my view was obscured by decor) he turned away and casually walked off...only this time complacency got the better of him and she pounced, unfortunately he hasn't made it through the ordeal.

[James Box]

well, in her defense, he could've stuck around for a bit, rather than making excuses about rushing off to early morning work meetings.

[Colin D Wilson]

Heh Heh...spritely wit and repartee this early in the day, James.

I can't even recover the body at the mo, she's dragged it down a burrow, i don't want that sitting there and smelling...i'll wait till she's finished and then it's long tongs and a riot sheild methinks.

[James Box]

lol...this tends to happen when i've had too little sleep

well good luck with that carcass...maybe you'll be lucky and she'll just push it out when done!