Citharischius crawshayi mating(s)

[Austin S. Spears]

I'm happy to announce that I have witnessed two successful matings of this species. Both on 11/25/07 and 11/27/07. Each mating occured after male made a sperm web. Pictures will be below of both matings..

I'm wanting to announce this, along with some Q's. First off, the temp is at 75-80 Deg. and has been that since 3 weeks ago. Before the mating, temp was around 73 deg. with hum. at 50-65%. I brought the humidity up a week after the last mating to 75-78%. The female has been housed in a very large tank. 30" across, the height is around 35", width is around 22". Substrate is close to the top. she has burrowed close to 9" straight down, and around 25" across to the other side of the tank. So in other words, a huge burrow.

i am wanting any suggestions to go along with this/any input on what to do now and in the future. If Guy Tansley is reading this, I'd love your info, as I've read almost everything you've writen on this species.

Here are the pictures!
First attempt:

[Austin S. Spears]

Second attempt:
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Any input on breeding this species will be greatly appreciative.

Austin

[James Box]

my goodness!!! well done getting a successful mating. i know this species is hard to breed.
good luck on getting a viable eggsack

[Peter Lacey]

I'm new to the hobby so I can't offer any advice but I'm impressed with what you've achieved. I'm reading about the mating process as the moment so its great to see it in your photo's. You can clearly see the extended fangs of the female. I'm taken back by the size difference of male to female, amazing!
I guess your large tank helps once the mating is over, enabling the male to retreat. Does the female chase him off (as I've read) or do they both sly away?


well done and good luck with the next step.

[Phil Rea]

If you think that's a big size difference, you should see an A. junodi male, Peter

They're absolutely tiny compared to the females!

Good luck with those Austin

[James Box]

If you think that's a big size difference, you should see an A. junodi male, Peter

They're absolutely tiny compared to the females!

Good luck with those Austin

or Eresus albopictus...not a tarantula, but a hugely dimorphic spider none the less!

[Nicola Dolby]

Well done, I hope you get lots of spiderlings!

[Oli Dodds]

Great photography, great work managing to succesfully breed this wonderful tarantula!
Oli

[Austin S. Spears]

Thank you for the nice replys guys. As for the mating, the female showed no signs of snatching up the male. Even after the palps were inserted, she never bit down on him. Well the first time she kind of twitched, but nothing dramatic.

I'm also in the process of breeding several other species as well, just waiting for some sacs. These include A. avicularia, A. hentzi, A. chalcodes, C. crawshayi, G. rosea, H. schmidti, H. gigas, L. parahybana. Future projects once males mature will be A. moderatum, B. smithi, Cyriopagopus sp. "blue", Cyriopagopus schioedtei, P. irminia. Take care everyone!

Austin

I have pictures of mostly all the breedings of each species mentioned above. Pics will come at a later time today after work.

[James Box]

A. moderatum

this is on my wishlist!

[mary walters]

Good luck Austin

[Mark Jolly]

Austin great pics, hope you have success , or rathers the T's with the breeding

[Austin S. Spears]

Well I decided to pair these guys up again and see what the outcome would be. He went down her burrow, tapping like a mad man. Backs up and she follows. I do haveto say she is putting on some weight. I've fed her the same I have been before, I only raised the temp and humidity and she seems to be fairing well. Here are some pics. Note: The mating was unsuccessful. She came out, bared her fangs, took off after him. She had him trapped in the corner of his KK so I said enough. I'm taking that as a good sign.

[Austin S. Spears]

He made another sperm web today and decided to mate them again. She came out, he got under her. This time, she decided she had enough of him... Since this species has no tibial hooks, he usually gets his grip by putting his leg through her fang when they are spread out, well this time, one fang snapped inward and his leg snapped iin half... Then she put all her weight on him and literally squashed him. Every leg was snapped. She drug him down the black hole only leaving a couple twitching legs. He was a good one though, Now we just have to wait and see.

[James Box]

sorry for the loss, mate
well he had a good run at it, at least, and it was probably a quick death.