Couple of questions regarding maturity and breeding of G.Rosea RCF

[Rich.Harrington]

Picked up what I was told was an adult female G.Rosea this week. Was a freebie as it had been given it's marching orders by the guys wife.

Turns out that I'm now lucky enough to have a nice RCF since I originally though it would be a NCF. He told me it was around 18 months old, I was also under the impression that G.Rosea doesn't reach maturity in females until 2-3 years?

Anyone offer some more knowledge on this one? Also when I do decide to breed (if its a female) How tricky is it to self incubate an eggsack? I know allowing her to do the work is the most successful, but not sure about the prospect of having to fish out a few hundred slings from a resonably sized viv, unless I moved her to a bare hatching tank?

[Colin D Wilson]

If it's been on an optimum feeding regimen throughout it's life then it's quite possible that it may be mature enough to breed.
size is really what to go by, 4.5 - 5.5 inch LS will be fine.
try breeding after a moult as i've personally found rosea's to be the most awquard of the genus and moult out more often than not (i.e my RCF yesterday)
I'm under the opinion of leaving the sac with her...if she looks after it !!!.
quite often i've found the odd discarded egg sac in the tank, just left in a corner or near the waterbowl, so keep an eye out.
best not to move her about (and allow her to burrow too), if you do leave her to run the course then it's easier to remove her and then trash the tank looking for the slings....after you've found them all just give her a new decor and pop her back in

[Louise~Nichols]

Anyone offer some more knowledge on this one? Also when I do decide to breed (if its a female) How tricky is it to self incubate an eggsack? I know allowing her to do the work is the most successful, but not sure about the prospect of having to fish out a few hundred slings from a resonably sized viv, unless I moved her to a bare hatching tank?

Self-incubation...well, I don't take a sac away til 4 weeks after laying with the RCF, and the remainder of the care was very easy...I think I posted a pic of my *incu-tub* somewhere...it involves pot noodles and fishfood tubs...LOL...oooh and a pair of stockings!! You'll get a funny look when you stick those 3 things in your shopping basket, but it does make a very tidy incubator.
When I took the RCF's sacs, I carried on with turning them and moving them a few times a day, and after a further two weeks, I had a peek...they were just starting to hatch into nymph1. A fortnight later they were nymph2, and 4 weeks further on again, they moulted into slings. Hope that helps a bit too...Colin has covered the rest beautifully.

@ Colin....Commiserations for your female moulting out...what an awkward beggar eh?!

[Colin D Wilson]

Yeah well, at least i've got a lovely looking spider to drool over for a while.

Still got a male thats chewing at the sides of the enclosure to get out at her, give it a week or so and i'll set 'em up on another date

[Louise~Nichols]

Awww...good luck with the next date!!

I've noticed with my Rosea here, that my females got quite *grumpy* in the couple of weeks pre-laying. "Myfanwy", tried to bite through the tub at me before she laid, and "Elvira" just reared and charged everytime I got the water bowls out for a clean. Since the eggsacs they have both calmed down considerably...although Myfanwy still thinks I'm fair game for a squabble!!
(Miranda my usually sweet Pulchra, also developed a case of ASBO attitude 2 weeks before laying!!)