Male or female?

[patsyking]

Hi All

I was wondering if anyone had any photos of knows of any links where I can see photos of the undersides of the male and female chili rose and see any differences. I am just wondering what mine is. He or she is about 3-4 - 5 inches. I've been searching on the net just now but can't seem to find anything.

[Phil Rea]

My advice would be to wait until it moults, and then either post a clear picture of the internal area between the anterior (top) booklungs or send the skin to someone who will sex it for you. Alternatively, bring the skin along to the BTS show if you're there and someone from the BTS committee will likely sex it for you

[Tom Forman]

http://www.thebts.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=3345

and

http://www.birdspiders.com/faq_sex.php

[patsyking]

Thanks Tom for the links, very interesting!

[Trevor Parsons]

Male:


Female:


Moderators note: The BTS has a non handling policy and does not encourage the handling of tarantulas, for the safety of the tarantula and the *owner. We also understand that people have different opinions on this subject and from time to time handling may be necessary and /or accidental. However rule 10 of this forum states.

"(10) Photographs and gallery images; please refrain from posting images of handling this only encourages such activities and there a lot of younger patrons on this forum that may influenced by such images and may attempt handling unnecessarily and as a result injure the tarantula or themselves."

These images, although breaking rule 10, were posted to show the differences between sexes, thus, although intentional, are showing a valid way of handling for this purpose and shall remain unless administration decides otherwise.
*this should NOT be attempted by any inexperienced hobbyist as damage to the spider is possible by incorrect positioning of the fingers, this is not the case with the above pictures as the tarantulas are being correctly handled and are of a safe status*

[patsyking]

Thanks Trevor brilliant photos! They are just what I needed. Brilliant!!

[Nicola Dolby]

There was a thread about Poecilotheria a few weeks ago which stated the same external differences. Are these the same for all tarantulas or just certain species?

[Trevor Parsons]

Nicola: There are differences with every species, it's just knowing what to look for. Also having the chance of population sexing makes things a lot easier. That means you have say 5 of them, one is for sure a male by ventral comparison and one is female (Already you're lucky because you have a female) Now you compare the three in the grey area to see which way they are closer to.

Having a population of a certain species increases not only the odds of having a female, but also the ability to sex with almost certainty at a fairly small size.

[Nicola Dolby]

Thanks Trevor. I have two groups at the moment. One of P. rufilata which have at lest one of each and a small group of P. formosas. These are all the same but judging from the size of the largest I'd say they're all female. That one is already 14cm legspan.

[jason holland]

now those pics are perfect. i was looking for something like that, its so simple. and now i know that my T is female. i thought it was from the skin, but could 100% tell, but now it looks female inside and out (so to speak) cheers

[Trevor Parsons]

Moderators note: The BTS has a non handling policy and does not encourage the handling of tarantulas, for the safety of the tarantula and the *owner. We also understand that people have different opinions on this subject and from time to time handling may be necessary and /or accidental. However rule 10 of this forum states.

"(10) Photographs and gallery images; please refrain from posting images of handling this only encourages such activities and there a lot of younger patrons on this forum that may influenced by such images and may attempt handling unnecessarily and as a result injure the tarantula or themselves."

These images, although breaking rule 10, were posted to show the differences between sexes, thus, although intentional, are showing a valid way of handling for this purpose and shall remain unless administration decides otherwise.
*this should NOT be attempted by any inexperienced hobbyist as damage to the spider is possible by incorrect positioning of the fingers, this is not the case with the above pictures as the tarantulas are being correctly handled and are of a safe status*

Chalk this one up to a big oops.

I definitely wouldn't want to portray to any kids to do this. I can say from first hand experience that handling tarantulas this way is risky at best. Granted these are just rosies, but with any species there's always a chance you could be bitten, not to mention that you now only have one hand to control a squirming tarantula. Also when a tarantula is being cornered they are more likely to strike as I'm sure they would feel it's the only option.

If anyone is considering handling a tarantula keep this in mind... Even the best make mistakes. I could name at least a dozen experienced keepers that have been bitten (most of those weren't even a handling issue)