Glasgow Andrew Has Good News

[Andrew Murdoch]

Hey guys, when I got home later that night I was happy to find that the molt went ok. I also watched as my T streatched out its legs and just chilled around getting better!
I think I have a male as its very leggy and has little spur things on its 'knee joints'
Does this mean it is fully mature, and will it live much longer?

[Chris Sainsbury]

Hi
If it has spurs then it is mature. G.rosea males can go on to live quite some time after their finale moult but it will proberly not eat as much. I had one live for an addional 2 years before.
Give it a couple of weeks to harden up and then watch out for those sperm webs, if you have not seen this before you will find it quite interesting to watch.
You can also loan him out on breeding loans but I would see about getting a female for yourself as they are quite inexpensive. That way you can try out the mating and attempt breeding for yourself.Then still if alive send him out on loan

All the best
Chris

[Colin D Wilson]

Hi Andrew

Chris has covered your question.
I agree, get yourself a mature female and have a go breeding.

Colin

[Andrew Murdoch]

Thanks Chris

Thanks for sharing your experiences with G. rosea. I was in a pet shop one tine Chris and saw the sperm web being made. I am still new to the hobby and I thought it was a female doing her thing. I thought it was an egg sack being made. But as you say it was really amazing to see. The web structure was really amazing and I watched as the T danced around with its moving spinerets.
To be brutally honest I was hoping tohave a female T, the guy in the pet shop said it was, but the more I have been reading up and seeing messages on the board I realise that pet shops are at times wrong. in saying that I am aware that it may be a totally genuine mistake on their part and i am ok with my T. He is getting top care anyways.

You mentioned that the males dont eat as much, also will a male do alot of pacing around the viv.
I will watch out for changes in my T's behaviour, if there is any that is.
But I will stay tuned and check out other peoples questions and experiences.

[Chris Sainsbury]

You mentioned that the males dont eat as much, also will a male do alot of pacing around the viv.

As a rule they will wander around a good deal in their search of tarantula rumpy pumpy yes.
I will also add that it is often the case that they will lose the odd leg or two in doing this also (mainly from climbling the wall of the tank and falling funny) but if this happens do not panic as the wound will normally seal its self.
If it does eat well and go on to live a long time then their is a chance of another moult but these cases are quite rare. During this final , final moult process they have a good chance of getting stuck, more often than not by their bulbs on the palps, but some have been known to make it before now, from what I have read somewhere or other.
All the best
Chris

[Colin D Wilson]

Just to add to what Chris has said, if i have a mature male moult out then it gets transfered (if it's not already in one) into a shallow hatchling box. or if it's in a deeper style tank then i would fill up the tank to about three to four inches from the top with substrate to lessen the climbing activity and the possibility of a severe fall.

[kirsty smith]

Congrayulations on a sucessfull moult! I see you have ended up with a MM too!,if you do decide to get a MF to try breding them i hope you will let us know how you get on!. Im not brave enough to try that yet!, i want more T,s & more experience first cos im a wuss! lol!

[Phil Rea]

Glad the moult went well Andrew. Good advice above regarding getting him a female

[Andrew Murdoch]

Just not sure as yet

Great to get your feed back, thanks you guys.
As for breeding.
Well I feel at this time I am not ready for that leap yet. It would be great to hook up with someone in the hobby who is doing that with their T's and perhaps see what it entails with regard to proper Tarantula husbandry. Keeping a T with an egg sack, housing slings and the like. I feel I would need more time if I decided to do that.
But as for keeping T's. Well I enjoy doing that and looking after them and watching them. I am very much in favour of the hands off approach so I only see them when they decide to do their thing.
I find them facinating and if I am totally honest I find the females more pleasing on the eye. they appear to me to be more 'solid' and I like that. I was really surprised at my freshly molted T's leg size, wow, pretty big. I looked in earlier at it and where it is situated it appears to be doing a yoga position, legs wrapped over its head!
It is really colourful at the moment, I can I light pinkish tinge on its legs and most of its hair when the light hits it. Also its carapace is electric pink at the moment. Really looking good. A female T would love to get in about my T, even a female Birdeater, haha.
It molted just a few days ago, am I right in saying that I should give it more time before I offer it food: say perhaps another 4-5 days or so.

*If my T makes a 'sperm web' should I dispose of it after my T has done its thing?

[Phil Rea]

You're right about the feeding, and don't worry about the sperm web. What's usually left of it will just be bits. You don't need to do anything with it

[James Box]

Andrew, you can always loan out your male to breed just temporarily...

[Nicola Dolby]

Good luck with your male and I hope you find a female for him!!