Help - shrinking of abdomen with my first tarantula

[Phil Rea]

You can offer her a cricket but chances are she will not take it, if so remove the cricket after 24 hours. Dont fuss over her and just leave her be.

Personally, I would strongly advise against introducing prey when a female is clutching a sac, and I certainly wouldn't leave any prey in there unobserved.

Chances are she will get very agitated and defensive, and worst case scenario, she may even end up abandoning or eating the sac.

[James Box]

congratulations Amy...assuming it's fertile, you really have been chucked in at the deep end!
but i think you'll find it immensely rewarding if all goes as hoped!
thankfully these are slow growers, so you won't be needing massive amounts of space to house the babies for a while, and may be able to sell or give away a good number too.

[scott wilson]

egg sac

just on the subject of chile roses and egg sacs....my own chile went mad and webbed up her tank then proceeded to make a false egg sac.she wasnt gravid and hadnt been mated but nursed this sac for several weeks until satisfied it was empty i removed it...and her abdomen has shrunk a bit...chiles are wierd i tell you !!! they dont feed for months then do the strangest things

[Amy Bernice]

Well I did wonder if tarantulas can make false egg sacs.....I'll be very disappointed if it is empty after all the panic and excitement. However her abdomen was huge before the event and is now so drastically reduced I would like to think there are eggs. I won't feed her after the advise. She has been nursing the egg sac continuously. Good advise about the fussing as I am very guilty of that but have learnt to just leave her to it now. Watch this space!

[Amy Bernice]

Fertilisation

Incidently, would i be correct in saying that if Lucretia moulted between mating and egg laying, then the eggs would not be fertile??

[scott wilson]

Incidently, would i be correct in saying that if Lucretia moulted between mating and egg laying, then the eggs would not be fertile??

thats correct...she wouldnt hold fertilised eggs through moulting.they would be cast with her old skin.

[Phil Rea]

thats correct...she wouldnt hold fertilised eggs through moulting.they would be cast with her old skin.

Not strictly true. The eggs wouldn't be shed with her skin, but her spermathecae (containing the male's stored sperm) would be, so effectively she would have nothing with which to fertilise any eggs she then produced.

Incidentally, there are two known species of tarantula (Encyocratella olivacea, and Sickius longibulbi) that do not posess spermathecae, so they can moult and still produce fertile eggsacs

[michaelmckinney]

Thats interesting Phil, why is that then? Is it because the eggs get fertilized directly and not when the sac is being laid???

[Phil Rea]

Thats interesting Phil, why is that then? Is it because the eggs get fertilized directly and not when the sac is being laid???

The eggs are still fertilised when the sac's laid. The general consensus is that the eggs and sperm still mix as normal in the bursa copulatrix which is the lower alcove below the uterus externus (which is still present in both species).

If I remember correctly, the male deposits the sperm in the females uterus internus and therefore the stored sperm remains within the female when the uterus externus is shed along with the moulted skin

[Amy Bernice]

What fascinating creatures........BTW Lucretia still looking after her sac

[Phil Rea]

That's good to hear Amy