G. rosea breeding question

[Payton MacDonald]

Hi all,

If you have bred G. roseas, how long did it take from the time you mated the spiders until the time the female produced an egg sac? The reason I ask is that I had a female produce a sac in July 2008 and I'm not sure if it was from my breeding her in June 2008 or the previous owner, who bred her in April 2007. In other words, did it take her a month to produce the sac from the time of breeding, or over a year?

If I understand him correctly, in Peter Klaas's book Tarantulas in the Vivariumhe indicates that it can be as short as 3 1/2 weeks (see page 100).

What has your experience been?

Thank you,
Payton

[matthew spooner]

payton, i think we can safely say that the sac was from your breeding. i dont know of any tarantula that can go over a year without producing the sac, the longest i know of is a year

[KJ Vezino]

I've heard of G. rosea going between 1 and 2 years, so I it is possible.

[James Box]

not sure if this is a strange take on it...but i believe the sperm is stored and the eggs fertilised as they are laid.
in which case...i would guess the sperm from both could be in there still?
or perhaps the newer sperm would be the stuff that's still good (if it has a shelf life!)
dunno if i'm completely off base here, but that was what i understood happened.

[KJ Vezino]

Sperm stored in the spermathecae is dormant and has a very long shelf life. I believe each individual sperm is encased in somehting, and it isn't released from that casing until the act of egg laying occurs, then the re-animated sperm can go forth and fertilize.