Gravid C. Crawshayi..............??

[wayne balcombe]

Hi all,

just recieved a new spider through the post, its an adult female Citharischius Crawshayi, i've been informed by the spider shop from where she was purchased that she may be Gravid.

On looking at her she does have a slightly distended abdomen..... a little larger than any adult female of this species i've seen befor but this could be due to over feeding so i was wondering if there is any other way of telling if she is gravid?

[Johan van Vuuren]

Hi Wayne

Is it a wc spider? If it is, well done! Growing abdomens without over feeding will be your savest bet. Let her settle in for two weeks without food, just water and see what happens. Gravit females in nature will also close or seal the entrance of their borrows, almost the same as molting spiders.

[wayne balcombe]

hi Johan,

I believe she is W/C so i suspect overfeeding may not be an issue. she really is a beautiful spider but extremely agressive, she's settled into her new enclosure quite well, found the burrow i constructed for her almost immedietely and moved in. She then completely plugged the entrance to the burrow with web and substrata.

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Wayne, if she's anything like our C. Crawshayi's you'll probably never see her again lol.

[wayne balcombe]

hi linda,

i've been clever with the burrow i've constructed for her so if i turn the tank i can see into it and keep an eye on her, i figure its better to be able to keep tabs on her if she is gravid, i've also constructed it so i can lift the cork bark lid off the burrow if i need to get in and remove an egg sack etc.

she really does have an attitude, she's mental even by the standards of her species.

[Alistair Kennington]

crawshayi

HA HA yeh mine dig for england,thinking of getting them an allotment,hope she is gravid for you..i just read the site a few mins ago what he says about them ,sounds good to me,she will soon dig way out of site of the edges of her tank,but if you think about her being gravid she would have been ok in the wild without your help so i would think she will manage ok in captivity? pluss it would be crazy to look in one day and see slings all over the place..

[James Box]

had that happen with a wild caught P lugardi!
was brilliant, she is the perfect mother
good luck with the crawshayi, one of my favourite species.
i do hope you get a sac and some slings!

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Wayne, looks like you've got all the viewing angles covered lol, let's hope she's gravid, you're well overdue for some good luck with your recent dissappointments.

Keep us all updated on her progress.

[wayne balcombe]

thanks james i hope so too.

your right linda i do think its time i hade a little good luck, i bought another 2 T.Blondi's and i'm pretty sure they will be a breeding pair, one is deffo a male and i'm 90% sure the other is female.

if this C.Crawshayi does turn out to be gravid would it be best to remove the sack and incubate it or leave it in with mum? just thinkig about the trouble i may have collecting up Slings with an extremely large and aggressive spider in the same enclosure.

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Wayne, are your 2 new Blondis a captive bred pair or wild caught? The Crawshayi are not so easy to breed either and get a successful sac, or so I hear. If you look back on some of the old threads, there was another member who'd had one or two unsuccessful attempts and then success, maybe 3 - 4 months ago, if you can pick up that thread, it might be worth you asking him the outcome.

Our big female Crawshayi's been in premoult this last 6 weeks, so she's dissappeared and is really miserable lol.

[wayne balcombe]

hi linda,
the 2 new Blondi's i'm told are captive bred they are still small, small by T. Blondi standards at least, they're about 5inch legspan, the male is very dark in colour and has a slender build though he's fed well and the one i think is female is the normal rusty brown colour and much more stocky. i believe they are from the same sack as they came from a group of 10 that were all around the same age.

i will have a dig around for the thread about the C.Crawshayi breeding attempts and see if there is any info there that will help.

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Wayne, well done cb, interesting that, we have two Blondis from the same sac, they're two differing shapes, and although housed and fed exactly the same, one is bigger and studier than the other, they are about 6-7" leg span now, and from their last two moults they are 100% female, so you might be lucky and have two females lol.

[wayne balcombe]

i'm pretty sure the dark one is male, i sexed him using the epiandrous fusillae method but only managed a quick glance with the other and looked female from what i saw though knowing my luck they will both end up as males lol.

there really arent any CB Blondis around at the mo, the shop i bought these 2 from have 1 left and thats going for 120 quid, i paid 60 each for mine as me and dave (the bloke that owns the shop) have done buisness for a while.

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hey, that was a mega buy, makes up for the bad luck with your others.

[wayne balcombe]

things do seem to be looking up a little more at present lol.

how are your 2 girls getting on linda? must be a couple of months now since they molted out?