Selenocosmia dichromata breeding

[Dave Shinn]

Hey everybody, I'm trawling the net at the mo trying to find breeding information for Selenocosmia dichromata, favoured temperatures/humidity, sac size etc, but I cannot find anything anywhere does anybody know anything about the breeding of this species? Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks, Dave

[Christopher Smallman]

You have probably already seen the below link frpm The Spider Shop which I guess just give the general conditions for keeping these spiders.

http://www.thespidershop.co.uk/insect/product_info.php?products_id=2007

I do love the description at the end cracks me up every time
Im surprised anyone would purchase one after reading that but they do and you have so may I wish you good luck in your quest to have a house full of these real friendly spiders lol.

[Dave Shinn]

Hi Chris,

Yeah, that's where mine are coming from I love the description too, and I figured, I don't own a cat or a TV, so I'll be fine ha ha. I am slightly worried that I went from 'oooh, that looks like a pretty spider' to 'OOOOHH! FEISTY TOO! I WANT ONE!' in the time it took me to read that ha ha. I just thought maybe they'd need some 'adjustments' to get them 'in the mood', but I can't find any information about their breeding anywhere :/
And if I do end up with a house full I'll be a happy boy...I've not seen any of this species available CB, so it'd be nice if I have a successful (and safe! LOL!) mating

[James Box]

think it needs to be said they're only feisty if you poke them lol

[ralfkonen]

If you get any slings, let me know. I'll take some off you

[James Box]

If you get any slings, let me know. I'll take some off you

count me in too

[Aragorn Davies]

count me in too

if i may, me to

[Dave Shinn]

Ok, I've had them here for a few weeks now, and I think they're settling well, the female has built a nice deep burrow and has fed a few times, although I am going to feed her a lot more before I attempt a pairing, and it would appear that our boy has made a web, although he isn't wandering so much as I'd hoped, but I'm hoping he'll get a bit more wanderlust over the next couple of weeks while I try to fatten the female up and take her mind off eating. I'm inclined, after reading breeding reports about other burrowing Asian species to just introduce the male to the female's tank and hope he knows what he's doing. If they mate successfully and she produces a sac I think I will also leave her with it, rather than provoke her in to either destroying it or tagging me a few times ha ha. I will update when I have attempted a pairing. And should I be successful, by all means, slings will be available

[Dave Shinn]

I made the first attempt at pairing them up today, and to say the outcome was bizarre is an understatement. I saw the male out of his burrow, wandering around, so I caught him. Then, instead of disturbing the evil bitch too much I put her Faunarium in to a large RUB and poured in some coco fibre/compost mix around it until almost level with the top of her tank to enable the male easier access. However, during this process. she flew out of her burrow, somewhat enraged...so much for not winding her up too much!

After having given her 1/2 an hour to calm down I introduced the male in to the 'neutral space' in the RUB and removed the lid from her Faunarium. After another half an hour of literally NO movement from either spider, I put the lid on the RUB, waited another 5 minutes, then went to answer a call of nature and have a smoke.

15 minutes later I came back in the spider room, male has disappeared, but the female is exactly in the same spot she was when I left...weird! He wasn't in the hollow log I provided him for cover, hadn't hid in the soil, and I was 99.9% sure he hadn't escaped (although I did have a 5 minute scout, just incase). Then, the female starts heading back in to her a burrow, and goes mental! I had considered, but thought there was no way he'd be in there, basically because he had no way in without passing her, but there he was! I heard her smack at him, was sure he was a late supper, trapped down there with her, but to my surprise, he pushed her out, fumbled and struggled awkwardly, but was underneath her, now outside the burrow. They tussled for about 45 seconds, a minute max, she appeared to strike at him again, and he (wisely) bolted, seemingly unscathed.

Result? I really haven't a clue, I couldn't really see what was going on, and I was a bit wary of getting my mug too close. I'm going to try again sometime tonight/early hours of tomorrow morning, and hopefully see some good insertions.

[Matthew Bagley]

Hope things go a little easier next time . These are a lovely species and one that's missing from my not so small collection . lol

[Dave Shinn]

Thanks Matthew having managed to get a decent look at the pair of them last night, they really are stunning, photos don't do them justice, the black on the legs is so velvety and smooth looking with a gorgeous sheen, you almost want to stroke them!

I have just, literally 5 minutes ago, re-opened the female's faunarium...the male is in his make shift log home and she is down in her burrow, and I am going to check every 20 minutes or so for any signs of them stirring for the evening, I'm hoping for it to occur more naturally, id est, he stumbles across her in her burrow, not her discovering him in her burrow! Fingers crossed! I shall basically leave it open all night until I go to bed, and check on them every 15-20 minutes until either a) he re-finds her burrow and has another attempt (whether that be successful or not), or, b) nothing happens at all, either way I will put the lid back on her Faunarium, save anything happening in the wee hours, although I expect that if anything does happen, it will occur during the late evening.

Will keep you all posted

And Matthew, with a bit of luck I will have some slings in the New Year, so fingers crossed

Dave