Well what a year, 3 successful U.K metallica sacs in the space of 2 months.
Seems 2012 is metallica year and i hope there is many more on the way. I would like to start this report by saying a big thankyou to Lisa Baines for taking the time to write her breeding report in such detail, as i feel there would not have been this much success with this species had she not bothered, and also to Steve Dye for all his helpful information as always, 2 true credits to the hobby!
also to Rob Owen for loan of the male and a pat on the back for Steve and Ivan Tibble who recently cracked it.
Female's last moult:
10/2011
Male's maturing moult:
Unknown
Mating date:
23/11/2011
Insert witnessed first attempt. I introduced them both into a large, tall tupperware container as the female seemed too protective of her hide when the male was placed in her enclosure. I did co-hab for a week afterwards but the male was never witnessed out of his hiding place.
She is housed in a large glass arboreal enclosure, the substrate is around an inch at the front of the enclosure, gradually building up into a mound in the right hand rear corner where her hide is, a cork bark tube split in half down the length to form a half tube. That is wedged up against the glass and substrate piled against it. This way I can see perfectly into her hide from the outer side of the glass. I put a piece of black card there to give her darkness and make her feel safe and comfortable, I can move it to check on her.
Conditions after mating:
I followed lisa's report as closely as I could but seeing as my female was mated at a different time of the year and her female took nearly a year to lay I had to gauge it on her feeding habits and behaviour too.
Shortly after I removed the male (around 2/12/2011) I cooled the room down and kept the substrate dry with just a water dish, I did not measure temperature but it felt cool in the room, not too cold, I would guess around mid-20s. feeding a sensible amount of female dubia cockroaches.
Next step:
It stayed this way until the beginning of 1/2012 when I raised the temperature until it was very warm in the room, I would say around 30 degrees, keeping the substrate dry. The female seemed to eat more when the temps were raised and was now looking well fed.
The soaking:
I started soaking of the substrate around 20/2/12 heavily, luke warm, around a litre a day until thoroughly soaked. One time the bottom of her hide formed a pond, I left it for a day and then soaked up the excess with kitchen roll. At this time the female was constantly on the lookout for food, I had to reign myself in with the feeding as not to force a moult.
Around 25/3/2012 she went into her hide and put a sheet of web over the top, she would emerge breifly to look for more food but soon retreated back in there an put another sheet up. I fed her one last dubia for luck at the beginning of April and she hit like a ton of bricks. After that she never emerged from her hide again and the sheet of webbing she put over her hide got thicker and thicker until i checked on her 18/5/2012 and she was webbing up every nook and cranny, which she never did before, not even for a pending moult.
Every day she would do a bit more and a bit more.
She made a thin bowl in the bottom of her hide on the floor.
Early hours of 25/5/2012
She made another bowl around an inch above the bottom one. I sat for hours watching as she constructed the cup to lay the eggs in. By the time she was stood over the top it looked like someone had emptied cotton wool into her hide. After standing over the bowl for around half an hour i saw the eggs and fluid come dripping out. I did not want to film or take photos at this point as it was dim in the room and it would have needed a torch/flash and i did not want to disturb her at this time.
I was so tired that I informed Rob what had just occurred and went to bed.
I awoke to this
Conditioning for the sac:
I kept the temps around the same, no notable change.
The female sat constantly vertically up against the glass holding the sac suspended above the substrate (even though it wasn't especially wet anymore) i'm sure it never touched the floor. Around a week later she strung the sac from the top of the hide like a punch bag, very strange, especially for poecilotheria spp.
With temps at around 90, on day 17 I removed the sac and opened it to find lots of legs wiggling at me
When counted there was found to be 151 postembryo N1 larva and not a single undeveloped or bad egg!
They are being incubated in a large tub lined with damp kitchen roll.
Thanks for having a read and lets hope for more little blue gems from other breeders.
Seems 2012 is metallica year and i hope there is many more on the way. I would like to start this report by saying a big thankyou to Lisa Baines for taking the time to write her breeding report in such detail, as i feel there would not have been this much success with this species had she not bothered, and also to Steve Dye for all his helpful information as always, 2 true credits to the hobby!
also to Rob Owen for loan of the male and a pat on the back for Steve and Ivan Tibble who recently cracked it.
Female's last moult:
10/2011
Male's maturing moult:
Unknown
Mating date:
23/11/2011
Insert witnessed first attempt. I introduced them both into a large, tall tupperware container as the female seemed too protective of her hide when the male was placed in her enclosure. I did co-hab for a week afterwards but the male was never witnessed out of his hiding place.
She is housed in a large glass arboreal enclosure, the substrate is around an inch at the front of the enclosure, gradually building up into a mound in the right hand rear corner where her hide is, a cork bark tube split in half down the length to form a half tube. That is wedged up against the glass and substrate piled against it. This way I can see perfectly into her hide from the outer side of the glass. I put a piece of black card there to give her darkness and make her feel safe and comfortable, I can move it to check on her.
Conditions after mating:
I followed lisa's report as closely as I could but seeing as my female was mated at a different time of the year and her female took nearly a year to lay I had to gauge it on her feeding habits and behaviour too.
Shortly after I removed the male (around 2/12/2011) I cooled the room down and kept the substrate dry with just a water dish, I did not measure temperature but it felt cool in the room, not too cold, I would guess around mid-20s. feeding a sensible amount of female dubia cockroaches.
Next step:
It stayed this way until the beginning of 1/2012 when I raised the temperature until it was very warm in the room, I would say around 30 degrees, keeping the substrate dry. The female seemed to eat more when the temps were raised and was now looking well fed.
The soaking:
I started soaking of the substrate around 20/2/12 heavily, luke warm, around a litre a day until thoroughly soaked. One time the bottom of her hide formed a pond, I left it for a day and then soaked up the excess with kitchen roll. At this time the female was constantly on the lookout for food, I had to reign myself in with the feeding as not to force a moult.
Around 25/3/2012 she went into her hide and put a sheet of web over the top, she would emerge breifly to look for more food but soon retreated back in there an put another sheet up. I fed her one last dubia for luck at the beginning of April and she hit like a ton of bricks. After that she never emerged from her hide again and the sheet of webbing she put over her hide got thicker and thicker until i checked on her 18/5/2012 and she was webbing up every nook and cranny, which she never did before, not even for a pending moult.
Every day she would do a bit more and a bit more.
She made a thin bowl in the bottom of her hide on the floor.
Early hours of 25/5/2012
She made another bowl around an inch above the bottom one. I sat for hours watching as she constructed the cup to lay the eggs in. By the time she was stood over the top it looked like someone had emptied cotton wool into her hide. After standing over the bowl for around half an hour i saw the eggs and fluid come dripping out. I did not want to film or take photos at this point as it was dim in the room and it would have needed a torch/flash and i did not want to disturb her at this time.
I was so tired that I informed Rob what had just occurred and went to bed.
I awoke to this
Conditioning for the sac:
I kept the temps around the same, no notable change.
The female sat constantly vertically up against the glass holding the sac suspended above the substrate (even though it wasn't especially wet anymore) i'm sure it never touched the floor. Around a week later she strung the sac from the top of the hide like a punch bag, very strange, especially for poecilotheria spp.
With temps at around 90, on day 17 I removed the sac and opened it to find lots of legs wiggling at me
When counted there was found to be 151 postembryo N1 larva and not a single undeveloped or bad egg!
They are being incubated in a large tub lined with damp kitchen roll.
Thanks for having a read and lets hope for more little blue gems from other breeders.
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