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Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens breeding notes

Nephrite

Member
Messages
56
Location
California
Hi everyone. This will be a place that I will keep my breeding progress of my GBB's and or Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens for something that I can look back to as reference, but also for other people to read if they are interested.

Molt dates for both GBB's:

Female: Molted April 19, 2021 (Has had this female for 4-5 years ever since it was a tiny sling)

Male: Molted roughly January 10, 2021 (acquired outright from an individual from Spinder)

Introductions:

I received the male on April 13, 2020, 6 days prior to the female molting. Not really a big coincidence, because my female had a large, dark and shiny abdomen so I knew a molt was coming soon, so I started for a male. Anyways once I received the male, I put him in an enclosure right next to the female and let him acclimate to his new surroundings. Throughout the next couple days, the male was made sperm webs and began exploring his enclosure endlessly.

The female then molted on April 19, as previously mentioned and then I left her alone for a little over a week. Then I fed her on April 28th and she eagerly ate. I then tried feeding her the day afterwards but she denied food, which I found quite odd since she has always been one of my best eaters, and she had just molted, although given, her abdomen was already quite fat. I tried feeding her again in a couple days, but she just again just denied the food. I figured she was fine, and she was just full, and I just kept her water dish full. Male was given prekilled roaches, but also denied food, so I just kept him hydrated aswell.

First Pairing:

The first pairing occurred March 4th 2020 around 8-9 PM. I opened both the female and male enclosures side by side and began to coax the male towards the female's enclosure from the opposite side. The male initially jumped and bit the paintbrush I was using to coax him with, which honestly was a good sign that his reflexes were good and he was still very lively. After the male realized the paintbrush was not predatory, he complied and started walking to the end of his enclosure to the female's enclosure. Again I introduced him to the enclosure from the opposite side of where the female was so that he has adequate space and time to realize that he was in the presence of a female counterpart. He soon realized his position and began tapping and or fidgeting his legs while slowly creeping towards the female's den. When he got close enough, I visually saw the female move to face the male, indicating that she had also sensed his presence. The male started drumming more intensely, while the female had begun to also slightly drum. When the male got close enough to the point where his leg was touching the female, the female actually reacted in trying to pounce on him, but he quickly backed away and ran off. He gave himself some time to recollect his life decisions (lol) and then he began to come back towards the female. This time, he began drumming again, but this time, the female began matching the intensity of the drumming. The male moved in and attempted to make an insertion, but backed off because he came in from a bad angle. This back and forth tango ensued for around 2-3 hours until the male finally made a good insertion and then backed off. After the insertion the female actually tried grabbing him, but he managed to escape to safety. The female actually began chasing him slightly, but as previously mentioned the male did escape just fine, but instead she found her old molt (I left her molt there and never picked it up because I just didn't want to bother her) and mistook it for the male and started munching / crunching on it. After she had realized that in her fangs was not the corpse of a male tarantula but instead, her old molt, she backed away into her den and began intensely rubbing her spermathecae with her hind legs. (I've read on some sources online that when the female rubs their spermathecae after a pairing, it means that the insertion was successful, but someone with prior experience please confirm that with me, so I can deduce whether or not I need to pair them a second time).

Notes :

The temperatures in the room were at a constant 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit.

I found it quite interesting that the female tried to eat the male after she had decided the insertion was successful because; The female actually was refusing food before and after the pairing which made me believe she was already full, but still with that information, she attempted to eat the male. I'm not sure why, maybe because she simply just wanted to kill the male, but that's a mystery for someone else to solve.

I will keep this thread updated with future events as to if I decide to pair them a second time and if or when the female drops the egg sac and furthermore.
Thank you and I will keep you guys updated.
 

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