- Messages
- 23
- Location
- Queen Creek AZ
-
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Wild caught Arizona blonde M or F?
- Thread starter Golgotha
- Start date
- Messages
- 795
- Location
- USA
Beautiful T . What is your T's DLS? Just a picture hard to tell. If she is WC no way to know exactly how old she is but from the pic looks decent size. I would lean toward female if she/he is bigger in size. A fresh molt is the best way to determine sex of a T. Happy Spoodering!!
- Messages
- 53
- Location
- USA
I grew up in the Arizona desert so this is literally my "home" T. I started catching them in the backyard 50+ years ago.
Unless your camera is really out of whack, that coloring strongly says "male" to me.
The species name actually gives it away. The term chalcodes loosely translates to "copper spot". It refers to the coloration of the males. They have a characteristic copper-colored carapace with dark legs and abdomen. The males can also have some red in their rump bristles but only a few really show it.
The females are almost a uniform tan color throughout the body although they do darken during pre-molt. A pic of my female is below for comparison.
Being wild caught also leans heavily to it being a male - especially if you caught it during the late summer monsoons in a place where it didn't belong. The males are out in force from around July to September lookin' for love in all the wrong places. We'd always find at least one hanging around the carport or work shed after a late summer rain. They also show up, sadly, all over the roads in outlying areas during that time of year. Overall, I'd say that 95% of the ones I caught as a kid were males. The females just didn't hang out in public as much.
As Trooper said, the litmus test for sexing is a molt. In this case, though, I'd give you 10-to-1 that you've got a male based on the appearance. The good news is that even the males of this species live a looooong time. I had a WC male as a kid that lasted more than ten years and it was already a good size when I caught it.
Some people think these are too plain looking to be interesting, but there will always be a spot on my shelf for my old childhood friends. The Big Brown Spider is still a classic to me.
Unless your camera is really out of whack, that coloring strongly says "male" to me.
The species name actually gives it away. The term chalcodes loosely translates to "copper spot". It refers to the coloration of the males. They have a characteristic copper-colored carapace with dark legs and abdomen. The males can also have some red in their rump bristles but only a few really show it.
The females are almost a uniform tan color throughout the body although they do darken during pre-molt. A pic of my female is below for comparison.
Being wild caught also leans heavily to it being a male - especially if you caught it during the late summer monsoons in a place where it didn't belong. The males are out in force from around July to September lookin' for love in all the wrong places. We'd always find at least one hanging around the carport or work shed after a late summer rain. They also show up, sadly, all over the roads in outlying areas during that time of year. Overall, I'd say that 95% of the ones I caught as a kid were males. The females just didn't hang out in public as much.
As Trooper said, the litmus test for sexing is a molt. In this case, though, I'd give you 10-to-1 that you've got a male based on the appearance. The good news is that even the males of this species live a looooong time. I had a WC male as a kid that lasted more than ten years and it was already a good size when I caught it.
Some people think these are too plain looking to be interesting, but there will always be a spot on my shelf for my old childhood friends. The Big Brown Spider is still a classic to me.
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- Messages
- 23
- Location
- Queen Creek AZ
The spider is 4" toe to toe. When I entered the hobby I called every store in the Phoenix area because I wanted an Arizona Blonde because of its awesome personality. They were nowhere to be found so I purchased a very small (size about a quarter) Chaco Golden Knee which was also highly praised. I took a chance and fortunately it was a female. She is now over 5" Toe to toe. It was found in an irrigation valve box and inside the box was a molt. It was too munched to see anything. Here is "Slinky" doing her Alien impression. Hmm wouldn't let me attach.
- Messages
- 23
- Location
- Queen Creek AZ
- Messages
- 23
- Location
- Queen Creek AZ
I finally was able to get better pictures of my Arizona Blonde. I purchased another enclosure like the one I have for my Chaco Golden Knee. Hoping someone can sex it.View attachment 76591
