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Female eats loaned male?

Mtinney

Member
3 Year Member
Messages
31
Location
North Carolina
What do you do when your female eats a male that someone loaned you for breeding? I read a lot of posts about breeding. Several stories were about loaned males being eaten. What do you do when your female eats a loaned male? How do you handle that? If it was my male I'd be crushed!
 

Thistles

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3 Year Member
Messages
914
Location
Virginia
Mostly, I feel like crap.

I try to buy males rather than use loaners, but I have had 2 males die on my watch. One male went into a death curl the day after he got to me and before I introduced him to my female. I nursed him back to, if not health, at least activity, then introduced him to my female. She ended up killing him, and I wasn't sure if he got an insertion or not. She still hasn't dropped and usually her species produces quickly, so I sent the male's owner a bunch of other slings I had produced. The other one I had video of him failing at being a male several times and then of her eating him, so it was all documented. I sent the owner a male of a different species for his AF free of charge, and I have paired the females that were supposed to go with his male. If/when they produce, I'll send him some slings.

I've had my males supposedly die right after arrival and get eaten and in one case the female's owner went dark but I later saw him selling slings if the same species, so... I know how it feels to lose out. I don't want to do that to someone else, even though I know it's just part of the risk.
 

Mtinney

Member
3 Year Member
Messages
31
Location
North Carolina
Idk what I'd do if a male died on my watch. I'd probably just play it safe and not borrow or loan my male unless to someone I know & trusted & would let me drop by to see my T. (My mom calls me a smotherin because I'm so overly protective.)
 

Thistles

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
914
Location
Virginia
Idk what I'd do if a male died on my watch. I'd probably just play it safe and not borrow or loan my male unless to someone I know & trusted & would let me drop by to see my T. (My mom calls me a smotherin because I'm so overly protective.)
I figure he's on borrowed time anyway, so he might as well get a chance to get some play! Fortunately, now I've found more experienced and trustworthy people to deal with than when I was new. I traded or sold most of my MMs when I was new to the whole thing. That was a good decision for me! The rough patch was in the middle, when I was getting confident enough to try loans but before I had some connections or good references.
 

Mtinney

Member
3 Year Member
Messages
31
Location
North Carolina
I figure he's on borrowed time anyway, so he might as well get a chance to get some play! Fortunately, now I've found more experienced and trustworthy people to deal with than when I was new. I traded or sold most of my MMs when I was new to the whole thing. That was a good decision for me! The rough patch was in the middle, when I was getting confident enough to try loans but before I had some connections or good references.

One problem I have is from what I've learned there's not a lot of people in my area who have T's. I was considering rather then loaning our my male or female atleast before I found people I trust, just get a pair of my of my own if I decided to breed.
 

Telson

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
215
Thats the best way to go until you get some experience, in my opinion. I started with a male and female porteri, from petco. I've got a mm that a forum member loaned me, i'm waiting on a sac from my Lp after two successful insertions. The male's owner seems kind of uninterested now but hopefully he'll still want some slings..there should be plenty to go around. The male seems to have slowed down a bit, its been almost a year now since his final molt. Btw the owner only asked for five or ten slings, he didnt want the male to go to waste, so the whole thing has been kind of casual. No pressure, except my own anxiety, as im not exactly a veteran breeder..:p
 

Mtinney

Member
3 Year Member
Messages
31
Location
North Carolina
Lol! Yeah I'd be freaking out too if I had someone's 8 legged baby in my care. And I don't understand what you mean by not wanting the male to go to wast?
 

Mtinney

Member
3 Year Member
Messages
31
Location
North Carolina
I also have to ask, how do you catch & separate the slings after they hatch? They're so tiny and delicate how do you... Well to be blunt, catch them without killing them?
 

Telson

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
215
Lol! Yeah I'd be freaking out too if I had someone's 8 legged baby in my care. And I don't understand what you mean by not wanting the male to go to wast?
Well after they mature, males only have a year or two to live, so many of us believe its the right thing to do, sending it away to breed. Not that its wrong to keep it, and let it live out its life, its just better to let it reproduce. Some folks dont want to send away their pets, which is understandable.
 

Thistles

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3 Year Member
Messages
914
Location
Virginia
Males don't live very long after they mature. For some it's just a matter of months before they run down and slowly die. Rather than letting the boys waste away and die without breeding, it's better to take the chance of them getting eaten and try to produce more slings.

Separating the slings is a bit delicate, but if you're careful it's not bad. I usually herd the babies into their new homes. I don't pick them up. They can scamper in on their own.
 

Telson

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
215
Well, after a month most people take the sac from mom, and "incubate" it, let the babies hatch seperately. With my porteri, i just used my hands and herded the slings where i wanted them to go after they molted to 3i. You have to keep your eyes open though, and put the sling container in a larger container, things like that. Otherwise it can get out of hand..its best to have someone not afraid of spiders act as a short stop, catch any escape artists while you're seperating them.
 

Telson

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3 Year Member
Messages
215
Thistles types faster then me:) From the sounds of it she's got more experience too. Ive been thinking of mating my regalis as well, maybe I'll look for a mm...
 

Thistles

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3 Year Member
Messages
914
Location
Virginia
Thistles types faster then me:) From the sounds of it she's got more experience too. Ive been thinking of mating my regalis as well, maybe I'll look for a mm...
Nah I was late. You beat me with your post about wasting the male! If you bred Grammostola, good job! I think a lot of people struggle to get them to drop sacs. I'm not SUPER experienced, but I like to breed what I can. I've produced... Idk, maybe 2 dozen sacs, but none from especially difficult species. I've done some Psalms, Poecs, Avics, and some easy baboons. No NW terrestrials yet, but I have a few fresh pairs that I'm going to be trying soon or have paired recently. Also, my Chilobrachys dyscolus that I paired in February has a sac now, and she's my first non-Poec Asian. I had just about given up hope on her. Guess I shouldn't get excited yet, though. A lot can still go wrong.

I say go for it with the regalis. Best to reproduce what we can here in the US and keep the hobby strong and growing! There's a lot of good info out there on how to succeed with poecs, and some people don't do anything special at all and still get sacs.
 

Telson

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3 Year Member
Messages
215
Nah I was late. You beat me with your post about wasting the male! If you bred Grammostola, good job! I think a lot of people struggle to get them to drop sacs. I'm not SUPER experienced, but I like to breed what I can. I've produced... Idk, maybe 2 dozen sacs, but none from especially difficult species. I've done some Psalms, Poecs, Avics, and some easy baboons. No NW terrestrials yet, but I have a few fresh pairs that I'm going to be trying soon or have paired recently. Also, my Chilobrachys dyscolus that I paired in February has a sac now, and she's my first non-Poec Asian. I had just about given up hope on her. Guess I shouldn't get excited yet, though. A lot can still go wrong.

I say go for it with the regalis. Best to reproduce what we can here in the US and keep the hobby strong and growing! There's a lot of good info out there on how to succeed with poecs, and some people don't do anything special at all and still get sacs.
Well, I had to breed her twice, she ate the first sac ONE DAY before I was going to pull it. I pulled the next one at three weeks, to be safe. She also ate my male, which as you probably know, is a crappy experience. I was stunned and rather horrified, because she was always sweet to him. It was my fault. I wont mate a female more than twice anymore, if i see what looks to be good insertions. I overdid it, and the fourth time she charged and pounced on him immediately.
Ive got the Lp and two wc A anax bred, ill wait on the regalis, shes got plenty of time and my hands will be full. Hell, they are full, since i decided to breed scorps. My main interest right now is Centruroides margaritatus, I'm waiting on five to mature. I'm infatuated with the species atm, and I want to see more in the hobby ;)
 

Thistles

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3 Year Member
Messages
914
Location
Virginia
Omg bad girl! Eating boys and babies is not okay! At least you got it done, though.

It is awful when a male gets eaten. Ugh, the twitching and crunching... It's terrible.
 

Kymura

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3 Year Member
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3,315
Location
Alabama
That's why I'm hoping for females. Not because I don't like the males, but because no matter what I'll have to lose them.
I get really attached :(
 

Zurchiboy

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
234
I personally wouldn't loan a mm. I'd just give them the MM and ask for a couple slings in return as a trade :)
 
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