When to breed?

[SpiderHouseRules]

I used to raise and breed Scorpions but got away from it close to two years but have kept several specimens and a few pet female tarantulas. One is a G. pulchra and the other is a V. albopilosum. Each is 4 years and the other 6 years respectively.

Here's what I'd like to know;

Are they old enough or too old to breed? I have never attempted to breed them but only taken really good care of them and kept them as display animals.

 

[Josh]

Welcome to the forum! Thanks for joining! Have you determined you have a mature pair?

 

[Poec54]

While a female may technically be sexually mature, it's not necessarily a good idea to breed her as soon as she hits puberty (same goes with 12 year old girls, who may the 'equipment', but shouldn't be using it). For example, if a species typically gets 6", I don't breed the females until they're at least 5". When they're still growing they put most of their resources into that, and don't have as much for egg production. Because of the competing demands for resources, young females often have small sacs with low survival rates. No need to rush it. Once they're closer to full size, they can focus on reproduction and can make larger, healthier sacs. Another issue is that young females molt more often, and have a greater chance of molting instead of laying a sac. For the timing to work, it's always best to plan in advance, and have a female that is at least 2 years older than the male.

Some young females will go along with a persuasive male, some won't. I have a female geniculata that at 7" had no interest in a male during several pairings. She shed and grew, and when again paired with the same male, suddenly was very receptive. Technically, she was probably mature the first time around at 7".

 

[SpiderHouseRules]

Welcome to the forum! Thanks for joining! Have you determined you have a mature pair?

I don't have a pair. Just one female G. pulchripes and one female B. albopilosum. I can see I called one pulchra instead of Pulchripes.

Poec54 - Is it age or size that determines the females ability to safely breed?

Thanks,

 

[Poec54]

I don't have a pair. Just one female G. pulchripes and one female B. albopilosum. I can see I called one pulchra instead of Pulchripes.

Poec54 - Is it age or size that determines the females ability to safely breed?

Thanks,

Both. Tarantulas growth rates can be stunted in captivity, and they can also be sped up where the spider is large for it's age. Under reasonable growth situations, females of many tropical species will be ready at 3 to 5 years; males often 2 years ahead of their sisters. Since you mentioned pulchripes, males can grow at a good pace. I've had 3-4" males mature a year later as 7" adults. Their sisters wouldn't be breedable nearly that soon. I wouldn't dream of breeding a pulchripes female that was under 6".

 

[SpiderHouseRules]

Both. Tarantulas growth rates can be stunted in captivity, and they can also be sped up where the spider is large for it's age. Under reasonable growth situations, females of many tropical species will be ready at 3 to 5 years; males often 2 years ahead of their sisters. Since you mentioned pulchripes, males can grow at a good pace. I've had 3-4" males mature a year later as 7" adults. Their sisters wouldn't be breedable nearly that soon. I wouldn't dream of breeding a pulchripes female that was under 6".

Thanks for the valuable information. I had always concentrated on scorpions and never attempted to breed Tarantuals. I'm going to be moving at the end of this year and I'm already having to decide which animals I'm going to have to sell.

Since I left Arachnids I've been keeping and breeding dart frogs. Now all those high prices for some tarantulas don't seem so much as compared to the dart frogs I buy.

 

[Poec54]

Since I left Arachnids I've been keeping and breeding dart frogs. Now all those high prices for some tarantulas don't seem so much as compared to the dart frogs I buy.

Tarantula prices in general in the US have been coming down the last several years, due to supply starting to catch up with demand. Breeding's not as lucrative as it was 10 years ago when the big wave of European imports started. The way Europeans make money breeding, and the way Americans are now too, is in volume, not high unit prices. That's good for collectors, as they can afford to buy more, but there's some dealers that really miss the old days.

One of the things breeders have to decide is whether to sell/trade their slings at retail, wholesale, or both. If you focus on retail, you'll be making a lot of small sales, and will probably have to maintain hundreds of vials. The money's better, but there are advantages to doing it wholesale. You can ship out dozens or hundreds of slings at a time and don't get bogged down in caring for slings. Clean and simple. You'll be surprised how low wholesale prices are, but keep in mind that in order to have a good selection, bigger dealers have to have thousands of vials, and that can mean employees and renting a building. They can't do what they do if they can't cover their overhead. I sell/trade almost all of my slings to dealers, and that covers the cost of new acquisitions and feeders. It's ironic, but by breeding, the bigger your collection is, the less it costs you. There's a point at which a big collection has paid for itself.

 

[SpiderHouseRules]

I always kept Arachnids for the challenge and never to make money although I did want to experience at least one egg sac. I was just too busy and never had any really mature females to work with.

I've been out of the loop for years now so I have no idea what's been going on. A couple things I noticed and maybe you can answer. Why don't I see very many T. Blondi anymore. It's always been an expensive and high demand Tarantula but just looking around for the last day or so I just don't see very many, if none at all. Also, this forum's page doesn't look familiar, has this site been around for a long time. I really have forgotten about everything and can't remember all the different sites.

 

[Poec54]

I've been out of the loop for years now so I have no idea what's been going on. A couple things I noticed and maybe you can answer. Why don't I see very many T. Blondi anymore. It's always been an expensive and high demand Tarantula but just looking around for the last day or so I just don't see very many, if none at all.

Blondi's been replaced by a hardier Theraphosa, stirmi. Just as big but not as delicate or as prone to molting problems, and while not easy to breed, it's infinitely easier than blondi. Stirmi are still coming in as w/c (blondi aren't) and occasionally someone in the US hatches out a sac of stirmi. I'm a big Theraphosa fan and see no reason to own blondi. The other Theraphosa, apophysis, is much more interesting (bigger legspan and purple males).

 

[SpiderHouseRules]

Blondi's been replaced by a hardier Theraphosa, stirmi. Just as big but not as delicate or as prone to molting problems, and while not easy to breed, it's infinitely easier than blondi. Stirmi are still coming in as w/c (blondi aren't) and occasionally someone in the US hatches out a sac of stirmi. I'm a big Theraphosa fan and see no reason to own blondi. The other Theraphosa, apophysis, is much more interesting (bigger legspan and purple males).

Well that explains a lot. Years ago I only heard of Stirmi and Apophysis. One thing I could never figure out is what species is the one that I always see in pictures that is big and heavy looking and a Rootbeer brown. Sometimes that picture has been identified as all three of the species.

The only other species I've considered buying recently is P. rufilata. It's a T I always wanted but never got around to buying.

 

[Poec54]

All 3 Theraphosa look pretty similar. Can't go by color, as that changes depending where they are in their molt cycle. The easiest way to tell them apart is that blondi has long hairs on the patella and stirmi doesn't. Both have a round carapace while apophysis' is more oval, and it has longer legs and a proportionately smaller body.

I just got some 2nd instar stirmi in a trade, they're so cute.