B. smithi breeding

[argiope]

I have adult pair of B. smithi, unrelated and both are freshly molted. I have put the male to her and observed one successfull insert (I hope it was OK), but when I repeated it (already 5x, 3-5 days between individual trials), the male behave strangely. He drummed, she nicely raised her pedipalps and fangs, but he then he refused to approach and escaped. She was even slowly following him few steps, but it was a waste of time.... My question is whether somebody has similar experience. I do not believe much, but do you think he can even recognize that he copulated with her already and now wants to meet another baby? Or any other idea? Do you think that if I put her to his cage the situation can change?

I should note that I have some experiences with B. albopilosa and vagans (successfull 3 and 2 eggsacs, respectively), but have not observed such behaviour.

Thanks.

 

[Nada]

A lot could be going on here. 1st and foremost have you seen him make a sperm web and load up since the 1st pairing? Have you fed the female all she can eat before parings? How long did you leave them together on the 2nd attempt? he could have easily just gotten spooked.
I've had quite a bit of success with Smithi in the past , be aware they are nothing at all like albopilosum, and Vagans. They take much longer, and require a cool down period. Good Luck.

 

[argiope]

Thanks for your reply. I have seen him under the sperm web before the first (successfull) mating. After a week I noticed residues of what could be the sperm web, but not 100% sure. This could be the case, alhouht I speculate that males might be able to mate again without necessity to refill up the bulbs, especially when only one insertion happened before.

The first mating started about 2 minutes after putting him to her and took about next 2 minutes (only one insertion). All subsequent attempts were longer (5-10 min) and looked all the same: 3-5 mins of doing nothing, then starting shaking his body and drumming (especially when they touched), but whenever she moved towards him (all her moves were slow and delicate, definitely no baring) and raised pedipalps (evidently ready to copulate) , he get spooked and run away...