Are you a Tarantula hobbyist? If so, we invite you to join our community! Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your pets and enclosures and chat with other Tarantula enthusiasts. Sign up today!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eighth Eye Blind" data-source="post: 239590" data-attributes="member: 49683">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.[ATTACH=full]76500[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

Verification