how to tell if a female tarantula is mature

Additionally, one has to consider the �itch factor� from New World theraphosids and the �chomp factor� from the Old World species. Where was Science then, to help prove the dealer to be honest or expose the truth? A female tarantula sheds the spermathecae lining along with the rest of her exoskeleton and an experienced examiner can look for the presence of spermathecae, which is the sperm storage receptacle of the female. Of the several hundreds (perhaps ©1997-2020 Rick C. West. about how you can accurately determine the sex of a living tarantula. After it molts, look on the inside of the exuvium (shed skin), between the top set of book lungs. Under high magnification, these hairs take on the shape of an arch (or inverted triangle in some species such as With some practice and a pocket microscope for the smaller spiders, sexing tarantulas can be simple. When looking at the exuvia locate the epigynum: If the area of the epigynum is smooth your tarantula is male. If the dealer chooses to do so, it�s just a courtesy, especially for large numbers of small spiders. The author has heard everything (including a few you may have missed!) An observer may sex a tarantula -- that is, determine whether the tarantula is male or female -- by noting, in part, the spider's size, color scheme and molting patterns.Females tend to be larger than males. and ability to produce eggsacs. The fact that they are larger, more massive and live far longer in captivity all add up to the choice of a female being the wiser decision and choice over a male. They use this extra set of glands to create a sperm web.Females are the ones that have to attract the males when it comes to mating. There is a handy one available, WITH a built-in light, from Radio Shack� for about $10.00 US. A tarantula’s molted skin is called the exuvium. Therefore, if a tarantula molts again after reaching sexual maturity, odds are it's female. While the SASI conference covers ALL Arthropods, most of the over 100 attendees were, at the very least, passingly interested enough in tarantulas to make the seminar a worthwhile event on its own. It kills by injecting its venom through its fangs and into its prey. Perhaps the most controversial subject in the captive husbandry of tarantulas is the issue of "how to sex a tarantula". All were merely educated guesses, based on many, many years of experience and looking at many thousands of spiders, most of the same species or two. This is often one of the biggest questions that goes through a keepers mind when acquiring a new tarantula. The author was in attendance at this seminar with many hundreds of live tarantulas of numerous species and we didn�t hesitate to lay hands on many unsuspecting victims for our "hands on" approach to determining their gender.On larger spiders, the presence (or absence) of the With smaller tarantulas, down to a size that can be safely picked up and turned over (i.e., 1.5-2" legspan), the author prefers to used a pocket microscope of about 30x. Except for breeding, the male is a poor financial investment for the average tarantula keeper. Over my 30 years of keeping tarantulas alive in vivaria, I must admit to having been fooled many times both by the spiders themselves and by my well-meaning colleagues or so called "experts", who claimed to have discovered some foolproof method of accurately determining the gender of individual tarantulas.Well, if those techniques were indeed "foolproof", then I must be nobody's fool, since they have proven to be about as (but no Fortunately, for those of us who breed tarantulas regularly, the technique of sexing theraphosid spiders from the microscopic examination of the exuviae (shed skins), is a True science. ), unfortunately, revealed that the many foreign authors had not found any ONE characteristic that they could agree on. Certainly, if one has 200 tarantulas of the same species, of nearly the same age & size, it is possible to select males from females with a better than 50/50 chance. Don�t expect the pet store clerk or the tarantula dealer (myself included) to pick up and sex every tarantula for you. Although there are more than 900 species of tarantula, they all share certain physical characteristics that help people distinguish males from females. Gomez received her Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Pace University. A female’s exuvium has a spermathecae -- or a sac for sperm storage -- in the portion that covers her abdomen.Male tarantulas have an extra set of silk-spinning glands called epiandrous fusillade.

The magnified photos figured in this article should help illustrate the appearance and location of these silk-producing hairs that appear like short, stiff and slightly bent hairs. Males are often requested for breeding projects or for those who want a pet with a lifespan (and commitment) of a only few years. Our colleagues in the British Tarantula Society, especially John and Kathleen Hancock, brought this valuable technique for accurately sexing tarantulas to light in their book entitled, Thus the quest remained for a reliable method based on scientific evidence that allows one (sending out DNA samples was not reasonable) to immediately determine the gender of a live tarantula. If done on a live tarantula, such as a In the beginning, you are apt to make a mistake or two and the level of ones eyesight (mine is rather poor) can also add to or detract from the success you will have with this method. It is undoubtedly true that the average tarantula keeper (not breeder) is almost always on the lookout for a FEMALE tarantula. This work, in trying to determine females, may have led to a case of �missing the forest because of the trees�!The visual examination of even very small (2nd to 3rd instar) tarantula exuviae show the epiandrous �arch� of fusillae as readily or more readily than the developing spermatheca of very young female tarantulas and, perhaps just as importantly can be seen within seconds on the live animal! to comparing the sizes of the chelicera, legs, abdominal girth or the you-name-it. From "feeling" for the abdominal bulge (try THAT one with a King Baboon or Usambara Red!) So, the differences are on every tarantula you�ll ever look at. On these aforementioned tarantula species, they have light orange to peach colored Naturally, time and practice are required. But what about the lone tarantula in a "Critter Cottage" in the corner of a pet shop on Main Street?