Successful

Female ID: "Aphrodite"

Female's last molt: 7/30/10

Female fed heavy (1 sub adult or adult dubia weekly) beginning 8/31/10.

MM received 9/26/10 (on loan from Joe - CAK).

9/26/10 - First pairing: Female was defensive at first, slapping at male, but male was very persistent and mating ensued. Multiple good insertions witnessed with both palps over a 5-10 minute period. Male removed after mating.

9/28/10 - Second pairing: MM very skittish and female was too defensive. MM removed for his safety.

10/2/10 - Third pairing: Female defensive at first, but MM was persistent again this time and another solid pairing occurred. Multiple insertions witnessed with both palps. MM removed.

1/4/11 - Female has begun digging in substrate and residing in webbing that is below the surface. Nesting behavior? Still accepting food.

1/9/11 - Refused food. No excessive webbing yet, but abdomen is HUGE. At this point, I poured about 2 oz. of water into the substrate opposite where her tube web was and misted her enclosure heavily. I continued this misting once to twice weekly, as this girl has long since buried and webbed over her water dish.

1/20/11, 9pm - Her entire "den" is now covered in silk, so much so, I really couldn't see that well into the container. It appeared as though she was making the "bowl" to lay her eggs in. I left her be to check on in the morning.

1/21/11, 9am - Sac constructed!


3/4/11 - Sac pulled - excellent results! Over 100 1st instar spiderlings beginning to darken for the molt to 2nd instar. Not a single dry or bad egg.




3/14/11 - 3/15/11 - Molted to 2nd instar. Final count 119

Successful

Female ID: "Jazz"

Female's last molt: 7/2/11

Male on loan from Chad (advan)

Female is fed 1 sub adult dubia or 2-3 large crickets weekly in preparation for pairing. This is a small girl (~3"), very much still a juvenile, and she has yet to accept a male on her previous 2 breeding attempts/molt cycles.

7/30/11: 1st pairing. Male is introduced into female's enclosure, and he immediately enters one end of her tube web and begins drumming. Female is spooked by this and runs to the other end of the tube web. The male continues to drum, and eventually, the female turns and re-enters the web and approaches the male. The male draws her out, and mating ensues, with pairing taking place underneath the tube web structure. Pairing lasts ~10 minutes.


11/8/11: Female is bulking up nicely now, voracious appetite.

1/1/12: Female has built a 2nd retreat/tube web, on the opposite side of her enclosure from the hideaway she normally inhabits. This retreat is much larger, as well. Hopefully this is a sign of impending sac.

3/2/12: Female was observed with a sac!

4/9/12: Sac pulled - ~90 healthy 1st instars!



5/12/12: Molted to 2nd instar. A few weaker slings perished along the way, and 4-5 perished shortly after molting, but otherwise this sac did well for a first time mom. Exactly 40 survivors.



Outcome: Successful