Hi all

So i have been thinking that a new forum topic/page about how to breed your spider should be opened for us noobs that do not know how to breed etc... In this page i was thinking could cover different species and how to mate and breed each of these species, with specific detailed information... When to mate, how to mate, how to encourage mating. what temps to keep a gravid female, how to make her drop, how to incubate eggs ect.... with more information thou of coarse very very detailed information do`s and dont`s etc...

Just an idea iv been thinking about, personally i think it will be great for the noobs that have no or very little information on this topic.. The breeding reports do very little to nothing at all for us, as all the important information is left out... Only thing is i get to see what new spiders i can buy

Let me know what you guys think, but i am not sure if the breeders are willing to share there success secrets to the "general public". Just an idea so please feel free to voice you opinions :whistle: :silly:

Thanks guys

I agree! would be very helpful to us trying to breed, people talk about how hard some Ts are to breed, but why? what mustn't you do what must you do. I do know how to breed balfouris pretty well after reading scarabs thread though was very helpful. So maybe some topics like that, if a breeding has failed why did it fail etc

Great idea.

Come on you T Pro's help us

Here is my tip. It works for every species out there.
Failure is the first step to success. Basically it comes down to experience, and a bit (or a lot) of luck. You will fail many times and that will make the first success so much sweeter.
Im really not being difficult and im sure lots of people out there will confirm that i try and help out as much as possible when it comes to breeding species that i have experience in.
But if it were as easy as writing down what to do, we would have metallicas selling for R10 each because people had bred too many. 2 spiders kept in exactly the same conditions as each other will often do totally different things.
It took me 3 years of numerous failures before i figured out how to get certain species to breed. And even now im not 100% sure that by doing the same thing i will get an eggcase (except for maybe easier species like P.fasciata).
I am also not great at keeping records and dont own a thermometer or hygrometer, i just decide to flood/heat/cool when the spider looks like she will drop to me.
Basically i am saying, in my opinion, experience is everything in the breeding game. Whether some of the big breeders will agree is another thing, but im convinced it is not an exact science.
So get out there. Make mistakes and learn from them. You have many years left to enjoy them.

I understand this, I can see with myself that experience is a big thing, but what would also work for us is when exactly would u start flooding? is it when you think she is gravid? when do you start to raise the temps? Also if you have succeeded in breeding a species in which you had failed in previously what did you do to correct it. It doesn't have to be a full on step by step breeding report, just little hints here and there will go a long way. O also with avics whats the basics to breeding them, pokies, brachys? What is the cooling down period and when do you do it. I know most of these things already but it is because I've asked around, but for the guys that haven't it would help a lot especially since we trying to get more Ts in the hobby at cheaper prices

T-rad wrote: I understand this, I can see with myself that experience is a big thing, but what would also work for us is when exactly would u start flooding? is it when you think she is gravid? when do you start to raise the temps?

Lets take an example. P.fasciata.
I mate the spider when the male is available. I then keep her cool (In my spider room with no heater) and without any water, feeding her as usual.
When she looks like she is almost ready to drop, I warm her up by putting her against my wall panel heater. When she webs a lot, i flood the tank till the substrate is saturated.

T-rad wrote: Also if you have succeeded in breeding a species in which you had failed in previously what did you do to correct it.

I tried again. Even though regalis is considered an easier species to breed, it took me 3 years and 3 failed eggcases (1 x female moulted, one eggcase was infertile and 1 was eaten by female after around 10 days) before I got it right. I did nothing different other than maybe putting her a bit closer to the heater or putting a bit more water in the enclosure.

T-rad wrote: What is the cooling down period and when do you do it.

For me, the cooling down period is when I give the spider no water and no heat. I do this after mating the spider, till she looks like she is ready to drop.

Hopefully the above points will help, but you are welcome to ask any other questions.

Now, sure I will make a few enemies with some newbies, but they will lose interest in tarantulas in the next year anyway, so doesn't really matter I suppose for the long run.
What is the rush people (Other than leaving the hobby by 18 months)?
Im sure lots of other people had success with breedings in their first year, but I think my 15 years of keeping local spiders before I got tarantulas helped me to understand what to do better.
Look at tarantulas as a 5 year project, not just a quick fix. Learn all there is to keeping them before trying to breed them.

Sorry to use scarab as an example, but even his balfouri success didn't take a year. He got them as slings, understood how they live, did hours (days) of research on their habits, habitat, feeding, climate, breeding info, grew them up for 2 or 3 years, etc. Failed a few times with breedings and from EXPERIENCE learnt what to do.
It just gets to me sometimes when I see people coming in, throwing thousands of rands around buying every spider they see, then when they have no luck in breeding in the first 9 months, they sell everything off and disappear.