Poecilotheria regalis BREEDING LOG [PROJECT 1 - AUGUST 2008]
THE SPECIMENS:
Female I [6.75"]
This girl is, literally, the second tarantula I ever purchased and the spider that took me from being mildly interested in the hobby to being moderately obsessed. I acquired her when I was 14 and she was a mere inch in length - it's been almost 9 years exactly since that day and she's grown into quite the beautiful adult. Molted around 07/25 of this year and has been fed more regularly for the past two weeks leading up to the beginning of this project. Currently resides in a 10 gallon tank, set on its side, with a large (6" x 14") cork tube serving as her hide.
Female II [5.50-6.00"]
She was purchased as part 1 of a package deal that included the mature male to be described below - this girl is currently very hefty and looking to be in pre-molt. With luck, she will molt in time to take advantage of the male I presently have available - if not she will have to wait for one of my many many spiderling males to mature. Currently resides in a cereal dispenser (same as the ones used in the Haplopelma housing tutorial only set up differently). Received on 08/14/2008.
Male I [5.25-5.5"]
Purchased at the same time as Female II - matured on 05/16 of this year and is in excellent physical health. I expect him to be in good mating condition for the next two months, provided there are no unforeseen accidents along the way. Currently resides in a cereal dispenser, same as noted above. Received on 08/14/2008.
Male I, resting on the side of Female I's tank just in front of the entrance to her hide.
FIRST ROUND: FEMALE I [ 08/14/2008 - 08/15/2008 ]
DAY I - 08/14/2008
I received the male early today, around 10am CST, and immediately had him moved into his new enclosure. Having a perfectly ready female and not wishing to waste time, I designated the living room as breeding headquarters. Female I's tank was relocated into a shallow Rubbermaid tub and the front lid removed - at approximately 4pm Male I's enclosure was tilted at 90 degrees so that the opening at the top entered directly into Female I's tank.
At ~8:45pm Male I finally ventured into Female I's tank and seemed to immediately pick up on her presence. He spent the following 45 minutes tapping voraciously to no avail, as he refused to move beyond the wall furthest from the opening of Female I's hide. Eventually his exploratory nature kicked into high gear and, at ~9:30pm, he garnered the attentions of Female I who exited her hide and began tapping in response.
The male led her all about the cage for a considerable time - Female I showed absolutely no signs of aggression throughout the process. No mating occurred during this initial courtship routine - Male I seemed to lose interest (or simply became too intimidated) and ceased his tapping, Female I returned to her hide at 10:15.
At more or less regular intervals for the hours following, Female I exited her hide in a quite deliberate search for Male I - upon finding him she would immediately begin her tapping again. Her willingness has, as of yet, been no match for his comparable skittishness, and each instance has thusly ended with Male I fleeing the scene and Female I sulking back to her hide. This has taken place between 10:35 and 10:40, 10:50 and 10:56, 11:11 and 11:17, and I caught it briefly recurring at 12:38, with the female retreating to her hide no more than a minute later.
Presently (1:22am 08/15/2008) Female I seems to have retreated for the evening and Male I is resting along the side of Female I's tank. The entire setup (Rubbermaid container and all) has been returned to my bedroom (doubles as my tarantula room, much to my girlfriend's regret) to prevent any undue harm befalling it at the paws of my ever-curious cat.
Male I (right) and Female I (left) tapping to one another at the entrance to her hide.
DAY II - 08/15/2008
When I awakened, Male I was still resting on the side of Female I's tank - by 11am he had moved into the top part of her cork bark hide and was resting there. Female I was seen resting in the bottom half of the cork tube and had webbed a small divider between herself and Male I, creating a more or less private chamber for herself. She showed no interest towards the male at this time. At 2:01pm Female I noticed the presence of Male I and began tapping profusely again, Male I was quick to exit the tube and take refuge on the side of the tank - Female I returned to her tube at 2:05.
The rest of the afternoon was absolutely uneventful - Female I retreated to the base of her cork bark hide and remained there, sealing off a part of it with silk. Male I entered the tube at least twice that I saw, but never ventured farther than an inch or so beyond the opening. As night fell, Male I became more restless and by midnight he was wandering the tank in search of exit (no tapping). At 2:00am I removed him from the tank and placed him back in his cereal dispenser enclosure - an adult Turkistan roach was included on the rare off chance that he might be hungry.
At present, plans are to re-introduce him to Female I sometime Sunday afternoon/evening, in hopes that the courtship goes a bit more positively. Female I still showed herself to be highly conducive to mating - something I hope remains the case when Male I is re-introduced.
SECOND ROUND: FEMALE I [ 08/17/2008 - 08/19/2008 ]
Male I was re-introduced into Female I's enclosure at ~10:30pm on 08/17. No courtship behaviour was observed from that time until I went to bed at ~2:00am on 08/18 - Male I had planted himself on the underside of Female I's cork bark tube. The following morning he was observed sitting behind an upturned water dish but, again, no courtship behaviour was observed.
For the remainder of the day Male I was relatively inactive, save for moving again to the base of the cork bark and cleaning himself. Both he and Female I were left in peace for the majority of this time, as I had considerable things to do. At ~10:00pm 08/18 there was still no activity to really observe, so my girfriend and I exited the living room and spent the following three hours watching a documentary (Jonathan Miller's excellent "A Rough History of Disbelief").
At 2.14am on 08/19 I checked on Male I and Female I and found myself unable to locate the former within the tank. I then observed Female I, Male I firmly in her jaws, at the inside bottom of her cork hide. It was obvious that this had been a recent development (within the past half hour, certainly) as a trail of hemolyph was still visible leading from the top of the cork bark to where she was presently positioned - more grotesque evidence of this was seen in the fact that Male I's legs were still twitching at the time of the observation.
Male I's remains were removed at ~11:45am on 08/19, just after being ejected from Female I's hide. I am tempted to think that mating may indeed have succesfully occurred during one of the many times I was away, particular given Female I's amiable behaviour during the first round and her drastic change at the conclusion of round two. At the same time, I am well aware that this may be a complete and utter failure (good thing I have four to five males in reserve, some of which I'm sure can be readied by the end of this year).
This was something of an unwanted development, though I can hardly be sad about it. These things simply happen. For the next several months Female I will be treated as pregnant, given increased food and water for the next month, followed by a dry spell, followed by heavy misting to induce egg laying. The results of this, if any, will be written here.
Male I upon his ultimate removal from the tank, obviously a little worse for wear
FURTHER OBSERVATIONS [ 10/15/2008 ]
As a minor note, FEMALE II was sold roughly three weeks ago to Ryan Nefcy for breeding - best of luck to him (as though he needs it!) on that venture.
FEMALE I, against all odds, is showing definite signs of being gravid. She has been eating consistently since the conclusion of the breeding attempts and has put on massive amounts of weight uncharacteristic of non-gravid specimens I have worked with previously. Also, inspections of her underside shortly after the mating attempts took place reveal that a sperm packet may, in fact, have been inserted. She has been fed regularly and has accepted all offered prey with a considerable voracity. It has been two months, almost to the day, since the supposed mating took place, leaving me to expect (from the observations of others) that I have a month or more to wait before she produces a sac.
As October comes to a close I intend to keep feeding consistent (unless FEMALE I begins rejecting the offered prey items) while decreasing the amount of watering (I mist roughly ever other day). In early to mid November, after a week or so of dry conditions, I will stop offering food (unless she is, as previously stated, already rejecting it) and up the level of watering again to encourage the final stages of egg production. With some luck a sac should be produced by early December or thereabouts - it would certainly make for one hell of an early Christmas present.
As always, an pertinent observations will be included as addendums to this article as necessary - in spite of all earlier indications, this breeding project happily appears to still be a work in progress!
