Male has lost his mojo

I am watching my sister's spider female in an attempt to breed her with my pastel male. The male bred readily with my pinstripe female all season long. You put him in there, usually he'd be in a lock within a few hours. When we first introduced him to my sister's spider, they locked for a really long time. Now, it seems he wants nothing to do with her. He'll crawl on her a bit but usually I find them curled up next to each other. I've tried putting another male's sperm on her back and that had no effect. One of my male's is about to shed but he is a non breeding male as well so I don't think that will help. I have tried putting in another male, but that didn't work either. Any ideas on how to get him in the mood? Or her in the mood? She has no follicle development that I can feel. We only just began breeding them in March. Any thoughts? The pastel is the only one we want actually breeding with her so introducing another male for actual breeding purposes is not something we want to do. We are aiming for bees. And yes, I am aware they might be locking while I'm not looking but it just seems like they don't want anything to do with each other. I see no trails on the paper towel or pretty urate paintings like I saw with my normal and pinstripe girls.

You can either keep trying or wait till winter and breed them in season when you'll have better luck.
He might be telling you he's done, finished, kaput for the year :P

I'd give them a break until you feel follicle development. Or wait until she sheds again, then pair them again.

How do you feel for Follicle development??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlX9y6wyrsw

That might help.

This is the female we are breeding him to. She has refused meals twice in a row now.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...520_141411.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...520_142001.jpg

Anyone have any idea about that small lump in her belly in the second photo? That's not from a rat. She hasn't eaten twice now. She shed a few weeks ago. Any thoughts? I'm not going to pair them up for a while.

Ok, I might end up making a new thread for this as the lump has not gone away. I don't think it is an ovulation (as they don't last very long right?). This showed up on Saturday (Pictured above) and these are pictures from today. She refuses to eat and that lump is not due to a recent meal. She has not eaten in over 2 weeks now. I don't think it could be poop. She pooped a few weeks ago and it was quite large (we've been feeding her every 5 days as she was eating well for breeding).

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...523_110820.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...523_110851.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...523_110919.jpg

We began breeding her in mid-March. She was never cooled. In April she had one good solid lock with the male. After that, nothing. So I don't think it is an ovulation, but I wanted to see what anyone thought that might have a clue what that lump is. It just seems really large for a backed up poop, especially seeing as she has had normal poops on a regular basis. (she eats, she poops. Nothing out of the ordinary). Again, she has not eaten in over 2 weeks, so this is definitely not a meal in her belly. It began on Saturday, the 21st and is still here today. Any thoughts?

What has her behavior been like? Has she been hanging out on the cool side? wrapping the bowl? Laying inverted?

She looks gravid to me, but I'm still finishing out my first season...

She's either been hanging in the middle or the cool side, but on occasion she's been in the warm side. This weekend, she's been mostly on the warm side. But does an ovulation last that long? This started on Saturday as she did not have the lump on Friday morning when I checked her. Saturday she had the lump you see in the first set of photos and the second set are from today. There has been no inverted laying and since she's been here she has maybe wrapped the bowl once or twice.

I really want to get some opinions on whether this could be an ovulation or not because I told my sister about it and now she's wanting to know too.

Honestly looks like your close to an egg or two. the swelling is usually more tapered but that is when carrying more than 2 eggs. That truly looks like she is carrying maybe 2 eggs.

She's only about 1500g, so I wasn't expecting a big clutch from her. This is her first season.

Any other thoughts on her lump?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...523_110919.jpg

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It looks like she does have follicles and is building a lot. They still look pretty concentrated but are obviously good-sized since the lump is visible. I'd keep pairing and be on the look out for an ovulation. When they ovulate, look for a HUGE lump (it'll look like she ate a jumbo rat even though she's been off feed), and look for "tail suck" which looks like all of the fat has been sucked out of the tail. This is an ovulation:

http://www.vitalimpact.com/uh/images...MG_4985-sm.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

We began breeding her in mid-March. She was never cooled. In April she had one good solid lock with the male. After that, nothing. So I don't think it is an ovulation, but I wanted to see what anyone thought that might have a clue what that lump is.

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I wouldn't worry about whether or not they locked. I just got a clutch from a Pastel female that I only ever saw copulate once back in January and she ovulated on March 27th and laid on Saturday (May 21). All six eggs are fertile. That male is the only male that's been in with her for two years, so...