Sexing without popping OR probeing

[Ladybugzcrunch]

I have 2 spiders, one male and one female. They were both popped for me upon purchase so I am 100% sure of their sex. Both are floating around 300 grams and both went into shed last week. Today I fed both 2 large mice each and they both took them readily as they always do. BOTH shed about an hour after eating mouse #2 (I always check the bins later to make sure there are no problems). As always I look at the shed to make sure there are no missing pieces. That's when I noticed how different the vents in the shed was. The female was a large opening whereas the male was a bunch of scrunched shed. In the photo, the male is on the right and the vents are right next to each other. Shed is hard to photo and the male shed is a bit more dry but I think you can see what I mean. I think I am going to pay attention to this from now on while examining my sheds.

[cinderbird]

I would not ever rely on sheds to determine sex. There are a lot of things that can effect how a shed is when you find it, how fresh it is, how scruntched up it was, where you find it (in the water bowl or on the ground), how many pieces you find it in, etc.

Its interesting, and certainly something that you could take a longer look at, but a sample size if two won't give you any really useful data.