Quote Originally Posted by jmugleston View Post
Neal, when a mommy spider loves a daddy spider.......

....never mind. Perhaps at a later date I'll explain why having a male and a female OF THE SAME SPECIES in the same general area (even if it is just for a short time) is actually a very smart idea.

The above pictures serve as primes examples of sexual dimorphism. All the species pictured above are very well known in the hobby, Haplopelma lividum, Poecilotheria metallica, and Poecilotheria ornata, so I'm a bit surprised by the comment. While the females are known to be brightly colored, the males turn a dull color upon their ultimate (mature) molt. To get more spiders I put the males in with the females. They do their thing, and then the males are removed. He then gets another week to "recharge" and then I place him with another female. Kind of like this:



And now the above male will produce another sperm web and pair with another female early next week.

Call me crazy, but I think it was a very smart idea to have them together. Though I think the outcome I anticipate is different from that which you hinted toward above.

If the above examples of dimorphism look amazing, check out my other posts or my FB pictures. Some of the males are 1/2 to 1/3 the size of the girls. Those are scary pairings but the little guys get the job done.
My goodness! I had no idea. I'm starting to hate you--your photos are making me research tarantulas like crazy, and I'm not getting the shivers anymore, either.
j/k about the hating part, but, wow! So he is of the same species as her? That's unbelievable--he's differently colored, he's smaller, doesn't look like her at all
Is this a species where the female will eat the male after breeding, or does the male have those little sleeves above his mouth to hold her teeth in so she doesn't eat him until they are done mating?
What do they do whilst "courting"?
Fascinating, tarantulas are, and to think I might have missed out on learning about them because of my stupid fear.