I'm doing Spider x Spider

[Galaxygirl]

Here are some results recorded from breeders on facebook:

- Spider x spider
6 eggs. No issues.
- Spider x bee
5 eggs. No issues

- Yes I had a successful breeding of a male axanthic spider, visual to 4 het axanthic females spiders.. out of one of the clutches I did produce a pure white snake that live for about a week or so inside of the egg but never developed to a stage where it lived outside of it. So yes there is a super form, but it died i guess the terminology 2 be applied is lethal. I have no idea about adding different genes to a super form of spider.
BEAUTIFUL SNAKE (I would take his claims with a grain of salt. Even though you produced a white snake, that doesn't mean that it is for sure a "super form". Not enough information and proof given)

- I've seen someone breed spider to spider and a couple of the babies were really clean looking spiders. One had noticeable wobble but the other didn't. The clutch was 6 eggs 2 were slugs the other 4 hatched and were just fine.

- I have done spider X bee and I saw no white snakes or bad eggs there were 10 eggs all healthy most showed no visual sign of wobble, I could have missed on the proverbial white snake.

- I'm on my first clutch now and after doing research and speaking with a lot of breeders on the subject, I chose to do a lesser bee X killer bee pairing. She laid 6 perfect eggs, no boobs or slugs and all candled with strong veins. The breeders I spoke to that have tried it all noted they had a normal good egg to slug ratio. No more then any other pairing. Also anytime an egg dies before the embryo reaches a certain stage in development, you will find a white baby in the egg. Pattern develops fairly late and color is one of the last things to develop.

- And also another guy talking about his friends clutch where only 2 out of the 5 eggs were good. I didn't include his because his posts are a mess, he's very unsure, and he's really obviously biased by repeatedly saying things like "It's not worth it, why would you do it, etc"

[Galaxygirl]

- Buddy did bee x bee 6 eggs one roll out. No issues all were healthy

- Rob Starzman himself chimes in: I've done spider X spider hundreds (yes hundreds) of times without producing any white snakes. I highly doubt this is a lethal combination. Some babies show more neurological symptoms than others. I've held a few of the more neuro combos back over the years in order to prove out a super spider but ice never produced a clutch with all spiders in it.

Me: Did you notice increased number of slugs or eggs that go bad?

Rob Starzman: Nothing noticeable. I have had spiders in my collection since they first became readily available (I paid 20k for my first) and after countless clutches with both parents carrying the gene I can say I've never seen anything significant in terms of increased slug ratio, eggs going bad, and mortality of hatchlings.

[Asherah]

Thanks! She's a beauty. She's blue in the photo and my camera is bad quality. My only complaint is she's a mouser, buuut maybe she'll switch ;P

Oh I feel your pain. I have a albino that is on mice. She was a bit skinny when I got her. Found out why pretty quick, sitting at 300 grams she would only eat 1 mouse hopper in a feeding. She's finally graduated to 2 full size mice per feed and is growing well but for a while I was banging my head on the rack every feeding day. Crossing my fingers I can switch her over. She's still refusing rats outright, but I have some AFS's that I've got growing out with a mouse colony. Hoping that they will smell mousy enough to get her to switch over.

[Galaxygirl]

Oh I feel your pain. I have a albino that is on mice. She was a bit skinny when I got her. Found out why pretty quick, sitting at 300 grams she would only eat 1 mouse hopper in a feeding. She's finally graduated to 2 full size mice per feed and is growing well but for a while I was banging my head on the rack every feeding day. Crossing my fingers I can switch her over. She's still refusing rats outright, but I have some AFS's that I've got growing out with a mouse colony. Hoping that they will smell mousy enough to get her to switch over.

It's annoying having to buy 5 mice and then monitoring her eating them all for the next hour. She's actually eaten one small rat for me right after a mouse, but has refused them since. I have another male that will only eat gerbils. I didn't want to get into ASF, but maybe if he would eat F/T ASF that'd be cheaper than buying him a gerbil. I tried scenting with him but he doesn't go for it. He's a 2014 and when I got him a couple months ago was only 300g. I think he's only eaten 3 times for me now. Wouldn't be such a big deal if I could breed my own rodents.

[enginee837]

My albino spider female is about 36" long and still refuses rats. I offer one every time and she simply looks the other way. As soon as she sees the mouse, she's on it. 2 mice every 5 days still. Really sucks trying to put weight on a bp using mice only....

[Asherah]

It's annoying having to buy 5 mice and then monitoring her eating them all for the next hour. She's actually eaten one small rat for me right after a mouse, but has refused them since. I have another male that will only eat gerbils. I didn't want to get into ASF, but maybe if he would eat F/T ASF that'd be cheaper than buying him a gerbil. I tried scenting with him but he doesn't go for it. He's a 2014 and when I got him a couple months ago was only 300g. I think he's only eaten 3 times for me now. Wouldn't be such a big deal if I could breed my own rodents.

I've tried scenting as well. It's a no go for my girl. Crossing my fingers on growing out the ASF's with the mice might work. I'm only trying ASF's because I have a colony set up and building a second one. I also have mice and rat colony's so offering the mice aren't really the problem, it's the quantity that I know it will eventually take. An hours worth of monitoring her feeding just is not appealing. -_-

He will come along, some are more stubborn than others.

Is it impossible to even set up a small tub of mice?

[Asherah]

My albino spider female is about 36" long and still refuses rats. I offer one every time and she simply looks the other way. As soon as she sees the mouse, she's on it. 2 mice every 5 days still. Really sucks trying to put weight on a bp using mice only....

It's tough but it can be done!

[Galaxygirl]

I've tried scenting as well. It's a no go for my girl. Crossing my fingers on growing out the ASF's with the mice might work. I'm only trying ASF's because I have a colony set up and building a second one. I also have mice and rat colony's so offering the mice aren't really the problem, it's the quantity that I know it will eventually take. An hours worth of monitoring her feeding just is not appealing. -_-

He will come along, some are more stubborn than others.

Is it impossible to even set up a small tub of mice?

I considered getting a tank and breeding some of my own, but it's too much of a commitment right now as I'm going to be starting an insane accelerated nursing program in a month and I just don't have time to start up something else.

[Asherah]

I considered getting a tank and breeding some of my own, but it's too much of a commitment right now as I'm going to be starting an insane accelerated nursing program in a month and I just don't have time to start up something else.

Don't blame you on that one! It is a hassle!

[aLittleLessButter]

Haha I'm one of the people that commented with my lesser bee X Killer bee. Day 11 and eggs are still going strong.
P.s. I've heard a great way to get a female off of mice is to wait til she lays eggs. She will be famished and will be ready to eat just about anything (after a tub cleaning of course). I've heard of this working very successfully