Hi,

As you may recall I found the rain spider nest in my garden at the start of December 2009. I kept 5 babies, and now have 4 females and 1 male. On MOnday I found another male, same size as mine, and I am wondering if he is a sibling.

Question - the males look mature, but how do I know if the females are ready to mate?
Question - can I mate siblings?
Question - do you foloow the same approach as with Ts, and is there s risk of the girls eating the boys?

Thanks

Q1 - The rain spiders should have some sort of mating display similar to that of T's, so when a male comes close to a female you should be able to see a different reaction than when pray is around.

Q2 - Rain spiders does not have the same length of lifespan than those of T's, so I would not be surprised if siblings mature and mate in nature. I don't think this would be a problem.

Q3 - I would follow the same approach, but I do think that you stand a better chance here that a male might become lunch during or after the mating.

My suggestion is that you shark tank the male with one of the females and see how she respond to him. Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to mate these before, so maybe someone else can shed some more light on the subject.

Although I can't comment on breeding, I did notice a rain spider molting last night for the first time.

Very interesting as it was completely different than what the Ts do. It was hanging upside down from the top of it's little house while molting.

got some nice pics as well. will post some time.

Drop me a mail on ruanlambrechts@gmail.com. Ive bred these tons of times before. :)