Recently we have seen dozens of fellow hobbyists trying their hand at breeding (which is great). There is just 1 thing about this that's irritating me terribly.

Why isn't proper research done into the specific spider's natural habitat, seasons, mating behaviour etc before attempting the pairing? Why do you attempt breeding half a dozen times before asking advise, leaving the MM on the brink of a heart attack?

Why isn't proper research done into incubation? Or how to care for the offspring once they reach 2nd instar before attempting the pairing? Did you forget that slings will actually emerge from the egg sack?

It seems as though it's a race to get spiders mated and then we worry about the finer details later when suddenly we have an eggsack or we've reached day 21 and the sack must be pulled :huh:

Do proper research about the spider you would like to mate before you attempt the pairing!

Make sure you know how to build an incubator well in advance!

Make sure you know how to take care of tiny little slings way ahead of time!

Am I letting my hormones get the better of me or does anyone else feel annoyed at this?

The Tarantula Keepers Guide is a great resource for breeding but doesn't cover specific spiders, example: Stromatopelma calceatum, Brachypelma smithi, Psalmopoeus irminia et cetera, and I fully understand why it can't give you breeding advice on certain spiders (Probably space constraints or lack of time et cetera).

Brachypelma species are pretty much straight forward, just chuck them in and they get to it. It's getting an eggsack that is hard. I understand fully all your concerns, but just remember as well, not everyone has access to tarantula books and not everyone is going to go through 3000 Google pages to find a few tid bits on how to breed G. Pulchripes or P. regalis (Even though there are probably thousands of pages with good info for these mentioned species but you get the idea)

Personally, I couldn't get any good info on breeding S. Calceatum and thus have decided to wing it. I'll try various things but I made a nice natural setup for my female and the males been living in her enclosure for close to a week so hopefully something has happened during the night.

Concerning incubators, not everyone has the time/money/skills/all of the above to build a mechanical mom. I myself can't and won't and will just use the Hummack method if I get any eggsacks.

Concerning the slings, this is also very important. If you can't get small enough crickets or roaches, don't let them go hungry, just chuck in some normal size (and dead) crickets or roaches and they will eat what they want from it. I do the same with all my slings.

Concerning annoyance: Not particularly, no.

I built a mechanical mom for well under R100, I have shared the info on how to make them the way we did. I have used it and successfully mechanically mothered two sacks with it.

I do agree with Cenotaph but I think we sometimes get carried away with the excitement of it all, and isnt that what this forum is for? Maybe people just have it in the wrong order and are attempting to breed before they research (I am guilty of this too) but I have seen many topics where members are asking for guidance.

Thanks for the replies.

I still feel that if you plan on breeding something, you should gather as much info as you can BEFORE attempting the pairing.

People like Hendrijs, Snarf and Mammon have bred quite a few different species and they are always willing to share their knowledge and experience. Why not seek advise from them?

My point is just that you shouldn't jump into a river head first and hope that someone will help you swim... not if you are really serious about breeding.

Ceno, what makes you think that research isn't being done?

Panama wrote: Ceno, what makes you think that research isn't being done?

All the questions regarding breeding a pulling egg sacs.