Australian Tarantula Mating Videos

The first video linked to below is of a mating pair of Phlogius sp. "Goliath" tarantulas shot by Grant Miller one of the experienced breeders from the AIF forum. The Goliath is a member of the Northern Phlogius group of tarantulas found in far north Queensland. The female in this video is large and has a leg span of 21.5cm. This is an excellent video showing the last stage of the mating process and clearly shows the form of clasp used by the male of this species as well as the palpal drumming. I hope you enjoy studying this video as much as I have!

YouTube video of the Australian Goliath Tarantula mating filmed by Grant Miller

The second link provided is to another awesome video by Grant Miller but this time it features the breeding of Phlogius sp. "Sarina" one of the giant Southern Phlogius group found in the central Queensland coastal region.

YouTube video of Phlogius sp. "Sarina" mating filmed by Grant Miller

A New and Rare Australian Tarantula - Kotzman's Birdspider

I was very fortunate to obtain a tarantula from Greg Bylund late last year which was then identified as an almost mature female Selenocosmia stirlingi. As luck would have it "she" moulted out to "he" - so much for visually sexing Australian tarantulas! Australian tarantulas are not so easy to sex visually using the standard techniques (following M.R. Hart) and I have seen mistakes made not infrequently by the very best keepers and collectors. In any case I was happy to have a male and started to look around for a female.

In January 2009 Paul Berg collected what he thought was Selenocosmia stirlingi in far western New South Wales, Australia and sold a few wild caught specimens into the hobby. Steve Nunn identified these as a new species that showed differences to S. stirlingi. Steve later identified my male, that was collected close to Paul's collection site, as a member of the same species. The newly recognised species was named by Steve as Selenotholus sp. "Kotzman's birdspider" after Mandy Kotzman who carried out some valuable research in the 1980's on what turns out is this species of tarantula. True Selenocosmia stirlingi come from the South Australia/Northern Territory border region which is very distant from the collection sites for the Kotzman's birdspider. Paul's collection site is in fact very close to where Mandy Kotzman conducted her research on this species which she had identified at the time, incorrectly, as Selenocosmia stirlingi. Mind you that was 20 years ago and a lot has changed with respect to what we know about Australian tarantula's since that time. Enthusiasts will know that the whole Australian taxonomic regime for tarantulas is one huge mess and we are all eagerly waiting for Dr Rob Raven to finish his current review and publish! We have been waiting a long time but no doubt when it is finished it will have been worth the wait.

The Kotzman's birdspider is a true N.S.W. Selenotholus grassland species with distinct differences to the Queensland Selenotypus grassland species showing a more rounded, less elongated abdomen and the front legs are thicker than the rear legs just like you see in the yet to be described Australian Phlogius species.

As luck would have it Heinrich Buys sold me his mature female Kotzman's birdspider recently which was originally collected by Paul Berg so I now have a breeding pair. I am expecting the female to arrive by express post in a few days. The female moulted in February so she is ready for breeding now. A while ago in my blog I listed the species I was breeding this year so this is a very welcome addition to the list. She is about 12 cm in leg span which is probably close to the maximum size of this species.

Selenotholus sp. "Kotzman's birdspider" - my breeding pair. Photo of female by H. Buys. Photo of male by me

I am very excited to have this pair. The male has already built a sperm web and once the female has settled in her new enclosure I will attempt the first Australian mating of this species in captivity. After the male has done his duty with my female I will be forwarding him to Greg Bylund to breed with his females. Greg has 8 mature females ready to go - happy days! With a little luck one of us should be able to have the first captive bred Kotzman's birdspider slings bred and reared in captivity. I'll be putting up some more information about this species after the mating so check back for periodic updates.

Further reading: See Kotzman, M. 1990. Annual activity patterns of the Australian tarantula Selenocosmia stirlingi (Araneae, Theraphosidae) in an arid area. J. Arachnol., 18 :123-130.

Information for Tarantula Keepers and Breeders

After some time as a member of the forums of the British Tarantula Society I recently took the plunge and became a fully paid up international member. It is worth every penny to get their Journal. Membership enables you to download about 20 prior issues as PDF files and I have had a very enjoyable Easter reading them all! I thoroughly recommend joining for the keen enthusiast - don't delay. For more information see the BTS website: http://www.thebts.co.uk/

A fellow blogger has a list of scientific papers relating mainly to tarantula taxonomy available on his blog at: http://fugleedderkopper.blogspot.com/

Although the blog has not been updated in a while and is not in English it is written by very experienced keepers and is well worth a look especially if you are after any original taxonomic papers.

Tarantulas - Conditioning breeders

I have found that to put weight on quickly, especially for tarantulas you are conditioning up for breeding, that meal worms or super worms are an excellent choice. They are a convenient food source to put weght on your tarantulas quickly and I use them to suppliment my usual feeder insects - crickets and roaches.

The best thing about meal worms or super worms is that they are so easy to keep as you can chill them in the refridgerator for weeks and thus always ensure you have a back up food supply handy. They can be used for juveniles or mature tarantulas whole or cut into segments for spiderlings. Your spiderlings will not be frightened by the meal worm portions as they sometimes are by live pinhead crickets and they are much easier to have readily in hand than pinhead crickets which are a high maintenance feeder by comparison.

You can also use raw chicken or beef heart cut into suitable sized portions as a food supply, however as with any dead food make sure you remove any leftovers within 34 hours to avoid it going bad in the enclosure. For very large tarantulas the occassional pinkie mouse (dead of course) is also great for putting condition on your tarantula.

With a varied food supply my females are in great condition for the upcoming breeding season. Make sure to put the condition on now (in the southern hemisphere) before the tarantulas start to slow down their feeding rate with winter coming. Just remember not to overfeed to the point of obesity as a tarantula should not be dragging an oversized abdomen along the ground!