Captive Care and Breeding of Holothele incei
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The following notes are from my diary on Holothele incei over a 18 month period:
15 Oct 1999: Laid infertile egg sac.
21 Oct 1999: Mated (male from same eggsac). Calm pairing with multiple palp insertions over a long period (10 minutes). The male shows no fear towards the female and began courtship on introduction. Female responded eagerly and emerged from her burrow to mate.
01 Dec 1999: Eggsac produced. A deep burrow was excavated and the spider sealed itself inside. The mobile eggsac measures approx. 15 mm in diameter and can be clearly seen through the silk inside the container.
01 Feb 2000: Spiderlings separated (77 in total).
22 Feb 2000: Mated (same male as previous), courtship and pairing similar to the first time.
25 Mar 2001: Moulted.
06 Jul 2001: Mated again. Long courtship, brief palp insertion and female attacked male but he escaped unharmed.
08 Jul 2001: Killed second male on introduction. This time, instead of beginning to court the female on introduction, the male began to groom himself on the edges of the female''s web. Sensing his presence, the female moved slowly towards his position and attacked almost immediately.
25 Jul 2001: Laid eggsac.
16 Aug 2001: Eggs hatched. Found a spiderling with double abdomen (this specimen managed to go through its first moult successfully but died soon after). Separated spiderlings—108 in total.
01 Jan 2002: Moulted.
30 Apr 2002: Mated.
03 Aug 2002: Moulted.