The Queen of Poecilotheria: Notes of the First US Breeding of Poecilotheria metallica (Pocock, 1899)

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female with eggsac During early December she mostly stayed webbed in her retreat and on December 18, 2004, after I returned from a trip to Georgia, I discovered her holding an eggsac! It's hard to describe how excited I was at the time, but I held it in just so I didn't set myself up for a huge fall. I debated whether to leave the eggsac with her, but after evaluating the situation and realizing I wouldn't be able to sleep, I decided to take it.

I constructed a simple incubator made of a 6 in [15.2 cm] diameter round Rubbermaid™ plastic food storage container. The particular style has a dome-shaped lid, which I liked. First I poured approximately 0.5 in [13 mm] of tap water into the container and, after placing a single sheet of Bounty™ paper towel across the top, I took another container of the same size and pushed it down into the incubator container forcing the paper towel to a "hammock" style indentation. While the top container was in place I trimmed excess towel and taped the outer edge to secure it. I then slipped the top container off and pressed the lid on, crimping the edge. Next I punctured several small holes to provide slight ventilation. I was now ready to take the eggsac from her.

Reaching in carefully, I hoisted up her "teepee" hollow. Resting it on top of the screen top, I first took photos of her and her rare package. She posed without protest. Using two sets of tongs, one to hold her back and the other to snatch the sac, I separated her from her treasure. This all went well and she barely showed resistance. Setting the eggsac aside, I placed her back within her enclosure to recuperate from the ordeal.

In my experience, the eggsac couldn't have looked any better, and I could feel the eggs roll freely inside the sac. I noticed how well this eggsac was constructed. It had a clear expansion seam and was very clean white in color.

Throughout the next 22 days I diligently rolled the sac by hand four to five times a day, and each time I could feel the eggs rolling inside. On the 22nd day I could tell that the matter inside had changed overnight and I knew eclosion had occurred. I continued to turn the sac for the next few days to be sure the "nymphs" had plenty of time to complete their molts.

postembryos On day 25 I tore a small 0.25 in [6.4 mm] hole into the sac so I could peek inside. Sure enough there were postembryo "nymphs" inside, but I could also see some problems. There were about eight solid black eggs and five of them had a few "nymphs" stuck to each one. Some had up to four or so stuck to them. I had to try to remove them and remember killing two "nymphs" in the process despite being as gentle as possible. Holding the black eggs with tweezers, I gently nudged the "nymphs" until they separated from the decomposing eggs. The entire contents were emptied into the incubator at this time.

The female's enclosure was a twenty gallon high aquarium [12 x 16 x 24 in; 30 x 40 x 60 cm] with a well-vented screen top. I used several pieces of cork bark and other hardwood bark to make a "teepee" style hide in one corner and surrounded the bottom with decorative moss for texture. A large slab of cork bark was placed on the opposite side like a ramp, along with some artificial plants. A large water bowl was placed in between the two bark structures. It was actually a very simple setup so that I could investigate breeding progress easily. Temperature was kept at 80-82°F [27-28°C] throughout breeding and a pump sprayer was used to simulate a rain shower once every week or so.

After picking out about 25 infertile eggs (giving them ample time to molt in case they were late bloomers) and the solid black ones, I estimated that the sac had 90-100 eggs. At this time 61 postembryos were counted.

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