• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Gravid from retained sperm?

hhmoore

hhmoore

tired & cranky shadow
Joined
Nov 25, 2004
Messages
18,536
Reaction score
820
Points
0
Location
upstate NY
This is sort of an unusual situation....
I've got a female spider that produced last summer, and I wasn't planning on breeding her this year. Oddly, though, she seems like she might be gravid - she went through a serious glow, some bowl wrapping, stopped feeding, and I keep finding her partially rotated onto her side. Those things aside, she just plain LOOKS gravid to me.

I've certainly heard stories of fertile clutches from retained/stored sperm, but I've never experienced it. My question is, is this possible when the female produced a clutch from her prior pairing(s)? Or is it only something that sometimes happens if she isn't ready at the time of breeding?

Unfortunately, I suck at palpating follicles and eggs; so I'm just going to have to wait and see.
 
Her actions describe building and since she went last year I'd think she'll reabsorb if she grows follicles.
I've never heard of nor read about about any females retaining after going the previous season.
 
The bowl wrapping and glow were some time ago....now she just looks gravid and won't eat.
I'm not saying I think she is - heck, I would doubt the retained sperm idea if I had her with a male 6 months ago and she just started this :D. It's just one of those thoughts that hit me like a brick when I was looking her over after her last refusal (this girl just doesn't refuse rats).
Frankly - I hope she isn't...if I'd wanted her gravid, I would have put a male in with her, lol.
 
hhmoore said:
The bowl wrapping and glow were some time ago....now she just looks gravid and won't eat.
I'm not saying I think she is - heck, I would doubt the retained sperm idea if I had her with a male 6 months ago and she just started this :D. It's just one of those thoughts that hit me like a brick when I was looking her over after her last refusal (this girl just doesn't refuse rats).
Frankly - I hope she isn't...if I'd wanted her gravid, I would have put a male in with her, lol.
Click to expand...
In my experience they glow right up until prelay shed so if she's not shed yet and not in glow still then I doubt she's gravid.
Has she shed since she glowed and bowl wrapped?

I figured you didn't want her to lay, as you mentioned not placing a male with her :rofl:
 
Yes, she has shed since then. Her colors aren't quite "normal" now, but they aren't as bright as her glow, either.
 
It's possible. I know someone who got a clutch a couple years ago from the previous year's successful breeding. She DID try breeding the girl that year to a caramel male, but ended up with a clutch full of lessers.
 
I bought a granite fire from Brandon Boeke who said it was produced from the breeding the previous season. He bred a different male that season and still got one. I know that this is slightly different since the female was put with a different male but that sperm was retained none the less.
 
Hmmmm - thanks for the input, everybody. Guess I'll have to update once I know for sure.
 
I may not be much help, but I can say the snakes can go through all that without being paired- sperm retaining from last year is a chance, or she simply could slug out ( i had a snake that slugged out with jelly slugs who was a virgin. if she slugged out with the classic slug eggs meaning went 'full term' with the eggs, i think I would have seen bowl wrapping and the such.)
 
Back
Top