Reproduction of tarantulas, in general, is not an easy task. You have to realize that in order for reproduction to be successful you have to meet several rules and you have to have some luck for it.

First, the female must be properly mature. In the descriptions of the species it is given at what stage the female reaches sexual maturity. For example, with the species Psalmopoeus cambridge it is quite quickly already approx. L11 female is mature and it takes her about 1.5 years to reach this stage, depending on the conditions of detention. However, when it comes to Brachypelma smithi, the female must be 4-5 years old at least to be able to lay a cocoon. Younger females also copulate but almost never fold a cocoon. The best chance that the female will lay a cocoon is when we allow a pair just after the female molts. Ideally, as the female after molting thoroughly hardens, after some time of the game she will begin to take food, she should be fed abundantly and after a few weeks after the molt can be allowed. When the female is long after molting, you can try to allow, the female will copulate, but the chances that she will lay a cocoon decrease.

The second thing is the male. With more popular species, finding an adult male for our female there are no major difficulties, while with rare species it is sometimes impossible because simply no one has a male at the moment when we need him. The less related the male is to the female, the better. Nature has arranged it in such a way that the male and female from one cocoon will never mate because females mature much longer and when they reach sexual maturity, the males from this cocoon are no longer alive. Males mature much faster. The ability to breed reaches about L10-L14 depending on the species and after the last molt they live a maximum of 2 years. The male should also be well fed before admission. If we have a full pair, you can proceed to admission. In my opinion, it is best to pull the male and female out of their terrariums or containers and allow them in a large flat container. I use either an aquarium or a plastic container with dimensions of approx. 50cm x 35cm. The bottom should be sprinkled with peat substrate. To the container and aquarium, of course, I have a cover, I put the spiders in a container in a smaller container, drive them out and pull out small containers in which I moved spiders. I cover the container and wait. It happens differently sometimes immediately copulation occurs, sometimes after an hour and sometimes not at all. If there is copulation, after the spiders disconnect and disperse, I pull them out because there is no point in them being further together. If there is no copulation, sometimes I leave the tarantulas together for a long time, e.g. Psalmopoeus cambridge or Phormicoptus platus. With some species, it is not worth leaving the male with the female for longer because it is very likely that the male will be eaten by the female. When it comes to Brachypelmy, I do not leave the male with the female for longer. A few crotons female Brachypelma smithi and Brachypelma boehmei ate me a male when I left them together for a few days. If there is no copulation, you have to keep trying. In a few days it is necessary to allow the male to the female again. Maybe then copulation will occur. Not infrequently, this is the case. I also had cases that even after several attempts to allow copulation did not occur. The male and female were not interested. Sometimes it happens that either the male or the female are interested, but the other party does not respond or even runs away from the partner. The copulation itself is also worth repeating after about a week to be sure. After successful copulation several times, the chances of a cocoon are greater.

Now there is nothing left for us but to provide the female with proper conditions and feed quite often because if the female was fertilized in the initial period after copulation, she is very voracious and her abdomen increases rapidly. So if we notice that the female eats a lot, I also become more aggressive and her abdomen becomes large, we will probably see a cocoon. Females fold a cocoon depending on the species and holding temperature from 4 weeks to even 1 year. My female Brachypelma smithi laid a cocoon about 8 months after copulation. Aviculars fold the cocoon quite quickly 4-5 weeks from copulation. The adventure with reproduction should start with more popular species because they are easier to breed and males and females are cheaper and more accessible, making it easier to complete a mature parka of tarantulas. I will write about what to do when a spider builds a cocoon in the next point.