# How do I know if my tarantula is mature?



## Mojo1602 (Jul 10, 2010)

My Brazilian Black moulted again:flrt: and I'm now all but certain he is a male. I thought he was, already, as I got him as a grown on sling (about 1" legspan) 18 months ago and he's now about 5" legspan and has moulted a lot (I don't feed him more than I should and it's not a particularly warm environment... so it's not that causing more moults than usual!) and this time he's moulted and his abdomen is very small in comparison to his carapace so... I would be willing to bet it's a male. 

BUT how can I be sure than he is a male, and if he's mature, without a moult? Because the moult was completely ruined and so there is no way of telling a sex from it... I have a feeling he isn't fully mature yet but I have no way to be certain, and it would be good to know:lol2: I'll try to get a good pic with some sort of size reference in it...


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## spinnin_tom (Apr 20, 2011)

if it's male, he gets big boxing glove things on his palps


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## Mojo1602 (Jul 10, 2010)

The way he is at the moment I can't get a good look at his palps, or look for sex hooks on his front legs:devil: he just has to be difficult! Men...:whistling2:


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## kris74 (May 10, 2011)

I reckon a moult is the only way to be sure. They do get tibal spurs when they mature. Not too sure if these appear prior to the maturing moult though?


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## kris74 (May 10, 2011)

Mojo1602 said:


> The way he is at the moment I can't get a good look at his palps, or look for sex hooks on his front legs:devil: he just has to be difficult! Men...:whistling2:


I'm too slow at typing sometimes!


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

Whether mature or not its best to wait a couple of weeks before considering breeding. They need this time to recuperate and possibly feed.
Mature males will appear slender, more built for speed and eat much less.
Give him time to recuperate and eventually you should see the hooks (double hooks are possible with this genus) and the palpal bulbs. Best way to observe these is sideways on or from underneath. You should also see a far more active T.


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## Mojo1602 (Jul 10, 2010)

I wasn't thinking of breeding him right away, just wanted to know really, and for the future. The only MM I have is a chile pygmy, which it's quite difficult to compare to as, well, it's a pygmy, but anatomically they look very similar (small abdomen, long legs in comparison to body, big kinda flat looking carapace more so than the female...) but that kinda shows that it's a male, not mature, right? Anyway, I'll keep looking at him and see if I can see anything. right now he's got his palps and front two sets of legs hidden away, and seeing his bum doesn't seem to be very useful:lol2:


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