- Joined
- May 29, 2003
- Messages
- 290
How long does the male and female live after mating begins and the female lays her eggs?
From my limited experience (two sets of tank raised, one tank bred O.mercatoris and now tank raised O.briareus with tank bred hatchlings - if there are any still alive) and observing life spans of wild caught after brooding (not many breedings posted so male observations are limited to unbred in the tank and unknown in the wild) and a couple of comments from Roy, it does not appear that mating effects the male's life span. Most females die within a couple of days of the hatching (or the time eggs would have hatched if they were fertile) but we have seen a few O. mercatoris live a month or more beyond (we have also seen them die the next day). There is a little anecdotal evidence in the journals that suggests if a female lays infertile eggs she may live longer than if the eggs were fertile but an unmated female will still lay eggs and die shortly afterwards. Males seem to be longer lived and my male hatchlings out lived their sisters by several months.