Cyriopagopus schioedtei : Aboreal or burrowing?

[Ariel]

Makes me feel kind of bad for not giving her the option to burrow more. She's basically crammed herself between the corkbark and the wall (after digging out most of the substrate.

I've never acctually seen her out and about other than the day i put her in, but I know she moves around because every morning she's some place new and this morning there was substrate in her waterdish, (whic is close to the top of the enclosure, so I assume she's been climbing around at night.

 

[phormingochilus]

Good to hear that you are observing your animals and that you are interested in making sense of the observations. But - behaviour of captive animals is an artifact of captivity and what you may have interpreted as fossorial behavior may in fact be illustrating another aspect of arboreal behavior which you may not be aware of.

In short - all members of the arboreal ornithoctoninae from the group comprising well known species as C. schioedtei, L. nigerrimum and P. everetti are strictly arboreal in nature. Where habitat selection pressure and predator pressure is relatively low (ie. near human habitation) you may see young individuals utilise rock crevices or suitable holes in man made constructions. But you rarely encounter fully grown adults in these habitats. In undisturbed natural habitats you will never find any stages of these spiders living near the ground (except mature males looking for females and even this is rare).

The habit of digging and constructing "turrets" by arboreal tarantulas are definitely a plesiomorph trait from an earlier fossorial lifestyle. But in the course of evolution this has transformed to another survival skill: expanding the mushy tree hole by chirping await soft rotten wood which is then incorporated into the walls and entrance of the wood hole. This behaviour can actually be observed in captivity with most arboreal ornithoctonines if presented with a hollow piece of cork which is accepted by the spider (which is not always the case as they are picky about the proper diameter of the tree hole). If the hide away is not to their liking their adaptability will result in them considering the cage as a crevice which need to be padded with substrate as to make a tube web along the bottom of the side of the cage - this is more of a temporary shelter than a fully equipped tree hole.

Here are a few pictures of entrances in the wild which should illustrate the padding of the entrance with wood chips, lichen and moss to camoflage the entrance from predators:

http://asianarboreals.googlepages.com/100_0610.JPG/100_0610-full.JPG
http://asianarboreals.googlepages.com/100_0546.JPG/100_0546-full.JPG
http://asianarboreals.googlepages.com/00040002.JPG/00040002-full.JPG
http://img468.imageshack.us/img468/4254/000400111gw.jpg

Regards
Søren

 

[seanbond]

does sulawesi sp become arboreal too? my juvies have been doing alot of climbing lately around the 2-3inch mark.

 

[JimM]

This is my experiance, and it leads me to believe they may burrow in the wild to,

Most likely an erroneous conclusion, and perhaps a misinterpretation of the data on your part -and as stated is most likely an artifact of captivity.

Remember, the tiny enclosure that you're providing this animal in efforts to simulate an "arboreal" habitat do not in any way resemble a tree in the wild. The tarantula in question might normally find shelter under bark 30' in the air, or excavate a burrow in accumulated organic matter in the hollow of a tree at similar height. As far as your captive sling is concerned, it has found itself in a hollow very high in the air, and is constructing a home accordingly. That it hasn't chosen to remain in the open and build a web a few inches above the bottom of an artificial enclosure in the way you've come to interpret as a "arboreal" behavior should not in any way be interpreted as terrestrial behavior.

Build a 40' high enclosure with a tree, then tell if it burrows at the base.
I'll bet you the farm it doesn't.

 

[blooms]

When mine was under an inch and a half and kept in a "sling container" it burrowed. When it got over 1.5 inches I moved it to an enclosure where it had a choice and it went....arboreal all the way. It decided to make it's tube web between the top of a piece of plastic and the roof of the enclosure.

P.S. Get both...I did and they are two of my favorites.

 

[metallica]

does sulawesi sp become arboreal too? my juvies have been doing alot of climbing lately around the 2-3inch mark.

from small spiderling to adult, i have only seen them arboreal in the wild.
and there is a good reason for that, all the holes in the ground are filled with crabs, they wouln't mind a spider snack!

here some pics from Sulawesi

one of many crabs. not only on the ground, also in the trees:

spiderling at it's tree retreat:

juv Cyriopagopus sp."sulawesi"

adult female:

 

[seanbond]

nice pix metallica.
so i guess i need to rehouse them in something more arboreal setup. how do you have your specimans setup?

 

[metallica]

i used an arboreal setup for mine (i collected the small spiderling that is now a big adult female)

 

[seanbond]

you got pix of your adult female?
a couple of pix of my juvies, i was thinking females unless they dont have any major differences from male to female.

 

[metallica]

this is from the last set of pics i made after i gave her away.

 

[seanbond]

gave her away!?
someone had a early xmas.

 

[JimM]

When mine was under an inch and a half and kept in a "sling container" it burrowed. When it got over 1.5 inches I moved it to an enclosure where it had a choice and it went....arboreal all the way. It decided to make it's tube web between the top of a piece of plastic and the roof of the enclosure.

P.S. Get both...I did and they are two of my favorites.

It went arboreal the first time too, it just didn't have room to find a hide 30' in the air...it did what it could given what you provided for it.

 

[metallica]

gave her away!?
someone had a early xmas.

she is with Volker von Wirth now, i can't think of anyone better to have her in his collection.

 

[seanbond]

she is with Volker von Wirth now, i can't think of anyone better to have her in his collection.

he luvs the asian women

 

[phormingochilus]

There are some more info at my site:

http://asianarboreals.googlepages.com/cyriopagopussp."sulawesiblack"


Regards
Søren

 

[t-lover]

i have a MM schioedtei he is all green nothing else but some stripes on his abdomen. i really want a female!!!

Thanks brother! This operation should do the trick. I'll be back at it in no time! So, between male and female, which is the cooler lookin earth tiger? How are those Aussie T's by the way Opticle?

 

[metallica]

i have a MM schioedtei he is all green nothing else but some stripes on his abdomen. i really want a female!!!

here is an adult Lampropelma violaceopes in the wild. not hard to guess why males are this color.

 

[Ariel]

Most likely an erroneous conclusion, and perhaps a misinterpretation of the data on your part -and as stated is most likely an artifact of captivity.

Remember, the tiny enclosure that you're providing this animal in efforts to simulate an "arboreal" habitat do not in any way resemble a tree in the wild. The tarantula in question might normally find shelter under bark 30' in the air, or excavate a burrow in accumulated organic matter in the hollow of a tree at similar height. As far as your captive sling is concerned, it has found itself in a hollow very high in the air, and is constructing a home accordingly. That it hasn't chosen to remain in the open and build a web a few inches above the bottom of an artificial enclosure in the way you've come to interpret as a "arboreal" behavior should not in any way be interpreted as terrestrial behavior.

Build a 40' high enclosure with a tree, then tell if it burrows at the base.
I'll bet you the farm it doesn't.

I can see where you're coming from, I guess it was just a surprise to see her digging so much when they're "strictly arboreal" but I see your point now.

She's not digging anymore and has now moved into the hide I provided, webbing it up and adding/removing substrate at her leisure. (Can't tell which, all I know is the webbing is COVERED in it.