Keeping Cyriocosmus Communally?

[Bosing]

I also started out an H. incei communal set-up. Started with 9 slings. I had to put food regularly and so after a few months, I saw a Mature Male walking around. I then decided to dig up the other residents. I was left with the Mature Male and two other females. Apparently someone ate the other members of the original pack.

The good news is that the MM mated with his sisters and they both produced a sac for me. =) happy!

 

[Tarantula_Tamer]

That might be how it goes with the elegans.. Seems to happen a lot with incei!

Congrats on the sacs!

 

[Gretchen]

Yep, I will keep you posted on the events for the next couple days.

Hopefully, two will come out whole from the experiment. In all the space the animals had, they definitely moved out of sight and together into the cork hide - a much smaller and protected space.

Unfortunately, I did not observe any of my C. elegans eating pins or fruit flies. Of course, that does not mean that they have not eaten yet, just that I did not observe this since they are so small and hard to see clearly without putting on 10x magnification.

:-D

---------- Post added 10-26-2011 at 11:09 PM ----------

Hi Mga Batang Ilog,

Ditto! Congratulations on the sac!

 

[Wadew]

Gretchen,
you can also tear a cricket in half and they will readily feed on the torn up parts if no pinheads are available or it is easier.

Wade

 

[Poxicator]

I often find the problem with the community project on the internet is people suggest species will live communally based on slings living together. People also often state communal living when they mean cohabitating projects.
If, for a cohabitating/communal species you are not prepared to lose some, then don't start. Its a simple rule and applies to those that are known to be communal and those that are not.
Ive kept most species of pokie as communal projects, and most have suffered small losses. Perhaps this was down to ill-health rather than cannibalism, or perhaps its just down to the strongest survive! Of all the pokies I tried I found P. ornata to be the worse although I did achieve 4 living together in a sweet jar til the first males matured.
I find where a species is known to be arboreal there seems to be a good chance of community or cohabitating and Ive had success with pokies, psalmos and obt.
In their natural environment Avics can be found living in close proximity, and yet in almost every case in captivity it fails, save for the very large enclosures found in zoos. However Ive also heard of reports where terrestrials are found in close proximity, notably Brachypelma and obviously there seems to be lots of instances of the "chicken spider" living communally.

 

[Gretchen]

Hi Wade!

Thanks for the excellent suggestion. Pinheads are not readily available without a half hour drive, and fruit flies are a pain in the butt, as well as ultimately very expensive in a small collection for as little as you gain.

Is it fair to say that the C. elegans will take dead food then? Being new to T's, is this acceptable for many of the species and a viable alternative for my small slings, or just specific to C. elegans?

---------- Post added 10-27-2011 at 07:59 AM ----------

Hi Poxicator!

Agreed! My C. elegans are very young slings and I only placed similar sizes together in this experiment. I will have no problem if only one emerges, because it is the survival of the fittest with a healthy spider emerging in the end. Of course, I am hoping that at least one will survive, if not both, versus two fatally injured.

I only tried this experiment because I thought I had heard of someone else keeping C. elegans together. I am also new to this board, and based on the responses thus far will not keep these animals together much longer... However for now, I will not disturb them and will maintain a smorgasbord of prey food...

 

[AbraxasComplex]

As for the whole H.incei communal debate they are found in close proximity in the wild and display greater maternal and positive social behavior while young. Adult females do get territorial towards other females, but tend to leave slings and juveniles alone. They cohabit well, but you need to set them up properly. Either way you will lose some to intraspecific aggression and other reasons for cannibalism. Every social tank has this inevitable risk. I've had multiple H.incei "communal" tanks. One has run for years and the population fluctuates (50-150) based on breeding success and survival of slings. I only supply the same amount of food every week to keep the population thinned and allowing only the stronger ones to survive.

As for Cyriocosmus spp. I believe it was Tarcan that told me they also found a large number in close proximity in Trinidad (though it may have been one of their other collecting trips). They may just establish territories, though small ones, and then avoid one another.

 

[Wadew]

Gretchen,
This applies to all spiderlings. They have no problem eating torn up crickets.

Wade

 

[Gretchen]

Hi Wade!

Thanks for the info. I have cut several crickets in half and given them to several of my slings. It will be interesting to see what gets eaten and what remains after the next couple days.

P.S. YIKES! It is also noted that the cricket's front end continues to move after it has been cut... Hmmm... Now that's a Halloween story in itself! :-O

---------- Post added 10-30-2011 at 03:55 PM ----------

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would give an update on my experiment to place two C. elegans together...

It appears that only one C. elegans still remains in the habitat. That particular animal has a fat abdomen and bright clear coloration as typically demonstrated from a fresh molt. (The molt was inside the webbing next to the animal, but was unfortunately too small to use to sex the animal.) The animal was also active, appeared in excellent health, and had established a territory with its webbing throughout the underside of the cork hide.

I raked up and collected the upper top surface layer both to clean and to draw up the other C. elegans if it was burrowing. Then I carefully inspected the debris under 10x magnification for the presence of all other animals either dead or alive. All prey animals - fruit flies and all pinhead crickets except one alive, were seen dead whole and/or in pieces as legs. There was no (obvious) evidence seen of the other C. elegans.

 

[Tarantula_Tamer]

That was quick! :sarcasm: See you soon Gretchen!

 

[Gretchen]

Hi Corey!

Yep, it sure was quick! Like you had mentioned, both my C. elegans and C. ritea have been very good eaters... and quite aggressive. :-O

P.S. The C. elegans molted. I was going to bring you in the molt to sex, but thought that would be too cruel. LOL! Instead, I've got a 1.5" Brachypelma smithi molt for you to look at for tomorrow, if you wouldn't mind showing me how you determine the differences again. :-D

---------- Post added 10-30-2011 at 08:12 PM ----------

YIKES! Holy 'typo' dyslexia.... I do believe I meant to type C. ritae. :-O