Pink Toe Colonies?

Gary O

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Hello everyone. I am new to the site as you can see lol.

Well, I own only 2 tarantulas at this time. A Rose Hair and a Pink Toe. I have had the Rose Hair for 3 years. And I just got the Pink Toe about 2 weeks ago.

Here is my question. How large of an cage would you recommend for say 5 Pink toes? I have heard you can keep this tarantulas in colonies, but I do not want to over crownd them either.

I am a huge herp person. And own many many snakes but I am just starting to get into the Tarantula world. And I here this is the site to come with questions :D

thanks guys
 

Sheri

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I have one pink toe in a 10 gallon, and will be getting one more. I would be worried to put more than 2 in a 10 gallon, so maybe 5 in a 30? They do get pretty large...
 

Gary O

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Oh really that is not to bad. I was thinking I would have to go 55 or 50 tall lol.

What about live plants. i notice my little guy does not move stuff around or dig any. But I have not had him that long. (My Rose Hair digs up everythiing. Built a cave under a few fake plants)

I have the fake plants in his cage now(which is a 10 gallon) and 3 hidding places for him. He never uses them though lol.

I think I found a new weakness in......... Tarantulas lol.
 

manville

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hahahaha veryone here does dont worry...you can use live plants but it is harder to water them ands tuff so itis easier to stick with fake plants...you could do either both depends what you lke..
 

Longbord1

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man i could have put 5 in my 30 gallon o well i went with emps
 

Gary O

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I am looking at which Scorpion I want to get also. Not sure just yet lol. Here is a very very bad pick of the Pink toe. It was takin with a 2.1 MP camara. I am just not good at taking picks lol
 

Code Monkey

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Since no one else has pointed this out: you can do this, and I would say something on the order to 3-5 gallons per spider is probably a good rule of thumb, but it is *not* a colony and there is very little chance you will make it long term without some cannibalisation.

I am willing to concede that Poecilotheria may have some social characteristics (but even group housing with these is not without its occasional domestic homicide), but Avicularia do not possess anything approaching social behaviors. They are tolerant of one another, probably due their habitat in the wild where multiple spiders may live under a single roof gutter or in a single tree, but they don't like one another and, given enough time, somebody usually gets eaten.
 

Gary O

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Philip mention this also.
So really there is no real reason to keep them together other then to breed huh. I was kinda hoping for nice display cage with a few Pinktoes.

Is it just a matter of time before they start to fight one another? Or is it going to be in a certain part of the season?

I am glad I came here I am learning a lot already!
 

SkyeSpider

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Do a search for communal pinktoes. I tried this twice, so people would have information on it. I posted all the results on here. Neither was successful. There were deaths within three months, in each.

-Bryan
 

Bearskin10

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I would say that you could put 5 of them in a 20 easy, I had 3 in a odd size tank i think it was around 7 gallons and I never had any problems. I still have 2 in the tank, I lost one to that white mouth gunk and then I swithed another one for breeding purposes. I think soon after or if I ever get an eggsac I will put one or two more in there again. Greg
 

Gary O

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Originally posted by Bearskin10
I would say that you could put 5 of them in a 20 easy, I had 3 in a odd size tank i think it was around 7 gallons and I never had any problems. I still have 2 in the tank, I lost one to that white mouth gunk and then I swithed another one for breeding purposes. I think soon after or if I ever get an eggsac I will put one or two more in there again. Greg
What is the White Mouth gunk. Is it a thing just with pink toes or in all tarantlas?
 

G_Wright

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All the people I know who have tryed pinktoe colonies ended in disaster except one.

The pinktoe colonies that ended in disaster when when people had bought loads of adult Pinktoes and housed them togeather.

The one that worked was one the was done with pinktoe slings and the were all from the same egg sac.

I've been told loads of thime that to do this you have to do it from slings so they all grow up togeather. getting adults and placing them in a tank togeather just results in them eating each other I did a bit of reshearch on this a while back as I wanted to try this but decided not since the probability of the eating each other was just too high.
 

Gary O

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Thanks TheEternal! Very good reads.

I am leaning on not trying this at all. And if I do just doing 2. Also I seen in the pics that the Pink toes made some noce webs. Mine has not at all. Well just a little in a corner. How long until yours made webs in their cages?
 

Code Monkey

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Originally posted by Gary O
What is the White Mouth gunk. Is it a thing just with pink toes or in all tarantlas?
All tarantulas. Do a search for "nematodes" and you'll learn more than you want to know.

The short version is in recent years a disease has begun hitting collections which is a combination of parasitic nematode and toxic bacteria carried by that nematode. Eventually, the midgut is so filled with these nematodes in their bacterial goo that they begin to come out of mouth (and sometimes the anus as well if they are well established in the abdomen). Most often, by the time the goo is visible, the spider only has a short while to live.

There is a second white goo which still hasn't been characterised fully. It may be a yeast, it may be something preliminary to the nematodes. I had an A. avicularia and a B. emilia with this "yeast" infection, both appeared to recover fully, but both also did die this winter of unknown causes which makes me suspicious.
 

Hemolymph

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What about live plants. i notice my little guy does not move stuff around or dig any. But I have not had him that long. (My Rose Hair digs up everythiing. Built a cave under a few fake plants)
The reason your A. avic isn't digging or moving stuff around is because it's an arboreal spieces.... ;-) He'd rather make a nice web up in a plant of some sort than go do that "terrestrial" spider stuff !

- Jeni
 

Lopez

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Originally posted by Code Monkey
(but even group housing with these is not without its occasional domestic homicide
Domestic homocise, I think I like that phrase. :)

The mrs. keeps 3 sub-adult Poecilotheria formosa together, in a standard fish tank (formosa like to make a shelter close to the ground, like P.cambridgei) and they all seem quite tolerant of one another. When you disturb them, they actually "huddle" together, something I've noticed my regalis pair will do.

It seems Avicularia will only "put up" with each other but not a great deal more.
 
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