Rain frogs sharing burrow with B. vagans?

[John Bokma]

Recently I found for the second time a B. vagans with several rain frogs (which I mistook the first time for toads ) in her burrow. It might be that they were just under the same stone, and jumped in her burrow, but I have a strong feeling that they are actually sharing the burrow with her. The frogs didn't seem afraid of the adult female (one even jumped up and down on top of her), and the B. vagans didn't seem to be bothered at all by the presence of the frogs.

Some photos: http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2006/12/17/rain-frogs-and-a-tarantula.html

 

[Natemass]

thats weird huh?

 

[Timmy]

I saw a little thing on Animal Planet that showed a frog sharing a tarantula's burrow because the frog will eat bad insects, mites, etc. So I think it's very likely the frogs were in fact sharing the burrow.

The frog gets safety, a nice home, and his life. The tarantula gets healthy babies, and maybe when food is low - ^^

 

[Snipes]

I saw a little thing on Animal Planet that showed a frog sharing a tarantula's burrow because the frog will eat bad insects, mites, etc. So I think it's very likely the frogs were in fact sharing the burrow.

The frog gets safety, a nice home, and his life. The tarantula gets healthy babies, and maybe when food is low - ^^

I had seen that too, i think it may have been on the Most Extreme. It must be for ants or something. Are the frogs the same species every time or are they different? I would love if you could observe them for a while and give us updates if you can.

 

[mcy]

I actually seen a small toad or frog on a t blondi's back at a show in arlington texas neu world tarantula's had the blondi. the frog lived on its back i wanted to buy it but i knew a full size female would be expensive

 

[Snipes]

I actually seen a small toad or frog on a t blondi's back at a show in arlington texas neu world tarantula's had the blondi. the frog lived on its back i wanted to buy it but i knew a full size female would be expensive

How big was the frog?!

 

[syndicate]

yeah its possible the frog eats ants which could be harmful for the t if they get into its burrow

 

[mcy]

it was small like the size of a fingernail

 

[stealth15psi]

Would a frog eat slings?

 

[Scorpiove]

This is very interesting. Very cool . Unfortunately I have learned the hard way. Ants spell doom for tarantulas, I lost about 6 of my babies this way .

 

[Alice]

i think mites are definitely too small for those frogs to eat, but ants could be the answer... does anyone have any experience concerning amphibiany and ts in term of food? will ts even consider them as food? i think why not, but you never know, and i don't feed verts to my ts.

 

[C_Strike]

Xenesthis immanis is known to allow certain frogs/toads cohabit with them.
I believe T blondi too.
Near enough no research has been done into it, its something i would like to go and study.

I cant remember the species of frog with X immanis.. if i recall its in the tarantula keepers guide by shultz and shultz.Then again, it might not be that book.
:? :?

 

[Brandon]

Aphonopelma chalcodes has been documented many times sharing its burrow with Gastrophryne olivacea the Great Plains Narrow-mouthed Toad. Tarantulas sharring there burrows with apmphibians has been known for a long time know.

-Brandon-

 

[Doezsha]

I think Ive seen this on a documentry before were the T provides protection from some preditors of the frogs and the frogs provide a service to the T by keeping the T's burrow ant free...

 

[luther]

Some photos: http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2006/12/17/rain-frogs-and-a-tarantula.html

Nice blog. I'm so jelous.

It was good to see clear photos of a natural B.vagans burrow. I think I might have to remake my B.vagans tank to look more like them. Perhaps she might burrow for me if I get it right.

I'm not sure I'll be putting any frogs in with her though. Not just yet.

 

[Timmy]

My friend kept a Aphonopelma and it's main diet was toads/frogs.

 

[John Bokma]

luther, http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2006/05/17/ shows what I use for Cyclosternum fasciatum, which I often find in the same habitat as the B. vagans, sometimes under the same large boulder. I also have seen C. gracilis hiding under the same boulder.

http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2006/03/13/tarantula-terrarium.html has some lower quality photos. Note that the terrarium I use is way to high. I want to replace it as soon as possible which means that I have to wait until both CFs are out of hiding (they have been gone from view for months now, and I guess it will take 2 months more before they show up again).

 

[cacoseraph]

holy smokes man!

your blog is amazing!

double bug hunters unite! (i am a primarily c coder, but bash around in perl everyonce in a while. pretty language)

 

[John Bokma]

I had seen that too, i think it may have been on the Most Extreme. It must be for ants or something. Are the frogs the same species every time or are they different? I would love if you could observe them for a while and give us updates if you can.

http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2006/04/12/tarantulas-and-toads.html has some more info, and from what I can tell it's the same frog species (back then I mistook them for toads). This is a different location, but globally in the same area. From what I have seen so far there must be water nearby. The 4/12 photos were made on a very green area which had water leaking from a tube. The 12/17 photos were made near a ditch with some water in it.

 

[John Bokma]

holy smokes man!

your blog is amazing!

Thanks Comments like this make it more then worthwhile to spend so many time writing

double bug hunters unite! (i am a primarily c coder, but bash around in perl everyonce in a while. pretty language)

Yup, I did a lot in C, then for what I did Perl worked better, and it somehow got stuck. However, I hope this year to do some C code in order to interface with Perl, so who knows.