# Kukulcania-sp.CA



## buthus (Sep 14, 2007)

Supposably these are the species that can be found in the western US...


> _Kukulcania arizonica
> Kukulcania geophila
> Kukulcania geophila wawona
> Kukulcania hibernalis
> ...


If I had to guess, I'd go with K.arizonica, but I dont have to guess, so I wont. 

Testing 2 males reactions when introduced to my big girl.  Nothing happened, but these things can take time... add factors of bright lights and big mostly hairless primate disturbing/manipulating the situation. ..I suspect that it may not be easy documenting the mating process of this specie.   

Nevertheless, gave me a chance to show off the boyz a bit...












































The boyz when just little boys..   ...what a difference a couple molts can make!


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## Johnnyster (Sep 14, 2007)

Sweet spider. Same one you were displaying at the Bar-Bug-Q right? 

Nice pics as always.


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## P. Novak (Sep 14, 2007)

Wow that male is thin! This species is so awesome! Keep us updated on the matings!


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## buthus (Sep 14, 2007)

Johnnyster said:


> Sweet spider. Same one you were displaying at the Bar-Bug-Q right?
> 
> Nice pics as always.


Yep, one of these was crawling around your floor.   



> Wow that male is thin! This species is so awesome! Keep us updated on the matings!


I will!  I HOPE to start a colony in a "large" enclosure.  It be cool if I could get it going with this female... she has been one of the most interesting pets Ive kept and Ive taken her everywhere to show her off.  Ive even taken her to work in my lunch cooler! ;P


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## P. Novak (Sep 14, 2007)

buthus said:


> Yep, one of these was crawling around your floor.
> 
> 
> I will!  I HOPE to start a colony in a "large" enclosure.  It be cool if I could get it going with this female... she has been one of the most interesting pets Ive kept and Ive taken her everywhere to show her off.  Ive even taken her to work in my lunch cooler! ;P


Haha I want some if you end up getting a viable sac.   Are these communal?


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## buthus (Sep 14, 2007)

> Are these communal?


 Very much ..like they think they are rats or something.


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## P. Novak (Sep 14, 2007)

buthus said:


> Very much ..like they think they are rats or something.


Wow, now I'd really love to get some and set them up in a large enclosure as well. How many females do you have?


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## buthus (Sep 14, 2007)

P. Novak said:


> Wow, now I'd really love to get some and set them up in a large enclosure as well. How many females do you have?


Of the CA species...only this one girl. 
K.hybernalis ..I have a small group... not sure how many.


BTW!  last night while farting around with these boyz trying to get decent shots, one of them got fed up with my bullsht and bit me ...couple times ..like machine gun...nip, nip, nip, nip ...really fast!  No penetration though.  Surprised me ...super cool!


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## 8+) (Sep 14, 2007)

Haha, if you pinned by legs behind my head I might try to bite too! ;P 

Those are great looking spiders, good luck!


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## buthus (Sep 14, 2007)

8+) said:


> Haha, if you pinned by legs behind my head I might try to bite too! ;P


Yep you're probably right ...if I cant reach me gun that is.  ...
*edit:*  ha ha! .. read that wrong ...oh..so you'd be biting me? ...ha! not before I snapped off at least a few good humiliating photos!


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## pitbulllady (Sep 16, 2007)

buthus said:


> Of the CA species...only this one girl.
> K.hybernalis ..I have a small group... not sure how many.
> 
> 
> BTW!  last night while farting around with these boyz trying to get decent shots, one of them got fed up with my bullsht and bit me ...couple times ..like machine gun...nip, nip, nip, nip ...really fast!  No penetration though.  Surprised me ...super cool!


I've had males(only males, though-females are most reluctant to bite)do that to me, but as with your case, they cannot penetrate my skin.  I've had females throw some impressive threat displays, but they will inevitably, like an Eastern Hognose, follow up by playing dead if I keep messing with 'em!  Only females guarding eggsacs seem to be really serious, and I have little doubt that some of the bigger ones could give a painful bite if they wanted to.

One thing I've found with keeping these spiders communally-they either have to be taken from the same colony to start with, or must be gradually introduced, or there'll be a fight.  I would assume that females in a colony in the wild are most likely closely related to each other, and they definately seem to be able to recognize one another, and have a clearly-observable social heirarchy.

pitbulllady


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## P. Novak (Sep 16, 2007)

buthus said:


> Of the CA species...only this one girl.
> K.hybernalis ..I have a small group... not sure how many.
> 
> 
> BTW!  last night while farting around with these boyz trying to get decent shots, one of them got fed up with my bullsht and bit me ...couple times ..like machine gun...nip, nip, nip, nip ...really fast!  No penetration though.  Surprised me ...super cool!


I say get a video of this.. . I can picture it in my head and it sounds incredibly funny!


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## 8+) (Sep 17, 2007)

pitbulllady said:


> One thing I've found with keeping these spiders communally-they either have to be taken from the same colony to start with, or must be gradually introduced, or there'll be a fight.  I would assume that females in a colony in the wild are most likely closely related to each other, and they definately seem to be able to recognize one another, and have a clearly-observable social heirarchy.


You're talking about K. hibernalis, of course. So by "in the wild" do you mean in buildings? This actually makes me want to start a whole new thread...


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## pitbulllady (Sep 17, 2007)

8+) said:


> You're talking about K. hibernalis, of course. So by "in the wild" do you mean in buildings? This actually makes me want to start a whole new thread...


There are several wild colonies on my property, outdoors.  Anywhere that they can find a crack or crevice to hide in and build that den/web thing, they'll take it over.  There is a tool shed on the property that's covered in layers of some sort of corrugated black tar paper that my grandfather put there many decades ago, and there's a colony that makes their homes underneath the layers.  There's another colony underneath the garage, that live in between the boards, and another that makes use of what used to be a playhouse with a little porch.  This doesn't count the ones living inside the house.  I'll have to take a photo of the outside of the shed(I haven't even been inside, since there's no light) just to show how extensive the webbing is; it looks like the whole thing is covered in that fake fiberglass "snow" that's used as Christmas decorations!

pitbulllady


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## buthus (Sep 18, 2007)

Ok a few days later...

Watchya doing in there with my girl?  






The other male ...hopefully just out having a smoke.  








> There are several wild colonies on my property, outdoors. Anywhere that they can find a crack or crevice to hide in and build that den/web thing, they'll take it over. There is a tool shed on the property that's covered in layers of some sort of corrugated black tar paper that my grandfather put there many decades ago, and there's a colony that makes their homes underneath the layers. There's another colony underneath the garage, that live in between the boards, and another that makes use of what used to be a playhouse with a little porch. This doesn't count the ones living inside the house. I'll have to take a photo of the outside of the shed(I haven't even been inside, since there's no light) just to show how extensive the webbing is; it looks like the whole thing is covered in that fake fiberglass "snow" that's used as Christmas decorations!


Would love to see some pics of those colonies.   They must move out to the  outskirts of the colony web to wait or hunt for prey. (?)  I doubt to much prey just lands in the middle.  :?


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## pitbulllady (Sep 19, 2007)

buthus said:


> Ok a few days later...
> 
> Watchya doing in there with my girl?
> 
> ...


I took some photos yesterday, but I haven't had time to upload them to the computer yet.  I'll try to get to that tonight when I get home.  Most of the prey is comprised of American Cochroaches and Camel Crickets, and the occasional moth.  Actually, the largest female _K. hibernalis_ are more likely to be found in the center of the colory, since that is apparently safer from weather or predators like birds, and spiders don't normally move more than a few inches from their "den" entrance.  I have seen several females who live next door to each other cooperate in killing a large prey item, like a really big roach or grasshopper, though, and females will share with their offspring, which live with them until they themselves are nearly adults.  I've used a twig to "flush" a female out of hiding, only to have a dozen or more spiders, of different sizes, all come pouring out of the same entrance!  It's kinda funny to see when one gets an urge to do some housecleaning, because there will be one spider working like crazy, hauling out old moults, prey remains, and bits of leaves and junk that wind up inside the crevice, while a ring of a half-dozen or more specimens sits around watching, like one of those highway work crews where one man is digging a hole and the rest are standing around watching HIM.

pitbulllady


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