# H. gigas Communal



## DDaake (Sep 23, 2009)

I've heard a few times that h. gigas is communal. So I'm wondering if anyone here has attempted trying this and if there was any success or failures. I've done searches seems like everywhere and found nothing but the mention of it being possible. I'd like to give it a try but not without some info to use as a guide. Thx D


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## Arachnocentric (Sep 23, 2009)

H. Gigas can be communal.  I've heard of and seen them.    I saw one instance of a communal of 3 connecting their tunnels.   I thought that was the coolest thing ever.


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## PrimalTaunt (Sep 23, 2009)

Arachnocentric said:


> H. Gigas can be communal.  I've heard of and seen them.    I saw one instance of a communal of 3 connecting their tunnels.   I thought that was the coolest thing ever.


Interesting.  Do you know if the tunnels were pre-made for them in some fashion or if they connected them themselves?


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## Arachnocentric (Sep 23, 2009)

PrimalTaunt said:


> Interesting.  Do you know if the tunnels were pre-made for them in some fashion or if they connected them themselves?


Good question,   I am unsure of the answer.  That specific Instance was at a reptile show,   So its entirely possible they were premade somehow.   Though I wouldn't know how to do that.


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## DreadLobster (Sep 24, 2009)

Not to put words in his mouth, but RobC told me he raised a bunch of H. Gigas till close to adulthood all in the same container and they did great. I have personally not tried it, but seeing as he didn't even have any to sell or anything, I see no reason why he would have made that up or anything. Seems like they're a good option. Currently, H. incei are the only ones I've gotten to work though. Haven't tried H. gigas.


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## Bill S (Sep 24, 2009)

I've got an _H. gigas_ that I haven't seen in many months.  I know he's an excellent feeder because I can hear the crunchy noises when I drop a cricket down his hole.  And I know he's growing because the diameter of the hole gets bigger and periodically there's a molt kicked out of the hole.  I can imagine the excitement of having a whole colony of pet holes.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## EDED (Sep 24, 2009)

dont start with adults

dont start with babies that have been separated with their mom for too long

start with the fresh hatch out babies from the start,,,keep them together, 

once you separate for a while then recombine they start eating eachother fast.

one species i took the sac away when they were eggs w legs, hatched them to 2 nd instar gave them back to their mom and they aate together and happy

this one species or individual started eating 1/4'' babies like a little treat, one by one, that was so messed up,,,then i would threw several at once and she ate all of them ahhaha, so those babies are motherless but going strong together in a separate tank.

the longest ive had them, they were close to 2.5'' leg span and there were lke 25 of them before

this time i will try to do better...but i dont have much room once they get bigger.


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## robc (Sep 24, 2009)

DreadLobster said:


> Not to put words in his mouth, but RobC told me he raised a bunch of H. Gigas till close to adulthood all in the same container and they did great. I have personally not tried it, but seeing as he didn't even have any to sell or anything, I see no reason why he would have made that up or anything. Seems like they're a good option. Currently, H. incei are the only ones I've gotten to work though. Haven't tried H. gigas.


This is one of the best communual T's there is in my opinion, I raised around 80 together....from 2nd instar to about 4"+. I notice a lot of strange behavior.....1/4 of them had burrows the other were constructing webbing and when fed (the outsiders would take the food to the ones that were burrowed) and they would eat and the leftovers were consumed by the outsiders. I am thinking maybe the females were in the burrows and the males were the outsiders LOL. When I paired my gigas up I witnessed the MM eating off the same prey item as the female, and also sharing the same burrow. The reason I think the males were the outsiders is because the MM that I had would do all the webbing outside of the burrow and the female constructed the burrower.

Wish I would have documented this better, this was before the video's LOL

*Just hatched:*







*2nd and 3rd instars:*

Reactions: Like 1


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## Miss Bianca (Sep 24, 2009)

They look great!


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## dtknow (Sep 24, 2009)

The major issue I see is that these guys attain a pretty large size and dig deep burrows. To do an adult communal would require a huge tank(and you'd have to use some ingenuity to allow you to observe all of them.) I've found although my girl is shy she is always up to something. 

Also, Rob, are your slings from that WC female still floating around out there? Wonder if people will try breeding them together as they almost certainly represent a true species.


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## robc (Sep 24, 2009)

dtknow said:


> The major issue I see is that these guys attain a pretty large size and dig deep burrows. To do an adult communal would require a huge tank(and you'd have to use some ingenuity to allow you to observe all of them.) I've found although my girl is shy she is always up to something.
> 
> Also, Rob, are your slings from that WC female still floating around out there? Wonder if people will try breeding them together as they almost certainly represent a true species.


Those are the ones above, they were all purchased from 1 dealer so I am sure they are around somewhere LOL


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## DDaake (Sep 24, 2009)

Great stuff! Thanx guys. Received 3 h. gigas today and was planing on trying this out. But sorry to say the packaging was undesireable at the best and may be losing one of the gigas. I'll be posting in discussions a perfect example of how not to ship T's.


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## dtknow (Sep 24, 2009)

robc said:


> Those are the ones above, they were all purchased from 1 dealer so I am sure they are around somewhere LOL


But you can't be sure if your H. gigas sling came from you as opposed to someone else?

I really think that that group should be kept seperate for interest sake.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Bill S (Sep 27, 2009)

robc said:


> This is one of the best communual T's there is in my opinion, I raised around 80 together....from 2nd instar to about 4"+.


robc - How large a cage did you use for this?  I'm about to have a 55 gallon aquarium become vacant (reorganizing my reptiles) and I'm considering setting up a H. gigas tank out of it.  (An alternative use would be for vinegaroons.)


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## robc (Sep 27, 2009)

Bill S said:


> robc - How large a cage did you use for this?  I'm about to have a 55 gallon aquarium become vacant (reorganizing my reptiles) and I'm considering setting up a H. gigas tank out of it.  (An alternative use would be for vinegaroons.)


I used a 75 gal and it was more than enough room, a 55 gal would work!!


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## JimM (Sep 27, 2009)

Bill S said:


> robc - How large a cage did you use for this?  I'm about to have a 55 gallon aquarium become vacant (reorganizing my reptiles) and I'm considering setting up a H. gigas tank out of it.  (An alternative use would be for vinegaroons.)


I vote yay to the gigas, nay to the vinegaroons.


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## paul fleming (Sep 27, 2009)

I have an AF H.Gigas and she is huge.Not too sure if I would want a stack of these  running around my tank.....they are pretty evil as well.....my one is anyway and will attack anything that gets close.Her fangs are very big and as well as having a nasty venom,she is a baboon after all, she would also cause a lot of mechanical damage.
Nice spiders though.
Paul

Reactions: Dislike 1


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## PrimalTaunt (Sep 27, 2009)

Hopefully if you do a communal with these you'll give them a pool to swim in.


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## Bill S (Sep 28, 2009)

JimM said:


> I vote yay to the gigas, nay to the vinegaroons.


That's pretty much the way I am leaning, but domestic bliss may require compromise.  My wife works with vinegaroons.  In defense of the vinegaroon set-up - we've seen in smaller tanks (10 gallon) some incredible maternal behavior.  Even after the babies leave the mother's burrow and have dug their own burrows, at least one mother will carry food to the baby's burrow, reach down it with her "feelers" until the baby comes out, and then she shares the food with the baby.  In one case the baby clamped onto the cricket that mom held, and the mother carried both food and baby back to her own burrow.  The next morning, when the cricket had been eaten, the baby returned to its own burrow.  Part of the value of setting up a larger container for vinegaroons would be the ability to see if the mother still does this with more babies at greater distances.


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## mudfish47 (Jan 23, 2013)

But you think the only way to pull it off is all from the same egg sack.Not buying from different places then putting them together


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## Rhiannon (Jan 27, 2014)

I have 4 living together, only about 2in, but no problems so far. They've got one big entrance to their burrow, where they all seem to sleep huddled together, and they also will share bigger food items  
Really interesting seeing them share everything, and I can't wait for them to grow bigger!


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## Poec54 (Jan 27, 2014)

Rhiannon said:


> I have 4 living together, only about 2in, but no problems so far. They've got one big entrance to their burrow, where they all seem to sleep huddled together, and they also will share bigger food items
> Really interesting seeing them share everything, and I can't wait for them to grow bigger!


These aren't like Poecs, they're not communal for long.  Keep them well fed at all times or you'll wind up with one big one.


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## Ceratogyrus (Jan 27, 2014)

Poec54 said:


> These aren't like Poecs, they're not communal for long.  Keep them well fed at all times or you'll wind up with one big one.


Agree. Seen many a Hysterocrates communal go south on short notice.


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## Poec54 (Jan 27, 2014)

Ceratogyrus said:


> Agree. Seen many a Hysterocrates communal go south on short notice.


Yeah, I've been thru it.  They're tolerant of each other for a few months (siblings from the same sac), and then it gets ugly.  They are not communal.  Please people, don't sacrifice your spiders like this.


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## yveskevin (Jan 28, 2014)

Poec54 said:


> These aren't like Poecs, they're not communal for long.


forgive me for asking, im still new to this hobby, how communal are pokies anyway? are they communal from slings to adult with 0 fatalities?


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## Ceratogyrus (Jan 28, 2014)

yveskevin said:


> forgive me for asking, im still new to this hobby, how communal are pokies anyway? are they communal from slings to adult with 0 fatalities?


I currently have an adult female with 10 subadults around 13cm all living happily together. No losses since hatching.


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## fyic (Jan 28, 2014)

I could be wrong .....but I thought I read one time that these guys in the wild can or do live communal?

found a few videos...just for kicks
1
2
3


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## Wolfy72 (Jul 12, 2021)

I have 2 H.Gigas and i just recently stumbled onto this topic im very curious about setting up a communal tank, my big girl is about 5 inchs or so, my other (unsexed) is about 3", they did not come from the same sac, and have been kept seperate as far but i really wanna do this.


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## jezzy607 (Jul 13, 2021)

Siblings can be kept together for a little while before they start eating each other. Putting two unrelated and different sized together is basically feeding one to the other.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## moricollins (Jul 15, 2021)

Where is this ridiculous information that H. gigas are communal coming from? There have been a rash of posts on this topic lately



Wolfy72 said:


> I have 2 H.Gigas and i just recently stumbled onto this topic im very curious about setting up a communal tank, my big girl is about 5 inchs or so, my other (unsexed) is about 3", they did not come from the same sac, and have been kept seperate as far but i really wanna do this.


You'll end up with one fat spider, or possibly 2 dead spiders if they both manage to injure the other


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## The Grym Reaper (Jul 15, 2021)

moricollins said:


> Where is this ridiculous information that H. gigas are communal coming from? There have been a rash of posts on this topic lately


Presumably sellers trying to offload their unwanted H. gigas specimens in bulk, regularly see sellers trying to do this with N. incei as well, both species are constantly available/cheap and there isn't a huge demand for them so sellers offer them up as a "5 for the price of 4 communal group" hoping to catch out people who don't know any better.

Also, YouTube... Probably.

Reactions: Agree 3


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## Neonblizzard (Jul 15, 2021)

The Grym Reaper said:


> Presumably sellers trying to offload their unwanted H. gigas specimens in bulk, regularly see sellers trying to do this with N. incei as well, both species are constantly available/cheap and there isn't a huge demand for them so sellers offer them up as a "5 for the price of 4 communal group" hoping to catch out people who don't know any better.
> 
> Also, YouTube... Probably.


I overheard someone in the local pet shop say they wanted to start a communal of H gigas... Does exotics lair have a new video out or something?

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Table (Jul 15, 2021)

Neonblizzard said:


> I overheard someone in the local pet shop say they wanted to start a communal of H gigas... Does exotics lair have a new video out or something?


The dark den reasently started an H gigas communal :[

Reactions: Sad 2


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## Timc (Jul 15, 2021)

I’m still struggling to understand why people want to take animals they _purchased _and are _responsible _for in higher risk situations than if they were kept safely by themselves! I just do not get it. Hell, I don’t even open two enclosures at the same time out of an over abundance of caution!

Reactions: Agree 3


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## Frogdaddy (Jul 15, 2021)

Timc said:


> I’m still struggling to understand why people want to take animals they _purchased _and are _responsible _for in higher risk situations than if they were kept safely by themselves! I just do not get it. Hell, I don’t even open two enclosures at the same time out of an over abundance of caution!


Peoples is stoopid.

Then again there are people that believe they can bond with their venomous snakes and just let them loose in their house.

Reactions: Wow 1


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## Neonblizzard (Jul 15, 2021)

Timc said:


> I’m still struggling to understand why people want to take animals they _purchased _and are _responsible _for in higher risk situations than if they were kept safely by themselves! I just do not get it. Hell, I don’t even open two enclosures at the same time out of an over abundance of caution!


I agree, it's hardly like the spiders in the communal play tag or roll around or watch TV together

Reactions: Funny 1


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## moricollins (Jul 15, 2021)

Table said:


> The dark den reasently started an H gigas communal :[


That explains it


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## KenD (Jul 16, 2021)

moricollins said:


> Where is this ridiculous information that H. gigas are communal coming from? There have been a rash of posts on this topic lately


Petko at the Dark Den is attempting a H. gigas communal with a sac he produced. I'm guessing that's it.

Reactions: Agree 1


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