# Genus Macrothele



## hamfoto (Mar 1, 2008)

Since this didn't exist...thought I go ahead and start it.

_Macrothele calpeiana_

*awesome spider!

Chris

Reactions: Like 1


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## Gsc (Mar 4, 2008)

I live in Texas too (Austin) have have a group of Macrothele calpeiana...       (2.1.4 individuals) ....  Very cool spiders.

Below is a pic of a tank where I have an adult female and subadult male Coexisting... no reccomended..

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## Bastian Drolshagen (Mar 4, 2008)

hi,
this tank looks pretty nice, very natural - almost like their native habitat 

Macrothele sp. "Laos"


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## hamfoto (Mar 5, 2008)

very cool guys!  Keep it up...

Graham...alright!  Nice to know someone else around here has some.  We need to swap mature males when we get them.  I've got 3 spiders right now (unsexed so far) that are all around 1 1/2".

Chris


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## case214 (Mar 5, 2008)

No longer in my collection but still macrothele.

Macrothele gigas


























Macrothele calpeiana, mating







Macrothele sp.

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## _bob_ (Mar 9, 2008)

hamfoto said:


> very cool guys!  Keep it up...
> 
> Graham...alright!  Nice to know someone else around here has some.  We need to swap mature males when we get them.  I've got 3 spiders right now (unsexed so far) that are all around 1 1/2".
> 
> Chris


Aww man... I just had a MM male but he just passed


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## Selenops (Mar 11, 2008)

Want one never had one. Beautiful pics. 

I love the threat postures... grrr!


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## thedude (Mar 11, 2008)

are there any for sale in the US?


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## Selenops (Mar 11, 2008)

Todd Gearheart and someone else whom I can't recall were selling M. calpeiana about half a year or year ago, pretty steeply priced $60-80 but these spiders are quite long lived.


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## thedude (Mar 11, 2008)

how big do they get?


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## John Apple (Mar 12, 2008)

My adult females are around 2-3", They have been bred so now I am in the waiting game. I am guessing this summer I'll have some slings

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## hamfoto (Mar 12, 2008)

John,
Let me know when you get some...I'd like to get some of your slings to have a different bloodline.

Chris


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## Gsc (Mar 13, 2008)

_bob_ said:


> Aww man... I just had a MM male but he just passed


Hey Bob,  we need to meet up.  I've lived in Austin for the past 8 months... lots of odd inverts.

Graham


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## mingu (Feb 28, 2013)

Macrothele gigas

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## Jacobospider5 (Mar 9, 2013)

how large do these species get and where i can i get one?:O


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## mingu (Apr 12, 2013)

Jacobospider5 said:


> how large do these species get and where i can i get one?:O


They can reach a leg span over 6 inches, I think ken the bug guy has some sling for sale.

---------- Post added 04-12-2013 at 02:51 PM ----------

Here's some pictures of my Macrothele gigas slings setups.



Some molts I collected so far. 


Freshly molted


My biggest, but still tiny starts to get some blackish color.

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## mingu (Apr 17, 2013)

Can't get enough of this species. So, I took some pictures today of the ones that were visible. 

This one molted recently.

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## mingu (Jun 13, 2013)

Some update pictures. 
Macrothele gigas

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## freedumbdclxvi (Jun 13, 2013)

Gorgeous!  Both of mine molted yesterday.  These are quite a lovely species.


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## dactylus (Jun 13, 2013)

hamfoto said:


> John,
> Let me know when you get some...I'd like to get some of your slings to have a different bloodline.
> 
> Chris


 ^
Same here.  I'd love to pick up another bloodline too.  

I have 3 M. calpeiana slings that are nearing 1/2" and 5 M. gigas slings that are in the 1/2"-3/4" range.

Different genus I know, but are any of you keeping any of the Linothele species as well?  Maybe a reason to start a separate topic for that genus?  I have a few Linothele megatheloides and Linothele fallax.  I really dig them too.  Long-legged speedsters!!

:biggrin:



David

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## mingu (Aug 2, 2013)

Some pics of my 2 largest Macrothele gigas slings. Nearing 2 inches in leg span.  
This one recently molted.



I rehoused this one yesterday and it has already webbed quite a bit.

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## mingu (Oct 19, 2013)

Some update and comparison pictures of my Macrothele gigas slings.

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## mingu (Oct 27, 2013)

My latest addition from polyped. 

0.1 Macrothele gigas

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## Fuse (Nov 3, 2013)

Have you guys fed your Macrothele Dubia nymphs before? Do they seem to take them?


Also I'm newer to True Spiders but are there ways of telling if your spider is successfully capturing prey. My macrothele stays hidden much of the time. I give him a good amount of cover but this also makes tracking his food a bit difficult.

I've given mine both small crickets and dubia nymphs.


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## korg (Nov 5, 2013)

Beautiful specimens. Thanks for sharing!



Fuse said:


> Also I'm newer to True Spiders but are there ways of telling if your spider is successfully capturing prey. My macrothele stays hidden much of the time. I give him a good amount of cover but this also makes tracking his food a bit difficult.


Just for the record, M. gigas are Mygalomorphae, not true spiders (Araneomorphae). I think dealing with their prey is pretty much the same issue as for tarantulas or other inverts... if the enclosure is cluttered it may be hard to tell what's getting eaten. You could clear up the cage a bit, keep careful track of how many prey items you're adding, remove prey if it's not immediately taken, etc.


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## Fuse (Nov 11, 2013)

I moved my spider (he's inside a hollow corkbark log, quarter sized about now) to a new terrarium that I thought would be easy to take care of him in and he hasn't come out of his log yet to build a web. How well do these spiders deal with the stress of having their webs destroyed/moving? It's been a day and he hasn't really come out at all, even to throw down some strands. 

Do they stress out from this sort of thing much? 

Thanks


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## mingu (Nov 12, 2013)

Fuse said:


> I moved my spider (he's inside a hollow corkbark log, quarter sized about now) to a new terrarium that I thought would be easy to take care of him in and he hasn't come out of his log yet to build a web. How well do these spiders deal with the stress of having their webs destroyed/moving? It's been a day and he hasn't really come out at all, even to throw down some strands.
> 
> Do they stress out from this sort of thing much?
> 
> Thanks


My wc female took a couple days before she started webbing in her new enclosure.


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## mingu (Dec 7, 2013)

rehoused my Macrothele gigas slings in bigger containers this week, and snapped some pics I wanted to share.

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## mingu (Jan 11, 2014)

Macrothele gigas

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## marclar (Jan 12, 2014)

Wow, these sure are fierce looking!


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## mingu (Mar 10, 2014)

Macrothele gigas
Juvenile


Adult

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## pannaking22 (Mar 10, 2014)

Wow, these guys are really cool! Definitely something new for the wish list...

Sorry if I missed this, but what's the venom like on these guys?


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## mingu (Mar 11, 2014)

pannaking22 said:


> Sorry if I missed this, but what's the venom like on these guys?


Pretty stong venom from what I read here. 
http://www.disaster.org.tw/chinese/annmed/vol3supp1/3.pdf
http://www.japan-acad.go.jp/en/publishing/pja_b/contents/82/82_8.html

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## pannaking22 (Mar 11, 2014)

Wow, that'll do it alright. Thanks for the links!


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## Curious jay (Mar 12, 2014)

would love to own some of the M. gigas, gotta have a DWA license over here though.


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## mingu (May 12, 2014)

Freshly molted juvenile Macrothele gigas


Two days later

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## mingu (May 25, 2014)

Finally, first time a catch her out in the open. Adult female Macrothele gigas. 







With flash

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## freedumbdclxvi (May 25, 2014)

I love this species.  I cannot wait til mine hits adulthood.


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## mingu (Jun 10, 2014)

Macrothele gigas

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## paassatt (Jun 10, 2014)

I love this thread and always look forward to seeing updates. Gorgeous specimens!


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## mingu (Aug 19, 2014)

Macrothele gigas juvenile

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## mingu (Oct 9, 2014)

Freshly molted Macrothele gigas juvenile

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## Equinox (Dec 1, 2014)

Few pics of my recently moulted female. She is around 6 inches now. Grew a cm or so on this moult.
Have two males here so hopefully they'll be maturing shortly

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## Philth (Dec 2, 2016)

Macrothele calpeiana (Walckenaer, 1805)* female by Tom Patterson, on Flickr

Macrothele calpeiana (Walckenaer, 1805)* mature male by Tom Patterson, on Flickr

Macrothele gigas Shimojana &amp; Haupt, 1998 female by Tom Patterson, on Flickr

Macrothele gigas Shimojana &amp; Haupt, 1998 mature male by Tom Patterson, on Flickr

Macrothele monocirculata Xu &amp; Yin, 2000 female by Tom Patterson, on Flickr

Macrothele monocirculata Xu &amp; Yin, 2000 mature male by Tom Patterson, on Flickr

Macrothele holsti Pocock, 1901 mature male by Tom Patterson, on Flickr

Later, Tom

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## chanda (Dec 2, 2016)

dactylus said:


> ^
> Different genus I know, but are any of you keeping any of the Linothele species as well?  Maybe a reason to start a separate topic for that genus?  I have a few Linothele megatheloides and Linothele fallax.  I really dig them too.  Long-legged speedsters!!


I've been trying to get a couple of Linothele fallax for awhile now. A guy I know is supposed to be getting them for me, but he's had a few problems with lost or delayed shipments. The one he finally got to me a while back was DOA, so he's supposed to be bringing some out next spring when he comes back out here for one of the expos.

So what do you like about them? The heavy webbing? The attractive colors and markings (that you probably almost never get to see)? Their speed?

*Edit: ...and I just noticed the date on your post was a couple of years ago. Today's post suckered me into thinking this was a fresh thread!


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## Narimatsu (Nov 30, 2020)

What is the life expectancy of Macrothele calpeiana


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