# Communal Tarantula's



## o0 Mr Ed 0o (Jan 3, 2012)

Hi, for a while now I have been thinking about a Communal set up for a species of tarantula. I don't know alot about the subject as I haven't looked into it properly. I do know that the Avicularia can be housed together but are there any in that particular species that can't be housed? 

All species suggestions recommendations that are not Pink Toes and any additional info is gladly welcome thankyou!

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## 1hughjazzspider (Jan 3, 2012)

o0 Mr Ed 0o said:


> I don't know alot about the subject as I haven't looked into it properly. I do know that the Avicularia can be housed together



This right here tells me a lot. Avicularia are NOT communal. You can try it, but you'll almost certainly end up with one fat Avic. You should probably "look into it properly" by doing a search on here. Chances are it'll tell you everything you need to know.


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## Perocore (Jan 3, 2012)

Why keep Ts communal at all? I never would risk the possibility of cannibalism :T And no, from what I've read here on AB, Avics can not be kept together without them eventually eating one another. As 1hughjazzspider said, you'd just end up with one fat spider.


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## Crysta (Jan 3, 2012)

Hey there what kind of communal? ...I help feed my babies communal or I tolerate you communal? 
Help my babies, and cuddles as dwarfs: H. villosella, H. incei
Tolerate A lot of my friends, but if they try and touch me dwarfs: H. gabonensis, ___ (escapes me at the moment)

Help my babies, and cuddle as adults biggies: H. gigas(sometimes), M. balfouri, Chicken spider

Below are more likely to see casualties, but they still work out sometimes; and most of the time this sac mates. 
Tolerate A lot of my friends, but if they they and touch me biggies: P. regalis, P. hanumavilasumica, P. fasciata, P. subfusca, P. pederdensi


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## catfishrod69 (Jan 3, 2012)

i wouldnt bother trying to keep any species communal...i tried it with H. incei sac mates, and it didnt go too well...


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## Kungfujoe (Jan 3, 2012)

I have a colony of H. Incei golds that are doing really well. They sometimes share burrows and I've even seen them share food. Started with 5 individuals and i still have them all. I always have crickets in the enclosure in order to keep them well fed.


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## Hornets inverts (Jan 3, 2012)

I have heard of people keeping avics communally, i have no experience with the genus so i cant say any more than what i have read, the others may be right. Anyway if you want a communal setup then i say go for it, if it fails you have learnt what not to do. I'd go with one of the species that other people have had some sucess with, get a group of slings and start with a large viv, not a tiny little cramped one like people seem to recomend


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## grayzone (Jan 3, 2012)

hey kungfu, do you have any pics of the H. incei gold set up? ive had my eye on that kinda t for a while.. didn't know they'd work well together


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## Kay123 (Jan 4, 2012)

H Incei seems to be the best to do a communal set up with, but mine failed - started with 4, now only have 2 left that live seperately.  Male and female.  Going to try and mate them, and see what happens with if I get babies and let them live together.


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## Necromion (Jan 4, 2012)

I'm working on starting a Heterothe villosella communal at the moment. My recommendation to start a communal is to get an adult pair as it can be cheaper than buying a ton of slings, as you can breed them and hopefully get multiple sacs out of it. Another thing that I've had suggested to me (at least with H. villosella) is to put the female in the main tank allowing her to make a territory and then introduce the male to the tank and just let the sac hatch out on its own.


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## Kungfujoe (Jan 4, 2012)

Here is a pic of when i first started it. The length is about 16 1/2 by 7 1/2 by 8 1/2. I added a bark hide a few more branches and 1 inches of coco fiber since the pics. The spiders seem to like it. 





When the colony grows I will upgrade the enclosure but since there is 5 spiders it will do.

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## LittleSister (Jan 4, 2012)

Real nice setup Joe :clap: I am myself gonna try a communal setup with 5 H. incei slings


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## Arachnotheker (Jan 4, 2012)

Avi CAN be communal until subadult. I started a group of 10 A. versicolor from one sac. Hope it gets well for some moltings. I think that the problem is too little feed for cannibalism.


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## Huzi (Jan 4, 2012)

Hi, I've got an H.gigas communal with four slings ,I started the setup in october this year and so far no cannibalism ,they have all gone underground and the only way to view them is from under the enclosure with a torch. the enclosure is 15cmx15cmx15cm and slings are around 2-3cm in leg span.


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## Chris_Skeleton (Jan 4, 2012)

Arachnotheker said:


> Avi CAN be communal until subadult. I started a group of 10 A. versicolor from one sac. Hope it gets well for some moltings. I think that the problem is too little feed for cannibalism.


I'm pretty sure I've read that many non-communal spiders, such as Avicularia, can be kept together until sub-adult. Which still doesn't make them communal.

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## 1hughjazzspider (Jan 4, 2012)

Chris_Skeleton said:


> I'm pretty sure I've read that many non-communal spiders, such as Avicularia, can be kept together until sub-adult. Which still doesn't make them communal.



Agreed. To me, I see no point in keeping a bunch of non communal spiders together, such as Avicularia, until they get to a certain size. It just doesn't seem very logical to create a nice, big communal setup for the spiders, only to have to remove them all once they become sub adults. It just defeats the whole purpose. But hey if that's your thing......


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## InvertFix (Jan 4, 2012)

I got my butt chewed by a lot of people on these boards for posting about a communal set up of mine. 

I support your seeking advancement in knowledge! And good luck in all your ventures!


Using Tapatalk on my iPhone 4S.


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## Kungfujoe (Jan 4, 2012)

LittleSister said:


> Real nice setup Joe :clap: I am myself gonna try a communal setup with 5 H. incei slings


Thanks, I actually was intested in setting an H. Incei communal because i saw one from another site and thougt it was unique and interesting to see how they behave together.


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## Merfolk (Jan 4, 2012)

In my attemps, sub adult male, especially large ones, were the main culprits.


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