A. avicularia... ceep them together???

TigerWoman

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I`v heard that if you have a large enough terarium, you could ceep 4 or 5 of A.a together in the same terarium!
Is that posible??? :confused: :?

Does any of you do that, or do you know someone who does??

I guess they need a lot of plases to hide.....?
 

Tangled WWWeb

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I tried unsuccessfully some years ago.My set up was a 29 gallon aquarium with lots of cork bark and live and artificial plants. I had 4 individuals who seemed to do alright until one tried to molt.Two of the others tried to eat him and one of them succeeded in doing so.I never attempted this again.
 

VI6SIX

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I've never had any luck keeping avics together but I've had many successes raising P. regalis and P. formosa as a group till about 4" never realy tried with adults though ( aside from breeding) which they usualy live together quite awile except for P. ornata which I've never been able to keep together for more than a couple of days before the male got chowed
 

r_cafin

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Ive read that if the aquarium or what ever you have to use is large enough you can keep them together. I dont know about 4 or 5...But 2 at the most and you can only do this if they have adequate food so they dont kill each other..i dont know if id try it cause thats alot of money to loose on a experiment....Ryan
 

JacenBeers

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I have been successfully keeping to Avics together for a few months now and they are sharing a 5 gallon tank with lots of branches to walk around on. THe are doing fine.
 

jwb121377

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I have wanted to try this for sometime now, However being a big chicken I don't think I ever will. I am afraid of all the things that could go very wrong.
 

Henry Kane

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I've seen this question arise several times over the years as well as the same answers. Some people keep them communally with no problems, some learn the hard way that it's a risk better not taken. Unfortunately, the only way to find out if your Avics are not goint to be happy together is when you discover that one has been munched. I've read cases where Avics (Pokies too) did fine sharing an enclosure with plenty of room for several months (up to 5 in 1 case) only to prove the fact that T's are cannabalistic. Some folks say "just keep them fed enough and they won't prey on each other" Doing so will most likely decrease the possibility but the #1 rule is still that T's can't be predicted.

The main thing to remember is that it's always a risk, no matter what species, or what anyone says about it. If you keep them together, you are taking a chance of one or both getting hurt. If you're willing to risk it, you may have a happy Avic community, maybe for just a while, maybe forever.
Hope that helps.

Atrax
 

Immortal_sin

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I've been considering a communal setup for quite some time, but haven't gotten around to it. I am envisioning a 'walkin' type container though, it's going to be a big project.
I have never heard on anyone sucessfully doing it beyond a few months, I'd like to hear from people that have been doing it that way for YEARS and have had no problems
 

Henry Kane

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That's a good point Holley. Come to think of it, I've heard lots of "they did fine for a while" stories but can't recall 1 "they've been doing great together for years" story. Has anyone kept Avics together successfully for over a year or longer? Or any sp. at all?

Atrax
 

Mojo Jojo

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I tried it too. One A. avicularia was more dominant than the other one, and was always plotting to destroy him. For some reason, the dominant one eventually died. I think it was stress and not canabalism, as there was no evidence that he was chewed on. The guy striadulated quite a bit. I won't try it again. I would be intersested in acquiring social spiders someday.
 

veronyka

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I've heard that keeping them together isn't the best idea because you can keep them together for a while but it's more tolerance than ability to actually live together. I would never try it either, it just doesnt seem worth the risk
 

conipto

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I would think as often unpredictable as a tarantulas temperament is, you could do it for months, and then on one warm morning one might be startled by the other, and pure survival instict takes over. We all know how quick a T can pounce and destroy a prey item, I can't see how another T that is being lazy and friendly would be any different. It only takes one second of a bad mood to end said communal lifestyle, which is why I don't think I'd ever do this.

Bill
 

Code Monkey

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I've never really been able to see the point of "communal" setups except for breeding. None of the Ts in the pet trade are actually social creatures (and likely, no Ts are social creatures unless the disputed chicken pampho turns out to be the genuine article). We have kin tolerance readily observable in pokes until breeding age, and a fair amount of cooperativeness between slings of many species, but nothing that crosses over into truly social behavior in adults. So, in my mind, all these communal setups are is the analogous equivalent of putting a group of sociopathic criminals together in a home and watching what happens. They'll probably ignore one another so long as no perceived advantage or threat is seen for eliminating competitors, but given enough time, someone will probably take the opportunity.
 

TigerWoman

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Thanks alot for all the answeres!

I guess we just have to wait until a sosial spider has been descovered =D I sertainly wont take the risk of let them live together! After all, they are, as you said, canibals and they will be better of alone in the cage!


"Ja takk, begge deler" var det et klokt hode som sa! :}
 

phoenixxavierre

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Avicularia communality

Hello all,

I have kept 3 avics together in a ten gallon (two females and a male) with no problems. The male died of old age, but not before he helped the females produce an eggsac a piece.
One of the females died some time after the male (months) leaving the one female.
Based on my observations of their interactions (mostly avoidance of each other and an occasional scuffle) I would make the following suggestion: If you are going to try and keep this species communally, make sure to give them at least ten gallons worth of space a piece. So if you are going to keep 4 avics together, put them in something with the equivalent of 40 gallons of space.
Also, make sure you fill the aquarium with plants, toilet paper tubes, paper towel roll tubes, vines, branches, lots of places to crawl and hide, 4 or 5 inches of substrate for the plant to take root in (rubber tree plants work well or any other broad leaved plant that reaches from the bottom of the tank to the top. Height is very important. Setting a long style aquarium on its end and using a lock type screen lid works well, but you need some sort of barrier to keep substrate from falling out when you open the lid.

Hope this helps a little,

Paul Flinn
http://www.exopets.com
 

Devildoll

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it's just going to be different with every set of spiders....

Bearacuda had 2 Goliaths in a 10 gallon for about 4 months w/o a single problem until the male finally died of old age.

it's possible w/ any species.. just not common w/ most....
i think considering a female is going to live 10+ years... why risk shortening it by even one year....

I do want to try this same experiment however... just can't bring myself to losing a T for that reason. especially pinktoes cause i love the buggers!
 

zoobugs

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I believe you have to expect some cannibalism when having more than one T in a cage, but, having said that, I've kept 17 avic. avics together in a 30 gal terrarium for about a year now, with plenty of hide spots and food always present. I think the big key for me is that all were together when they were purchased and they were alot smaller too. Sort of growing up together. And, at any given time, I usually see at least 6-7 without having to do any serious looking. So far, so good.
 

VI6SIX

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pokeys share hides in the wild in times of drought for that reason I believe them to be the most tolerant of the communal setting I've raised 3 groups together to about 4" and not lost a single one all were in 15 gallons one group had 10 the other 2 had roughly 30 to start with and we sold out of the cages so by the time they were sepperated there were about 10 or so but we counted as we put them in and subtracted from the # as we took them out and all were acounted for
now I think I'm going to try breeding avics communaly in the 2 female one male setup described earlier exdcept in a 15 tall
 
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