Appeal of Fossorial Ts & Trapdoor Spiders?

[FlamingSwampert]

I don't really get the point of fossorial ts and trapdoor spiders. To me it seems like you keep a box of dirt and once a week you get to see something get dragged under said dirt and eaten. Are the takedowns impressive enough to make up for the lack of activity and visibility? I doubt there are many fossorial t enthusiasts out there but I just want to know what makes them worth buying. I guess I've heard some will come to the surface for a short period of time, but idk which species or how many exhibit this behavior.

 

[Tentacle Toast]

Probably because of the shear beauty, I'd imagine, & I've seen people mention the ease of feeding. Outside of that though, the attraction has me stymied. Thanks to another member's photography skills, I've recently learned that there are some VERY attractive mites, that, if they were many times their size, I'd be all over. Maybe I DO have them all over, I don't know, I never see them...& that's akin to keeping the "pet holes," in my opinion.

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

I’ve actually had good luck with getting to see my fossorial Ts (except for my Haploclastus devamatha sling and some small Cyriopagopus slings I keep in small vials for now, but even they will come charging out at feeding time). Other than that, it’s interesting to see them construct things.

 

[catboyeuthanasia]

Definitely not good pets if they are your only arachnid pet, but if you have 20+ tarantulas, chances are you are only going to be looking into each enclosure for a small amount of time each day. As long as you can get a nice peek or two a week, they can be quite rewarding.

Additionally, if you are into natural history, some trapdoor that are distantly related to the rest of the mygalomorphs (or even the rest of spiderkind as with Liphistius sp.) are really cool to see.

 

[SpookySpooder]

I doubt there are many fossorial t enthusiasts out there

We're all in our holes so you won't see us much

 

[mack1855]

No interest in them for me,but people that manage to take a pic always impress me,and sometimes I think”why not”.
But there are so many more that interest me I just can’t justify the cost and maintenance.
But when you fossorial guys get a look….

 

[BoyFromLA]

I don't really get the point of fossorial ts

Mine is out and about a lot.

 

[Tarantuland]

To me it really varies by species. I don’t get a lot of joy out of keeping the cobalt blues cuz you don’t see them but I see my Bach ma more. C fimbriatus is beautiful enough to make it all worth it, and seeing I mira do the thing is so cool it’s totally worth it

 

[FlamingSwampert]

I’ve actually had good luck with getting to see my fossorial Ts (except for my Haploclastus devamatha sling and some small Cyriopagopus slings I keep in small vials for now, but even they will come charging out at feeding time). Other than that, it’s interesting to see them construct things.

Huh, I guess fossorials are more active than I thought... I figured they just made a single hole and remained their almost for the rest of their lives except for feeding. I guess the act more like ts that tend to use their webs a lot, but instead of a web they hide in the ground.

Probably because of the shear beauty, I'd imagine, & I've seen people mention the ease of feeding. Outside of that though, the attraction has me stymied. Thanks to another member's photography skills, I've recently learned that there are some VERY attractive mites, that, if they were many times their size, I'd be all over. Maybe I DO have them all over, I don't know, I never see them...& that's akin to keeping the "pet holes," in my opinion.

It's pretty weird how a lot of fossorials tend to be some of the most beautiful ts out there... why must their beauty be hidden by the substrate 90% of the time lol

No interest in them for me,but people that manage to take a pic always impress me,and sometimes I think”why not”.
But there are so many more that interest me I just can’t justify the cost and maintenance.
But when you fossorial guys get a look….

I'd figure the cost would be slightly less than for a terrestrial or arboreal t because you don't need hides or really anything much other than dirt and a deep enclosure. You mentioned "cost and maintenance" other than springtails to keep the likely inevitable mold down, what other extra costs and maintenance is there to speak of?

 

[NMTs]

I don't get the point of getting a big terrestrial T that sits in the same spot and does absolutely nothing for days or weeks on end... What's the difference besides you can see it doing nothing? Fossorial species tend to be more active IME - coming to the surface to feed, going back down, digging new tunnels, coming to the surface to shoot poop all over the enclosure, drinking water, etc.. If you are skilled at constructing their enclosures, you can almost ensure that you're able to see inside a fossorial specie's burrow, at least partially. It's like having a peek into a secret world.

Then there's this:

0.1 Psednocnemis brachyramosa - 2.25" DLS

• NMTs
• Dec 2, 2023
• 2
• brachyramosa coremiocnemis brachyramosa malaysian blue femur psednocnemis psednocnemis brachyramosa

The epitome of a pet hole, I only see this little one out when I have to get her out for some...

0.1 Sahydroaraneus raja - 2.5" DLS

• NMTs
• Nov 12, 2023
• 2
• indian blue dwarf tarantula raja sahydroaraneus sahydroaraneus raja

Little pink-footed, blue and purple mud spider. Pretty chill, too.

0.0.1 Ornithoctoninae sp. "Vietnam silver"

• NMTs
• Nov 4, 2023
• 4
• juvenile ornithoctoninae sp. vietnam silver

Juvenile, suspect male, about 3" DLS. It has grown very quickly, and I was a little shocked at...

0.1 Pelinobius muticus - 5.5" DLS

• NMTs
• Aug 24, 2023
• 1
• feeding king baboon tarantula muticus pelinobius pelinobius muticus

I haven't seen this girl topside in close to a year, so I took the opportunity to give her a fat...

1.0 Chilobrachys fimbriatus - 3.75" DLS

• NMTs
• Jul 29, 2023
• 9
• chilobrachys chilobrachys fimbriatus fimbriatus indian violet earth tiger

Sub-adult C. fimbriatus, 4 days post-molt. Bought as female, but appears to be male. Oh well...

0.0.1 Liphistius cf. yangae "Suwat"

• NMTs
• Sep 4, 2023
• 2
• liphistius suwat trapdoor spider

Newly acquired, rehoused today. Approximately 1.25-1.5" DLS. I felt terrible tearing up it's...

Those are all worth the wait to see every once in a while to me!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I don't really get the point of fossorial ts and trapdoor spiders. To me it seems like you keep a box of dirt and once a week you get to see something get dragged under said dirt and eaten. Are the takedowns impressive enough to make up for the lack of activity and visibility? I doubt there are many fossorial t enthusiasts out there but I just want to know what makes them worth buying. I guess I've heard some will come to the surface for a short period of time, but idk which species or how many exhibit this behavior.

I’d get another a seemani if mine ends up male most likely it will. Some are more visible than others. King baboon was one of my favorites before it lost the ability to eat and died.

 

[SpookySpooder]

I've heard some will come to the surface for a short period of time, but idk which species or how many exhibit this behavior.

They all come to the surface, it's just a matter of how often and for how long. Some choose to only come out once a month, others every night.

You can also lure them out quite easily. Every one of my fossorials will come out if I tickle them. I have a long thin strip of soft vinyl I use to tickle along the entrance of the burrow and that's usually enough to make them come shooting up. If they don't come up, I take it as a sign they don't want to be bothered and try again next week.

I feel like once to you've understood their behavior and quirks, you can easily arrange situations to observe like you're a NatGeo Nature photographer.

Here I tickled my fossorial out, it seemed hungry so I tossed in a cricket. It missed the cricket and sat there looking angry while waiting for another shot.

Eventually it grabbed it and pulled it down to the bottom again.

If they don't want to be bothered, you can tell really easily. They will tap the tickler very angrily and it feels like somebody is flicking it. If they're receptive they'll tend to lightly grab the tickler and you can gently guide them to the surface.

I probably shouldn't be tickling asian fossorials, but whatever. I learned it from watching birdspidersch. Sue him, lol.

 

[FlamingSwampert]

I don't get the point of getting a big terrestrial T that sits in the same spot and does absolutely nothing for days or weeks on end... What's the difference besides you can see it doing nothing? Fossorial species tend to be more active IME - coming to the surface to feed, going back down, digging new tunnels, coming to the surface to shoot poop all over the enclosure, drinking water, etc.. If you are skilled at constructing their enclosures, you can almost ensure that you're able to see inside a fossorial specie's burrow, at least partially. It's like having a peek into a secret world.

Then there's this:

0.1 Psednocnemis brachyramosa - 2.25" DLS

• NMTs
• Dec 2, 2023
• 2
• brachyramosa coremiocnemis brachyramosa malaysian blue femur psednocnemis psednocnemis brachyramosa

The epitome of a pet hole, I only see this little one out when I have to get her out for some...

0.1 Sahydroaraneus raja - 2.5" DLS

• NMTs
• Nov 12, 2023
• 2
• indian blue dwarf tarantula raja sahydroaraneus sahydroaraneus raja

Little pink-footed, blue and purple mud spider. Pretty chill, too.

0.0.1 Ornithoctoninae sp. "Vietnam silver"

• NMTs
• Nov 4, 2023
• 4
• juvenile ornithoctoninae sp. vietnam silver

Juvenile, suspect male, about 3" DLS. It has grown very quickly, and I was a little shocked at...

0.1 Pelinobius muticus - 5.5" DLS

• NMTs
• Aug 24, 2023
• 1
• feeding king baboon tarantula muticus pelinobius pelinobius muticus

I haven't seen this girl topside in close to a year, so I took the opportunity to give her a fat...

1.0 Chilobrachys fimbriatus - 3.75" DLS

• NMTs
• Jul 29, 2023
• 9
• chilobrachys chilobrachys fimbriatus fimbriatus indian violet earth tiger

Sub-adult C. fimbriatus, 4 days post-molt. Bought as female, but appears to be male. Oh well...

0.0.1 Liphistius cf. yangae "Suwat"

• NMTs
• Sep 4, 2023
• 2
• liphistius suwat trapdoor spider

Newly acquired, rehoused today. Approximately 1.25-1.5" DLS. I felt terrible tearing up it's...

Those are all worth the wait to see every once in a while to me!

Interesting take! I feel that terrestrials are more appealing (to most people, at least) because when they're out acting like a rock you can look at them and think "wow, look at my tarantula" while fossorials aren't always visible when they're in their burrows. I guess given the option of a pet rock or pet hole, most choose the rock.

They all come to the surface, it's just a matter of how often and for how long. Some choose to only come out once a month, others every night.

You can also lure them out quite easily. Every one of my fossorials will come out if I tickle them. I have a long thin strip of soft vinyl I use to tickle along the entrance of the burrow and that's usually enough to make them come shooting up. If they don't come up, I take it as a sign they don't want to be bothered and try again next week.

I feel like once to you've understood their behavior and quirks, you can easily arrange situations to observe like you're a NatGeo Nature photographer.

Here I tickled my fossorial out, it seemed hungry so I tossed in a cricket. It missed the cricket and sat there looking angry while waiting for another shot.
View attachment 462296
Eventually it grabbed it and pulled it down to the bottom again.

If they don't want to be bothered, you can tell really easily. They will tap the tickler very angrily and it feels like somebody is flicking it. If they're receptive they'll tend to lightly grab the tickler and you can gently guide them to the surface.

I probably shouldn't be tickling asian fossorials, but whatever. I learned it from watching birdspidersch. Sue him, lol.

I didn't figure that they were that active on the surface! I've heard some people say that fossorials and terrestrials have less of a distinction between them than arboreals and terrestrials, so I guess that statement holds true.

I’d get another a seemani if mine ends up male most likely it will. Some are more visible than others. King baboon was one of my favorites before it lost the ability to eat and died.

This serves as a perfect example. I assume that the reason for the comment about the a seemani was because the commenter considers it a fossorial, meanwhile others such as myself would consider it a terrestrial. Maybe others, such as myself, should think of fossorials more as simply terrestrials that like to dig and hide more, because from what I'm seeing the distinction between the two are really mostly based on their preferred method of hiding (cave/hide vs tunnel).

 

[SpookySpooder]

I'm a big fan of arboreal fossorials. They aren't many, but boy do they fill quite the interesting niche.

Inadvertantly discovered this in my P. irminia, they have little tunnels along the substrate surface that run up into the cork bark.

 

[Tentacle Toast]

I'm a big fan of arboreal fossorials. They aren't many, but boy do they fill quite the interesting niche.

Inadvertantly discovered this in my P. irminia, they have little tunnels along the substrate surface that run up into the cork bark.

My rufilata is all over the place, including this little pseudo-burrow she's made at the base of her favorite piece of cork bark...

I don't get the point of getting a big terrestrial T that sits in the same spot and does absolutely nothing for days or weeks on end... What's the difference besides you can see it doing nothing? Fossorial species tend to be more active IME - coming to the surface to feed, going back down, digging new tunnels, coming to the surface to shoot poop all over the enclosure, drinking water, etc.. If you are skilled at constructing their enclosures, you can almost ensure that you're able to see inside a fossorial specie's burrow, at least partially. It's like having a peek into a secret world.

Then there's this:

0.1 Psednocnemis brachyramosa - 2.25" DLS

• NMTs
• Dec 2, 2023
• 2
• brachyramosa coremiocnemis brachyramosa malaysian blue femur psednocnemis psednocnemis brachyramosa

The epitome of a pet hole, I only see this little one out when I have to get her out for some...

0.1 Sahydroaraneus raja - 2.5" DLS

• NMTs
• Nov 12, 2023
• 2
• indian blue dwarf tarantula raja sahydroaraneus sahydroaraneus raja

Little pink-footed, blue and purple mud spider. Pretty chill, too.

0.0.1 Ornithoctoninae sp. "Vietnam silver"

• NMTs
• Nov 4, 2023
• 4
• juvenile ornithoctoninae sp. vietnam silver

Juvenile, suspect male, about 3" DLS. It has grown very quickly, and I was a little shocked at...

0.1 Pelinobius muticus - 5.5" DLS

• NMTs
• Aug 24, 2023
• 1
• feeding king baboon tarantula muticus pelinobius pelinobius muticus

I haven't seen this girl topside in close to a year, so I took the opportunity to give her a fat...

1.0 Chilobrachys fimbriatus - 3.75" DLS

• NMTs
• Jul 29, 2023
• 9
• chilobrachys chilobrachys fimbriatus fimbriatus indian violet earth tiger

Sub-adult C. fimbriatus, 4 days post-molt. Bought as female, but appears to be male. Oh well...

0.0.1 Liphistius cf. yangae "Suwat"

• NMTs
• Sep 4, 2023
• 2
• liphistius suwat trapdoor spider

Newly acquired, rehoused today. Approximately 1.25-1.5" DLS. I felt terrible tearing up it's...

Those are all worth the wait to see every once in a while to me!

I've always dug those muticus... they're the epitome of "tarantula aesthetic" in my opinion, & I love the eyes. That last one is wild, I've never seen one of those (the "suwat," looks like a Giger creation, LoL).
I'm not short on space, but I feel like I'd need more space to get in to these guys. It's awesome seeing them emerge from the earth, either meandering, of with intent, though..

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

I've heard some people say that fossorials and terrestrials have less of a distinction between them than arboreals and terrestrials, so I guess that statement holds true.

There’s a really simple reason for this; “terrestrial” Ts don’t really exist. All Ts we consider terrestrial are actually fossorial, it’s just that they sometimes don’t bother burrowing in captivity because they’re more opportunistic than the “standard” fossorials and thus willing to stay above ground in captivity when predators and temperature issues aren’t a concern.

In fact even some obligate fossorials can show this tendency in captivity: I got a sexed female subadult C. lividus a couple months ago (as if I didn’t already have slings of the same species), and she still hasn’t burrowed. She stays on webbed substrate, drinks, and eats feeders I throw her way.

A non-fossorial fossorial

• CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy
• Dec 5, 2023
• 3
• cobalt blue cobalt blue tarantula cyriopagopus cyriopagopus lividus haplopelma haplopelma lividum lividum lividus ornithoctoninae subadult female

Thiri is one of the newer additions to my collection (got her in early October). As seen here...

I'm a big fan of arboreal fossorials. They aren't many, but boy do they fill quite the interesting niche.

Just about every non-Avic (including relatives like Caribena) arboreal T lives in debris-filled tree holes in the wild, in captivity they will try to make their own holes or treat the entire enclosure as a tree hollow if it’s small enough. Though in my case I give most of mine cork half rounds filled with Sphagnum and substrate to make them stay aboveground.

 

[BoyFromLA]

For example, as for Pelinobius muticus, if you intentionally set the enclosure up in a way for you to peek into the burrow, you will love the end results.

 

[FlamingSwampert]

For example, as for Pelinobius muticus, if you intentionally set the enclosure up in a way for you to peek into the burrow, you will love the end results.

View attachment 462307

I assume you achieve this by making the enclosure not too wide so the burrow's walls are the enclosure's walls... is that ok for the t? I guess you have to keep it in a dark area so it feels properly hidden it it's burrow, or else light would enter it.

 

[BoyFromLA]

is that ok for the t?

Why wouldn’t it be ok?

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

I guess the act more like ts that tend to use their webs a lot, but instead of a web they hide in the ground.

Many such Ts (Chilobrachys most notably) are fossorial, so not a big surprise there.