Arana Polita - Chicken Spider Diary

[Protectyaaaneck]

That's pretty awesome.

 

[syndicate]

Agreed!
Question has anyone tried keeping other species of Pamphobeteus together in groups?
-Chris

 

[AbraxasComplex]

Agreed!
Question has anyone tried keeping other species of Pamphobeteus together in groups?
-Chris

I tried with Pamphobeteus antinous... that wasn't a fun experience. Constantly breaking up fights. I tried with various individuals.

I remember others said they were going to try it and we never heard back from them. Perhaps they never did it or were just as unsuccessful as I was.

 

[syndicate]

I tried with Pamphobeteus antinous... that wasn't a fun experience. Constantly breaking up fights. I tried with various individuals.

I remember others said they were going to try it and we never heard back from them. Perhaps they never did it or were just as unsuccessful as I was.

Did you try with newly hatched spiderlings or adults?
-Chris

 

[AbraxasComplex]

Did you try with newly hatched spiderlings or adults?
-Chris

I tried with juveniles and adults. Not hatchlings. I could have invested funds in a bunch of hatchlings, but decided against it.

 

[pato_chacoana]

Did you try with newly hatched spiderlings or adults?
-Chris

I tried with the black Pampho from North Peru (female found with a juvenile in the wild) which look identical to the CS in pictures (they might be a regional variant) ...The mother gave me a very healthy sac and I tried communal with a group and didn't work out nice, cannibalism was observed from the very beginning...though it wasn't really heavy as it might occur with other species. I decided to break up the group after a while. I guess it's even normal a slight cannibalism for the CS as well, as I don't think that 150 slings could live inside a burrow in the wild. I figure that, there is actually some cannibalism to downsize the colony and some slings/juvenile migrate to start their own. The social behavior therefore should be a feature that had individual benefit and so it was passed on through the generations, but still the spiders need to ''work'' alone to achieve their reproduction and avoid inbreeding.

BTW: is there any chance to edit the title of the thread to spell it properly ''Araña Pollito'' ? hehe

Pato-

 

[syndicate]

Hmm then perhaps these are the only communal members of this genus?Def interesting stuff!
-Chris

 

[pato_chacoana]

Hmm then perhaps these are the only communal members of this genus?Def interesting stuff!
-Chris

Perhaps this group of spiders are the Pamphobeteus that advanced forward towards that feature and others are half way there (as the one I've found). Or maybe these will be the only group ever, who knows!! But for sure we can't tell how tarantulas behavior will evolve, but it's really interesting that these might be the only Pamphobeteus doing this, and trying to find out why they do it and the others don't do it would be something really cool to work on!

 

[AbraxasComplex]

BTW: is there any chance to edit the title of the thread to spell it properly ''Araña Pollito'' ? hehe

Pato-

I tried a little bit after I made the topic, and couldn't. A mod or admin could alter it though.

 

[pato_chacoana]

It's ok, I was just joking!

 

[AbraxasComplex]

Pato_chacoana I believe you posted a while back about your male CS having a purple sheen. I'm not sure if I mentioned before, but the first male that matured had the blue sheen. The next male from the same "family group" molted out with a purple sheen. Both exhibited the red carapace and legs before molting as well. It seems to be a somewhat valid sign for males that have one more molt to maturity (and seems like I have a couple from the batch of 9 in the big tank with red, we'll see what happens with their molts as well).

So perhaps it is the same variant of Pamphobeteus sp. that you have, just mature males have slightly different hues. Already with the young and females you get the dark black with burgundy hairs on the abdomen to a dark grey shade with no red and sometimes a medium brown colouration (even with a fresh molt).

 

[pato_chacoana]

That's interesting. My mature male had the purple sheen with flash light only at certain angles. Without this light, it was black with the reddish hairs on abdomen and legs (if I recall correctly).
So both males with purple sheen and blue sheen came from same sac? or same bloodline? Can you confirm this?
My old mature male died not long ago, and my adult female molted and got more brown now than it was before. Sometimes they molt and get browner, other times blacker, I've noticed this with juveniles as well. I'm waiting for the juveniles males to mature, but I think I will have to wait for the female to molt again next year. Good news is that the female regained the ability to spin silk again (I don't know if I mentioned this on AB, she couldn't make silk and failed to produce the eggsac properly last year...which lead to a waste of eggs thrown straight to the substrate).
Anyway, it's interesting to follow the development of your spiders and mine over here. I'll try to take some new pics of mine and post soon. Any luck with your breedings?

Cheers,
Pato

 

[AbraxasComplex]

Both males were found in the same burrow. They came from the group of 4 the supplier collected. So it is possible they came from separate bloodlines, but they were still with an adult female and another younger female within the same burrow in the wild.

How long did it take for your female to drop the eggs after mating? I am still waiting for my two females which were bred in November/December (I also introduced the males in January just to try again). I saw no breeding attempts, though I left them in for weeks at a time and cycled the males back and forth after letting them build sperm webs in another container. At times I would find the male cuddled up with the female in her burrow. Soon it reached a point that the females kept rejecting them and trying to get away from the males.

At the moment both females are massive, though they've been feeding less than usual.

 

[pato_chacoana]

Ok. It would be nice to check if this happens within same eggsac...

About egglaying, I have to check my records (my pictures of the events, which I don't have now). I would say it's normal that the eggs take about 6 months to develop...But I'll check for more accurate dates.

With a gravid Pamphobeteus, especially these black Pamphos, the abdomen gets really wide...

Good luck

 

[LucasNorth]

yah chicken spiders pic are okay. Cooler in person !

 

[AbraxasComplex]

Haha, you actually posted it.

 

[LucasNorth]

obviously, amazing set ups btw. Still blown away, thanks for letting me see all your setups <3

 

[AbraxasComplex]

Quick update. One of my potentially gravid females has spent the last couple days making a bowl like indent in the substrate within her burrow. Today I woke up to discover extremely heavy webbing blocking the burrow entrance and by using a flashlight could see her entire burrow was lined with thick silk. She is still actively webbing. Now for all the molts I have witnessed with this species (60+ with juveniles/slings and 5 for mature adults) they have never webbed this much before for a molt. The most they will do is a fine silk mat on the substrate and only one female ever lined half her burrow entrance with a barely visible layer of web .

So potentially she is laying an eggsac or she is doing some heavy overkill for her molt.

Either way we'll know in the next few days.

 

[khil]

amazing. So do these hunt together or what? or are they "just" communal?

 

[Hobo]

Quick update. One of my potentially gravid females has spent the last couple days making a bowl like indent in the substrate within her burrow. Today I woke up to discover extremely heavy webbing blocking the burrow entrance and by using a flashlight could see her entire burrow was lined with thick silk. She is still actively webbing. Now for all the molts I have witnessed with this species (60+ with juveniles/slings and 5 for mature adults) they have never webbed this much before for a molt. The most they will do is a fine silk mat on the substrate and only one female ever lined half her burrow entrance with a barely visible layer of web .

So potentially she is laying an eggsac or she is doing some heavy overkill for her molt.

Either way we'll know in the next few days.

Definitely sounds like a sac alright!
I call a trio of slings. Haha.
Good luck with it.