Ceratogyrus questions and observations

Formerphobe

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In the wild, they would have space to spread the dirt that they're excavating out of their burrows. In the confines of an enclosure, they have nowhere to go but up. Turret builders are different. I'm assuming they're from areas that get occasional torrential rains. The turret keeps the burrow from flooding. All my turret builders have been arid species, both OW and NW.
 

Poec54

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In the wild, they would have space to spread the dirt that they're excavating out of their burrows. In the confines of an enclosure, they have nowhere to go but up. Turret builders are different. I'm assuming they're from areas that get occasional torrential rains. The turret keeps the burrow from flooding. All my turret builders have been arid species, both OW and NW.
+1. The African savanahs have some serious wet seasons.

My L violaceopes slings make the tallest turrets of any of my spiders, almost to the top of a 32 oz cup, and that's with only an inch of substrate to work with (they use silk too).
 

viper69

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+1. The African savanahs have some serious wet seasons.

My L violaceopes slings make the tallest turrets of any of my spiders, almost to the top of a 32 oz cup, and that's with only an inch of substrate to work with (they use silk too).

Yeah that's true my SBlue does the same, more elaborate tunnels than my marshalli, much more.

---------- Post added 11-28-2013 at 08:09 PM ----------

In the wild, they would have space to spread the dirt that they're excavating out of their burrows. In the confines of an enclosure, they have nowhere to go but up. Turret builders are different. I'm assuming they're from areas that get occasional torrential rains. The turret keeps the burrow from flooding. All my turret builders have been arid species, both OW and NW.
That makes sense, to prevent flooding. I hadn't thought of that.
 

Ceratogyrus

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In the wild, they would have space to spread the dirt that they're excavating out of their burrows. In the confines of an enclosure, they have nowhere to go but up. Turret builders are different. I'm assuming they're from areas that get occasional torrential rains. The turret keeps the burrow from flooding. All my turret builders have been arid species, both OW and NW.
Exactly right. Last night we had 3 serious thunder storms in the space of 6 hours, so their turrets would have helped with the flooding.
 

Poec54

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Yeah that's true my SBlue does the same, more elaborate tunnels than my marshalli, much more.
+1. Some of my young violaceopes have a whole system of elevated tubes/tunnels. They dig and spin, and blend the substrate in with the silk. It's pretty neat. Very ambitious spiders. As they get older, they seem to settle for simpler arrangements.
 

kyle23

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Just got to love em ceratogyrus sp! Haha. They're really great "enclosure designers"!
Not to change the topic of the thread but I have a quick question.. :) my c.darlingi has like 4 different tunnel openings that its been opening and closing up the past few days.. is this a sign of premolt? Or is it just messin with me? Hehe

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
 

viper69

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+1. Some of my young violaceopes have a whole system of elevated tubes/tunnels. They dig and spin, and blend the substrate in with the silk. It's pretty neat. Very ambitious spiders. As they get older, they seem to settle for simpler arrangements.

The fact they take substrate and put it on the amount I put in, effectively making the substrate column taller with tunnels for the new amount is truly fascinating. I have not seen a species do that so elaborately.
 

NGLepine

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Oh, my... My C. darlingi have been completely docile thus far, and easily rehoused. But, so have my OBTs...


Hahahahahaha... Soon as my Darlingi and OBT were large enough.. I rehoused them into permanent homes!! No more fussing, no chasing orange lightening
 

Formerphobe

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Hahahahahaha... Soon as my Darlingi and OBT were large enough.. I rehoused them into permanent homes!! No more fussing, no chasing orange lightening
The only time I ever had to chase greased orange lightening was when I unpacked my very first OBT. I chased that tiny speck of spider through two rooms before finally corralling him! Ever after, and with all subsequent OBTs, they just huddle in a corner and I catch cup them out to wherever they need to be.
 

viper69

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Mine just molted earlier today, it has a noticeable bump in leg span for being small. I missed the molt because I thought the web it was spinning against the top of the lid was its tube web entrance that I always destroy when I open the lid to drop in crickets. This time it was a molt.
 

Mariner1

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I bought a C. darlingi about a month ago at repticon. 3" female who took no time at all to build her hole. I was aware she might not show herself again, but she does not have a hole at the top and I have not seen her in 3 weeks. I figured she would come out when she got hungry but I'm starting to wonder.
 

viper69

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I bought a C. darlingi about a month ago at repticon. 3" female who took no time at all to build her hole. I was aware she might not show herself again, but she does not have a hole at the top and I have not seen her in 3 weeks. I figured she would come out when she got hungry but I'm starting to wonder.
They will put their legs right at the opening when hungry, or even come out entirely too, at least my marshalli does when its hungry. It initially inspected the entire deli cup, but now I don't think it does.

Does anyone if horned baboons come out at some point and continue to explore their surrounds after making a turret mound and burrow?
 

Poec54

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Does anyone if horned baboons come out at some point and continue to explore their surrounds after making a turret mound and burrow?
My Ceratogyrus adults (marshalli and darlingi) are out when they're hungry, and inside when molt/premolt.
 

McGuiverstein

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Does anyone if horned baboons come out at some point and continue to explore their surrounds after making a turret mound and burrow?
All of mine come out and stroll around occasionally. Well most of my spiders do, generally reclusive ones included. I think they key to having regularly visible spiders is housing them in good enclosures that make them feel secure.
 

Formerphobe

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All of mine come out and stroll around occasionally. Well most of my spiders do, generally reclusive ones included. I think they key to having regularly visible spiders is housing them in good enclosures that make them feel secure.
I definitely agree with this. And the less mucking around you do with them, the happier they will be and the more often you will see them.

My Ceratogyrus species seem to be busybodies. Open their enclosures, or shine a light into their burrows and they come creeping out to see what's going on.

---------- Post added 12-07-2013 at 10:16 PM ----------

Juvenile female C. marshalli has her substrate elevated right up against the lid of the enclosure (she's due for a rehouse). It doesn't seem to phase her too much when I open the lid. She's never tried to bolt. Her male sac mates are a little more skittish.

 

viper69

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I definitely agree with this. And the less mucking around you do with them, the happier they will be and the more often you will see them.

My Ceratogyrus species seem to be busybodies. Open their enclosures, or shine a light into their burrows and they come creeping out to see what's going on.


Those are pretty! Do you think they don't mind because they are fairly large? Mine is only a spiderling, and a light seems to send him going back into the abyss more often than not. It hangs out of the hole at around sunrise.
 

skar

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I'm a little confused on the horn size relating to m/f specimen .
Seems to be more observational/specimen dependent than a fact ? (referring this more towards darlingi)
 

viper69

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I'm a little confused on the horn size relating to m/f specimen .
Seems to be more observational/specimen dependent than a fact ? (referring this more towards darlingi)
My impression is that w/all horned baboons, the females have the largest horns. If there's a species that's otherwise, that's a new one for me.
 

Formerphobe

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My 2 darlingi started showing horn growth early on. At last molt (about 3.5 inches) one of them matured male. The other is either a female or still immature male. They never leave me an intact molt. With each molt their horns were appreciably larger. Their horns are comparable in size, and I know at least one is male.

The 3 marshalli showed no noticeable horn growth until they hit about 3 inches. One now has a bit of a horn and I salvaged the exuvium that confirms her to be female. She is also darker than the other 2. One of the other two button horns was molt sexed male. The other shredded it's molt, but appears male.

A couple of weeks ago, I would have said both darlingi females and all three marshalli males, judging by horn growth. Now, I just won't go by the horns at all and just stick to molt sexing. :)
 
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