getting into the Calisoga longitarsus game again!

JimM

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Messages
880
On a side note we have an interesting little mygalomorph up this way in the Pacific Northwest, Antrodiaetus pacificus. I find a few males walking around every year, but have yet to locate a female.
 

JimM

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Messages
880
Mine are pretty much pet holes, except that the holes were up against the side of the KK so I was always able to see them.
I dug a female out of a 6' burrow along a hillside once.
Every other time it was just getting lucky, finding burrows that were dug against a rock that could be lifted.
 

MadTitan

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 13, 2007
Messages
41
Yep, that's what I was asking. I had a feeling the answer was go to California, or keep waiting for someone to post slings on FS/T.

Seems pretty self explanatory to me...he wants to know where he can obtain this species.


I collected and kept them when I lived down in California years ago. Neat little critter. We called them "Pygmy Grey Tarantulas" back in the day.
Mean as any baboon spider, and worth establishing in the hobby.
 

MadTitan

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 13, 2007
Messages
41
I imagine a burrow entrance look just like any other leaf in the forest. I did not know we had those around here.

On a side note we have an interesting little mygalomorph up this way in the Pacific Northwest, Antrodiaetus pacificus. I find a few males walking around every year, but have yet to locate a female.
 

John Apple

Just a guy
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 26, 2003
Messages
1,148
Bill...from my experiences...the female will make a sac about 30 days after breeding and heavy feeding...they make a hammock style sac and guard it by running around over and under it...these will eat when guarding a sac
 

JimM

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Messages
880
I imagine a burrow entrance look just like any other leaf in the forest. I did not know we had those around here.
Yep, and in WA as a whole, one or two other undescribed Antrodiaetus species as well.

I find a few males in the house every year. The first one reared up and gave me a threat display. I think you're right about the burrows. Once in a while I try and go digging around for them, but no luck so far.
 

Bill S

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 2, 2006
Messages
1,418
Bill...from my experiences...the female will make a sac about 30 days after breeding and heavy feeding...they make a hammock style sac and guard it by running around over and under it...these will eat when guarding a sac
Thank you John. That was the information I was hoping to get.
 

proper_tea

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 11, 2007
Messages
550
Seems pretty self explanatory to me...he wants to know where he can obtain this species.
Ah... gotcha.

Yeah... I'm totally on the lookout for these spiders too. I had a couple females, and some slings that I got from josh_r. We moved, and I didn't realize how much more sunlight our new spider room got than our old one. On the first day that the temperatures got into the mid-90s, all of my longitarsii died. Interestingly enough, my theventi is doing great.

I'm thinking of posting an add next summer to see if I can get someone to go out and collect a few for me. I'd like to breed these as well, even if I have to give the slings away... just to try to better establish them in the hobby.
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
at some point the next year i should be getting up to NoCA. there are a few ppl up there who do collect them from time, too, that might make that unnecessary (though always a pleasure)


someone asked about catching them?


well, here is a little dealie i wrote up to remind *me* how to catch them =P

Catching Calisoga
http://scabies.myfreeforum.org/about3564.html
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
well, so far so good. i got a male from www.kenthebugguy.com and once he and my female seemed like they were settled in and ready to go i introduced them. the male quickly started body bobbing and a little tapping and then wandered around until he found the females burrow. he actually then lured her out and they mated with her half in/half out of her burrow entrance. the male did some trance dance and then went for the close clutch and got some inserts in. they stayed close for ~5 minutes and then he started retrancing her. i thought it might be to make his escape but it was actually to go in for more inserts. then i bumped the cage and he separated and i removed him. going to wait a couple few days and let them each have a meal before trying again :)

this species has always been easy to mate in my experience. i believe this is around my sixth pairing between 3-4 females and 3 males and there has never been any grief


zoom --> http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b287/cacoseraph/mygla/calisoga/mating/110212gooddetail01b.jpg

also, i shot some vid and am going to try to get some more and more pics the next time i mate them... so i should have a youtube presently
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
my female is mature and around 3.5"DLS

a big female can get to 4"DLS and so can some males. MM are like tarantulas and much more leggy than females




that's roughly to scale looking


also, the colors you see here are much closer to what they look like in "real" life. the flash is what makes them so sliver and crazy looking in some pics. kinda like most tarantula/like bugs
 

zonbonzovi

Creeping beneath you
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 20, 2008
Messages
3,346
Best of luck, Caco. I was thinking about this the other day and wondered if you had made any headway.
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
:D


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b287/cacoseraph/mygla/calisoga/firstfreehandle01b.jpg



she was tricky, consequently i learned new tricks for free handling.

i felt i had to step up the "fear response" detuning because anything touching the spider would freak it out... so i tried to see if there was like, a minimum threshold for what she reacted to. *as it turns out, i could pull a hair out of my head and run it along her as much as i wanted and she wouldn't react. *that's... kinda almost the definition of hair trigger... but hey, it's a place to start. *i cut strips of paper about 6" long and 1/4" wide. the final 1-2" tapered down to nothing. *i used that to stroke Agatha (i just named her, bonus points for the first person to say why it's ~funny) and found if i lightly stroked her she wouldn't go full threat, but would react. *any pressure behind the petting and she would full threat. * roughly every other day i would spend at least 5-10 minutes petting her like this. *i found i could put more pressure on her legs and less on her body. *i found i could even lift her feet if and move them, if i was very slow and gentle. *

eventually she responded less and less to the same stimuli and had the original reactions to increased stimuli. *i still can't touch her with anything but thin paper in her cage... but i can use it to move her around. sort of negative stimulating her away from my proddings with it. *once she gets to a corner she will try to move her body away from the prod and try to climb up the walls... at this point i can get her on me by switching to a solid prod and levering her... but eventually she should just walk on to me like all the others before her =P

i would say she is now, in her detuned state, as reactive as most of the (near)adult Pokies i have played with. *i think i can probably detune her some more, but i think there is a limit to what i can do. *you can only bend something's nature so much before you break it. *however, if i could selectively breed all the least reactive spiders together... but i'd much rather breed for crazy colors in them, by far!


oh, btw i'd say my girl is right around 3.25"DLS for all that it is a silly measurement
 

What

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 13, 2006
Messages
1,150
*i think i can probably detune her some more, but i think there is a limit to what i can do. *you can only bend something's nature so much before you break it. *however, if i could selectively breed all the least reactive spiders together... but i'd much rather breed for crazy colors in them, by far!
Totally unsupported theory about this behavior: California mygs like this might have an ability to adapt to seasonal grasses, we only really have an abundance of green foliage that would move a lot with wind during part of our year, perhaps this behavior is a natural mechanism for distinguishing prey from environment?

And...this thread reminds me I need to stop being such a flake and get buthus his bugs back...and Scary Mary back to you. :eek:
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
i owe you a dinner or something, for sure!




i think most bugs can select out "noise" stimuli that don't have anything to do with actual danger or prey. they would like, break otherwise, i think.


so i definitely think there is some merit to your theory
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
My Silver Spiders - Calisoga longitarsus

[YOUTUBE]A0nb62ll4UI[/YOUTUBE]

My Silver Spiders - Calisoga longitarsus

Calisoga longitarsus (technically known as Brachythele longitarsus due to a taxonomy error long in the past) are members of the family Nemesiidae, which is not too distantly related to Theraphosidae, the tarantula family.

Adult females range from about 3-4" (8-10cm) diagonal legspan. Adult males can approach this legspan, but are a much lighter build. Some adult males are considerably smaller than females, around 1/8 their weight. In salubrious conditoins in captivity males can mature in under 2 years (and die well under 3 years) and females can mature in under 3 years and live to around 10 years. In nature all these times are probably doubled (with long lifespans to lucky females).

Adult females and near adults of both sexes are typically very quick to present a threat display. They will bite a careless owner, but one (nice) functional difference between these spiders and tarantulas is that these spiders do not have enough sticky pads on their feet to climb vertical smooth surfaces, like glass. This makes managing sometimes crabby spiders much easier!

The coloration of these spiders is particularly interesting. In most light conditions they are essentially brown, with only hints of their metallic colors. In the right kinds of bright light, like a camera flash and some natural and room lighting they show off much more dramatic effects. They become silver with baby blue highlights and rainbow iridescense. The babies start out a sort of translucent white color and do not gain this adult coloration until they are around half grown. Even then, the enhanced coloration is most apparent in adults. Mature females and males display full enhancement, contrary to a lot of other "fancy" mygalomorph/tarantula species.

Thanks for watching.
 
Top