update on my experience with Gorgyrella. It is definitely more active than most folks make them out to be. Maybe 15 minutes post feeding #2 I decided I'd peak in the door (slightly left open to my surprise) and see what was going on - kinda against my way of leaving things completely be but curiosity got the best of me. I expected to see a stationary spider, holding it's cricket. Instead, it seemed to rush to the door to attempt closing it. Now I know it was no harm, as I was using a long, thin skewer to lightly lift the lid, but it scared the HELL out of me. The area around the lid seems to be pretty manicured, and a bit pitfall-like. Do they leave the tunnel to manicure the surrounding area, atleast partially? To me it looks as though the spider has left small indentations in a circle about an inch and a half to two inches diameter, almost like it was tapping around in a circle with it's front legs. I will post photographs. The process of capture was actually pretty menacing... the cricket wasn't quite snatched from life in the blink of an eye, but more of dragged into the depths of death. I am sure this depends on the orientation of the cricket to the spider's tunnel.
Gorgyrella sp. - black pictures and observation
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spiderengineer
Arachnoangel
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mine never like me peaking on them eating either.
yeah, it is definitely far more of a frightening creature than I had anticipated. Atleast when compared to the gentle (besides when...killing) amblypygids... I am very much enjoying keeping it though and will be keeping a running photolog of the surface around it's hole. I am very interested to see if it manicures its landscape. I had a thin layer of willow-oak leaflitter, now all part of the lid. I am interested to see what the spider would do if I were to introduce more leaves. In the wild this must occur, and I imagine it would hinder prey capture.
spiderengineer
Arachnoangel
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it will make his burrow bigger and longer over time and you will see same with lid. so I wouldn't be surprise if you saw alteration of the terrain around then entrance either.
so do immature offspring migrate from the female's tunnel when hatched, create a burrow, then adjust it as time goes on? I assumed this with older individuals, but the offspring are so small I find it shocking they would continue the same tunnel.
spiderengineer
Arachnoangel
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all burrowing species usually stay in one burrow and over time just make them longer and bigger as they get older. I see changes to my trapdoors burrows over time one made a bigger door so that it has two flaps one on top of the other like loose skin. with trapdoor the young usually set up shop around the mother burrow thats why you can find colonies of trapdoors. some times a burrower will abandon a burrow its happen to some of my T's have done it, but it not a common thing.
Ah good to know. Noticed my trapdoor's door open the other day, as if it had been out adjusting things. After inspection, it no doubt has adjusted the leaves incorporated in the lid, the surrounding area, etc. It does not seem to be from random movement at all.
Last night I fed my trapdoor and the cricket, a female, began depositing eggs in the substrate. Though I believe it may be too dry for the eggs or nymphs to survive, would it pose a problem? Might I find myself picking out a buncha pinheads?
Last night I fed my trapdoor and the cricket, a female, began depositing eggs in the substrate. Though I believe it may be too dry for the eggs or nymphs to survive, would it pose a problem? Might I find myself picking out a buncha pinheads?
spiderengineer
Arachnoangel
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they will die off due to lack of food, so don't worry about it
plantecarnivore
Arachnosquire
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Nice! Other pictures?
Mine lived for over 10 years, and I'm guessing she was already an adult when I got her back in early 2000's. She passed away last year. I kept her like a plant; in a jar with about 10cm of potting soil, and watered the substrate once a week (or whenever I remembered to). Popped a mealworm in there every now and then, I even fed her raw meat by dropping small pieces into her burrow. I believe she molted once, possibly twice during the time I had her, but I can't say for sure. As for digging a new burrow she would typically wait for up to a week, but once she got started the burrow would be completed - lid and all - within 24 hours.
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I changed the substrate maybe once a year and also removed her old burrow in the process, basically forcing her to make a new home (the shame!). If it wasn't for the changing of substrate, she would [probably] have spent her entire life in the initial burrow.
At one point I moved her to a mini Kritter Keeper, and [from what I recall] she did end up making two burrows in it, unlike the jar she was previously kept in. The substrate in the KK had a slight angle/slope to it (I guess I was trying to simulate a hill...), so I'm guessing this is what made her change her mind about the placement of the burrow. Did she move from the bottom of the slope and up to higher ground? Bah, I can't remember. Too long ago. I'm hoping to stumble upon any notes I might have made back then, but not likely to happen.
Oh, and she was initially sold to me as a cryptic "Stasimopus sp." (S. robertsi looks fairly similar), but it was later established that Gorgyrella sp. was a more appropriate assumption.
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---------- Post added 03-07-2013 at 09:17 PM ----------
DanFekar here on the forums might be able to shed some light on the subject. We got our specimens from the same supplier back in the early 2000's. Here's a thread DanFekar made in 2004: http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=22706
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Thanks, very helpful.
So the crickets did hatch and there are a buncha small nymphs. I have put in some eggcrate so that they may climb on it and I may remove them. A couple days after adding the egg crate, I noticed the spider out of it's hole. It has been out for a few days now... could this be because of the crickets? I am hesitant to rehome right away.
If it stays out I guess I'll sex it. Maybe it's a mature male.
So the crickets did hatch and there are a buncha small nymphs. I have put in some eggcrate so that they may climb on it and I may remove them. A couple days after adding the egg crate, I noticed the spider out of it's hole. It has been out for a few days now... could this be because of the crickets? I am hesitant to rehome right away.
If it stays out I guess I'll sex it. Maybe it's a mature male.
Update: My spider has still not dug it's burrow. It has webbed the HELL out of one spot and seems to have created a small hole in the webbing, but it has been quite some time. Still not rehoming, as the spider appears overall healthy and has eaten a small Madagascar hisser.
---------- Post added 05-02-2013 at 02:44 PM ----------
Would it have webbed up an area if it were a mature male? I'd assume not and that it'd be roving a bit more. Thoughts?
---------- Post added 05-02-2013 at 02:44 PM ----------
Would it have webbed up an area if it were a mature male? I'd assume not and that it'd be roving a bit more. Thoughts?
Ciphor
Arachnoprince
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If it is a mature male the palps will be quite easy to distinguish from a females. I have heard males are incredibly rare in the hobby however.
Ciphor
Arachnoprince
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A believe Idiopinae as a whole produces far more females then males. Don't quote me on that though ^_~
Most specimens found in the hobby are wild caught. They are a pretty plentiful trapdoor spider in Southern Africa.
Alright, so my spider has been unearthed for well over a month. One area is kinda hollowed/halfpiped out against the wall and webbed up, but it has been for weeks. It has eaten and appears healthy.
My substrate is 70% peat based substrate and sand. I wish now I used a soil mix. Is it possible the spider does not like the substrate? If you've read above, it took to a manmade hole. Rehome and replace substrate or wait? Thoughts?
My substrate is 70% peat based substrate and sand. I wish now I used a soil mix. Is it possible the spider does not like the substrate? If you've read above, it took to a manmade hole. Rehome and replace substrate or wait? Thoughts?
spiderengineer
Arachnoangel
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I used peat moss and all my blacks made burrowers. so try that and see if that works