Has anyone achived communal setup with P.metallica

Isahales

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Just wondering has anyone managed to ever keep them communally I have heard they sometimes found living communally in the wild so wondered if anyone managed to achieve it in there vivariums as of yet????
 

Toxoderidae

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There is no true keeping of Poecilotheria in captivity, more just forcibly having them tolerate eachother for a set period of time until some get eaten. One or two will hog food, bully others, and then kill them. The issue with Poecilotheria is that there's no space for them to "cool off" if one wanders too close to another.
 

Angel Minkov

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There is no true keeping of Poecilotheria in captivity, more just forcibly having them tolerate eachother for a set period of time until some get eaten. One or two will hog food, bully others, and then kill them. The issue with Poecilotheria is that there's no space for them to "cool off" if one wanders too close to another.
Do you have actual experience with group cages, or do you just parrot what Rick says?
 

Toxoderidae

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Do you have actual experience with group cages, or do you just parrot what Rick says?
I've tried two, one with P. regalis sacmates, I lost one and have the rest seperated, and the ones that weren't hogging food have grown much slower than the one that did. I attempted it with P. metallica, and got similar results. Only difference is I seperated them before cannabalism. This was using less than one inch slings in a 2ft tall by 8 inch wide enclosure.
 

Venom1080

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sure, but its a expensive project with a lot of risk. i think keepers in GER have quite a few, i see there pics on FB now and again.
 

Angel Minkov

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I've tried two, one with P. regalis sacmates, I lost one and have the rest seperated, and the ones that weren't hogging food have grown much slower than the one that did. I attempted it with P. metallica, and got similar results. Only difference is I seperated them before cannabalism. This was using less than one inch slings in a 2ft tall by 8 inch wide enclosure.
I, on the other hand, have seen MANY successful group cages with tens of spiders of all sizes. They won't hog food if they have it in abundance. In fact, people over here, in Europe, and even Tom keep them together for convenience and overall faster growth.
 

Toxoderidae

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I, on the other hand, have seen MANY successful group cages with tens of spiders of all sizes. They won't hog food if they have it in abundance. In fact, people over here, in Europe, and even Tom keep them together for convenience and overall faster growth.
Emphasis on "seen" :) but regardless, perhaps there was something I was doing incorrect.
 

Angel Minkov

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There is no emphasis. After seeing dozens of successful group cages there is no other possible explanation than "it works" :)
 

Isahales

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Can somone post pictures of a communal setup showing the tarantula's in them PLZ
 

mack1855

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Wrapping my head around this one.Instead of one pokie running up the tongs while doing maintenance,why not 5 or 6!!!
Oh you pokie people.Your fun.:D
 

Chris LXXIX

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Can somone post pictures of a communal setup showing the tarantula's in them PLZ
I don't remember which thread was now, but as I've said, user Philth posted a couple of pics of his P.metallica set up time ago. Scavenge his posts and you will find :-s
 

Abyss

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I would be more inclined to ask for a definition of success.
OP is saying they've seen more then 10 successful setups but I'd ask for what is defining success?
A day?
A week?
A month?
A year?
Many years?

Inevitably, i have to believe there will be canabalism which to me would indicate failure not success and every communal pokie setup i have heard of or seen has lasted a while but there was always losses. Imo thats failure not success
 

Tfisher

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IMO cannibalism happens but is it poss that sling could just have died for no reason so others feed on it? Is it poss that the Ts can sense weakness? Talis est vita!
 

advan

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perhaps there was something I was doing incorrect.
Yep, see below.

This was using less than one inch slings in a 2ft tall by 8 inch wide enclosure.
If you did any research on communal Poecilotheria, you would have found the most success is when they are in close quarters, simulating a shared cavity in a tree.

Most communals of Poecilotheria have issues when males start maturing, so just pull the males out as they mature.
 

Abyss

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Yep, see below.

If you did any research on communal Poecilotheria, you would have found the most success is when they are in close quarters, simulating a shared cavity in a tree.

Most communals of Poecilotheria have issues when males start maturing, so just pull the males out as they mature.
INteresting, i wouod have thought the more space the better too so u wouodnt risk multiple T's going after same prey item an such
 

Philth

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I've raised many species of Poecilotheria with little or no problems, despite what Rick has beaten into everyone's head on these boards lol. I do like to separate adults that are full grown, but I've had them live together with little incident as well. I'm even experimenting with P. ornata now, since everyone says that it cant be done with that species.

and the ones that weren't hogging food have grown much slower than the one that did.
I've had a ridiculous difference in growth rate with all my Poeciltotehria kept in the same communal. It still never caused a issue, I just had large spiders living with small spiders. They big ones didn't attack the smaller ones.

This was using less than one inch slings in a 2ft tall by 8 inch wide enclosure.
Did you do any research before trying ? It's pretty well known that smaller cages are the way to go. The info is out there.

I would be more inclined to ask for a definition of success.
OP is saying they've seen more then 10 successful setups but I'd ask for what is defining success?
A day?
A week?
A month?
A year?
Many years?
This pics is old and I sold a bunch of them off, but 6-8 of them are still together. They hatched 2.5 years ago and have been together since day one.


Later, Tom
 
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