Hello, first post; first spider!

[DeeDub]

Hi there folks. Never been interested in keeping spiders, until recently. I've always been fascinated with trapdoor spiders since I was a kid. Never knew people kept them as pets. Recently I found out a local pet store had a couple. I bought a red one (they had it labelled Gorgyrella?).

I tried to research them, but there isn't much in the way of care sheets that I could find and much of the info I have found seems incomplete and or to be in the realm of good, educated guesswork. Which is better than nothing.

I did find a thread here that got me started. My trapdoor will be my deskpet at work, I will attach a pic of my setup.

Here is what I have done.
I used a sand, eco earth, vermiculite mix for substrate. Its 8 inches deep with a minor grade from back to front of the enclosure. I added a couple decorations (I know, unnecessary), to make it look nice for display (since I will rarely if ever see her/him...lol).







He didn't make his door and didn't go down into the burrow I started for him until this morning. He's prob a little stressed.
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Thanks
DW

 

[Biollantefan54]

I don't know much about trap door spiders but that spider looks very cool! How big is it?

 

[MarkmD]

Really nice trapdoor, like the setup to.

 

[Boatman]

Nice spider & setup! I've been thinking of getting a trapdoor.

 

[DeeDub]

Thanks! Not sure of the standardized measuring format for spiders, but his body from the front carapace to spinarettes is about 2.5 inches. Maybe 3-4 inch front to back legs pan when flat (which is rare, he's always striking when I'm around)

They are an observe only spider.....no handling! I'll prob. Never see it again if itbdoesnt stay in the burrow I started for it against the glass.

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Thanks
DW

 

[Ciphor]

Thanks! Not sure of the standardized measuring format for spiders, but his body from the front carapace to spinarettes is about 2.5 inches. Maybe 3-4 inch front to back legs pan when flat (which is rare, he's always striking when I'm around)

They are an observe only spider.....no handling! I'll prob. Never see it again if itbdoesnt stay in the burrow I started for it against the glass.

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Thanks
DW

Nice setup, and welcome to the Arachnoboards!

ID'ing these red Idiopinae to the genus level is not to tough. Did you get any pictures of the spider while it was rearing back in a threat pose? The key to IDing genus is a good picture of the sternum on the ventral (underside/bottom) Most people label any red trapdoor as Gorgyrella sp., however I have found that they all turn out to be Ctenolophus sp. which are far more common in the hobby and in South Africa.

Here is a thread showing some images of mine and how I was able to finally ID her. http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/sho...Spider-home-with-a-View&highlight=ctenolophus Notice the image of the sternum with little indents, those indents on the sternum of a Gorgyrella sp. are significantly larger, and easy to spot with the naked eye, while the indents on Ctenolophus sp. are small, pin sized indents that require magnification to be certain.

Jeff H posted some images of sternums on these spiders as well. The picture of the sternum labeled 'Ancylotrypa' is a lot like how Gorgyrella would look. Big indents. http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?107942-African-Red-Trapdoor-Spider

If shes already in her burrow, I would not worry about it for now. Wait till you need to change the substrate (in about 6-10 months) then check when she gives a threat pose; which shouldn't be hard to coax her into Chances are pretty good that it is Ctenolophus sp.

 

[DeeDub]

Thank you very much. I saw this post this morning and wanted to come home and take pics for ya. So I got home and this is what I found.


Lol...she knew I was coming home to torment her some more.
I was getting worried she wouldn't burrow and wouldn't thrive. I got up early for work thinking she would have used the awesome burrow I reexcavated for her yesterday...she didn't and I was worried so I grabbed the tongs and dug the hole out deeper and a little bigger. 4 inches deep, 1 inch diam. I then shooed her into the hole (she attacked the whole time). I got her abdomen down in and tapped the soil near her. She struck at the tongs and sank lower into the hole....so I threw some dirt and moss on her. I came home to this and am glad I did it.

Thanks again. I'll get some pics in several months. I'm looking for a silver TD like Cody Wilster had on here. Any leads?
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Thanks
DW

 

[DeeDub]

Update, first feeding. She had her toe sticking out so I figured she might be hungry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-2EcU-sICQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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Thanks
DW

 

[mmfh]

Very cool and nice setup

 

[DeeDub]

Thanks. I'm enjoying the hell outta this spider.

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Thanks
DW

 

[spiderengineer]

congrats on the trapdoor, I like how you made the enclosure something you can look at since you won't see the spider again. so at least you have something to look at than just jars of dirt like i have for mine. but their hunting technique is well worth the not ever seeing them

 

[Boatman]

I like how you made the enclosure something you can look at since you won't see the spider again

True that!... I think I'll employ a similar concept!...

 

[DeeDub]

Haha. Yup. That was my thinking exactly. I have it on my desktop at work.....lol. Also, she burrowed next to the glass and I made it so I can pull back the contact paper to see in her burrow. Its pretty cool.

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Thanks
DW

 

[spiderengineer]

Haha. Yup. That was my thinking exactly. I have it on my desktop at work.....lol. Also, she burrowed next to the glass and I made it so I can pull back the contact paper to see in her burrow. Its pretty cool.

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Thanks
DW

thats good a few of mine did that as well

 

[DeeDub]

How often to feed? She at a cricket Monday, and another last night. I know they're only supposed to eat once every couple weeks, but I drop 1 in last night just to see if she would eat it and she did.

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Thanks
DW

 

[spiderengineer]

well their is no definitive schedule the standard is once a week and some people considered that still to much. I feed mine once a week sometime every other week if cricket supply didn't come in that day

 

[Ciphor]

How often to feed? She at a cricket Monday, and another last night. I know they're only supposed to eat once every couple weeks, but I drop 1 in last night just to see if she would eat it and she did.

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Thanks
DW

Feed her as often as she will eat. Good luck getting her to eat on a weekly bases. Both my traps are completely random, and sometimes go 3+ months without eating while not in pre-molt. Pretty crazy.

 

[DeeDub]

Thanks much. Can you overfeed?

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Thanks
DW

 

[spiderengineer]

Thanks much. Can you overfeed?

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Thanks
DW

its a debatable topic on this forum. basically you shouldn't see it as over feeding, but powerfeeding. meaning the more you feed it the quicker it will approach its next molt. its doesn't sound bad when said like that, but if you assume that they have a finite number of molts then power feeding essentially shortens their life span.

but can you power feed a Trapdoor, like ciphor said they are more unpredictable with feeding so I wouldn't worry to much about it, just create schedule like once a week or every two weeks and you should have a tank of dirt in your office for a long time

 

[DeeDub]

Lol. Thanks. I do love my tank of dirt...and so do my coworkers...we named her Nancy Pelosi. She's our office mascot.

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Thanks
DW