I have babies in my M. balfouri communal, now what?

[Lunaxo]

I won't say that I didnt think this was a possibility, but now that it has happened I am a bit lost on what to do. There is no way I could safely remove any babies until they're larger and roaming more as I would have to completely tear the entire enclosure apart, try to remove all the adults and pick out 1st or 2nd instars from the substrate. That would be an absolue nightmare. They also cannot escape. Even at this stage the're too big for the ventilation holes so no worries there. My bigger concern is how to care for them alongside the adults. Normally id just drop roaches in and call it a day, but will live roaches pose a threat to the spiderlings? Should I cut some roaches up and drop them in for the babies to scavange? Any care tips would be appreciated.

 

[Mike Withrow]

If they can't escape,let momma and them do their thing. Always best to leave Balfouri with the mom unless she is just a twit. Hardly ever see that happen.

You might want to take a few out later on ,but in general Balfouri's are an absolute pleasure to keep and work with.

Congratulations on the babies. This is my most loved T ever. First time I ever seen blue on a spider was a male. I've never been so blown away and on a journey in all my life.
Needed to edit to be more clear I suppose, what I mean by you may want to remove some later on, males some of them will absolutely be a pain with constantly trying to mate.

Also at times ,not very often you will get a mature female that you might have to remove. My friend has a big female sitting behind me as I type because she act very dominant over the more little ones.
So I'm guessing I hopefully we can use her for a future breeding project.

 

[viper69]

Yes!
Yes

 

[Lunaxo]

If they can't escape,let momma and them do their thing. Always best to leave Balfouri with the mom unless she is just a twit. Hardly ever see that happen.

You might want to take a few out later on ,but in general Balfouri's are an absolute pleasure to keep and work with.

Congratulations on the babies. This is my most loved T ever. First time I ever seen blue on a spider was a male. I've never been so blown away and on a journey in all my life.
Needed to edit to be more clear I suppose, what I mean by you may want to remove some later on, males some of them will absolutely be a pain with constantly trying to mate.

Also at times ,not very often you will get a mature female that you might have to remove. My friend has a big female sitting behind me as I type because she act very dominant over the more little ones.
So I'm guessing I hopefully we can use her for a future breeding project.

Thanks! I raised all the ones in there currently from slings and wound up with 2 females and 5 males.. until recently. One of the males was found dead and pushed out of the colony.. im thinking I might know why now as it was a bit of a surprise. They are definately the favorite of all my T's and I totally get what you mean with the blue. The males are so pretty! (albeit they are also a pain because they do indeed run around trying to mate with anything thats moving. I've seen them trying to push up other males at times.) So I can say this isn't the biggest shock, I guess I just hoped they were feeding enough that maybe they would molt instead of laying eggs. I dont get to see them very often because they've built a good home in the substrate. I am positive later on I'll have to remove some if there ends up being way too many.. because as it stands there could be 2 females with babies, or even more on the way. Maybe it will be a good idea down the road to remove the girls and provide them their own enclosures.

 

[Mike Withrow]

Thanks! I raised all the ones in there currently from slings and wound up with 2 females and 5 males.. until recently. One of the males was found dead and pushed out of the colony.. im thinking I might know why now as it was a bit of a surprise. They are definately the favorite of all my T's and I totally get what you mean with the blue. The males are so pretty! (albeit they are also a pain because they do indeed run around trying to mate with anything thats moving. I've seen them trying to push up other males at times.) So I can say this isn't the biggest shock, I guess I just hoped they were feeding enough that maybe they would molt instead of laying eggs. I dont get to see them very often because they've built a good home in the substrate. I am positive later on I'll have to remove some if there ends up being way too many.. because as it stands there could be 2 females with babies, or even more on the way. Maybe it will be a good idea down the road to remove the girls and provide them their own enclosures.

I really feel like you are already on the right track keeping them. As far as the females. Other than the odd one that seems to act overly dominant,I'd keep them in the communal. Yup we have found males dead and not ate,just got tagged by another one because of they way they worry they crap out of the females.
I hope you keep this updated as to how things go and your thoughts on it.

 

[Lunaxo]

I really feel like you are already on the right track keeping them. As far as the females. Other than the odd one that seems to act overly dominant,I'd keep them in the communal. Yup we have found males dead and not ate,just got tagged by another one because of they way they worry they crap out of the females.
I hope you keep this updated as to how things go and your thoughts on it.

I appreciate your responses. I'll go ahead and leave the females be then and just keep an eye out. I think documenting it as much as possible and keeping information on what I find might be a good idea because when i first started my communal and even now I have had a hard time finding information on them in communal setups. Of course there are always some of the more well known keepers who have their own setups, but I havent seen anything on actual behavior patterns or even breeding within the communal. I'll definately post updates from time to time. Now that I know they're there I'll be obsessed with peeking into the enclosure to see how they're coming along. I hope to see the mama's soon. its been quite a while!

 

[cold blood]

I won't say that I didnt think this was a possibility, but now that it has happened I am a bit lost on what to do. There is no way I could safely remove any babies until they're larger and roaming more as I would have to completely tear the entire enclosure apart, try to remove all the adults and pick out 1st or 2nd instars from the substrate.

Don't remove them....I agree that balfouri slings do best communally...wait till they are 1.5-2", and sell/trade/giveaway.remove them then. You ca just feed normally, the mother actually help them eat.

 

[Lunaxo]

Don't remove them....I agree that balfouri slings do best communally...wait till they are 1.5-2", and sell/trade/giveaway.remove them then. You ca just feed normally, the mother actually help them eat.

Thank you for the response. I will leave them be and just enjoy watching them grow.

 

[res2]

HI
Can I ask if the male was introduced after or was already in the cage with the female ?
I have a communal of 5 specimen and they came from the same eggsac and was wondering if in the future is there a possibility to have baby balfouris without introducing a male.
Sorry for my english lol XD

 

[Lunaxo]

HI
Can I ask if the male was introduced after or was already in the cage with the female ?
I have a communal of 5 specimen and they came from the same eggsac and was wondering if in the future is there a possibility to have baby balfouris without introducing a male.
Sorry for my english lol XD

I bought 10 slings, but lost two. So they were all raised together, but I did have one that was probably one or two molts ahead of the others, which was a male. Currently there are 4 males and 2 females (I think. I've not seen any of them in some time) so I can't say for sure if you would need to introduce a male later on or not. Sorry. I wish I had better info on this. But you can always wait and see how it goes.

 

[res2]

I bought 10 slings, but lost two. So they were all raised together, but I did have one that was probably one or two molts ahead of the others, which was a male. Currently there are 4 males and 2 females (I think. I've not seen any of them in some time) so I can't say for sure if you would need to introduce a male later on or not. Sorry. I wish I had better info on this. But you can always wait and see how it goes.

I hope to have at least one female lol