Interesting question>!!!! Please answer

[kutlu]

Well hello there.

I just wanted to know, well when a tarantula covers the entrance of their burrow of a heavy amount of silk, how do they get out?, do they push through it or something?. just wondering.:worship:

 

[paassatt]

How else would they get out?

 

[kutlu]

They dont?

 

[Hobo]

They rip through it.

 

[rd_07]

Well hello there.

I just wanted to know, well when a tarantula covers the entrance of their burrow of a heavy amount of silk, how do they get out?, do they push through it or something?. just wondering.:worship:

if you locked a door with no doorknob best way to get out is destroy it, in its case they'll rip it through since there is no other way unless its a burrower that made a diff entrance..backdoor maybe

 

[Kathy]

My h. mac is really weird about this - he ALWAYS seals up the opening to his hole. He comes out at night, poops on the side, wanders around, then goes back into his hole and reseals it with webbing. He is very private and doesn't want any visitors in his home!

 

[Bill S]

Looks like some wild speculations here posing as knowledge.

I haven't actually watched to see the mechanisms used by various species of tarantulas, but there may be several. Some spiders eat their web - especially spiders that spin large webs each day. It is actually a very efficient means of conserving the chemicals and materials that the web is made out of. Some spiders simply use a structure that allows for easy parting of closures. There may be other strategies also used. But "just ripping it open" is not high on my list of probable methods.

 

[GoDsiZeSnakEyes]

I have a juvy B.vagans that does that and so do my L.para slings. My H.mac and A.versi have lots of openings here and there. I think it's a security thing.

 

[Hobo]

Looks like some wild speculations here posing as knowledge.

I work the night shift, and sometimes on my days off, my schedule remains the same out of habit. It gives me the not at all unique opportunity to observe their behavior as it goes from evening to late night, when things get colder, darker and quieter. I've seen my H. lividum, P. metallica, P. lugardi, and L. violaceopes rip through their silken veil they may have made during the day. All of them simply used their front legs and palps to pull away the webs and rip through it. If it is thick, sometimes they will use their fangs to tear it apart. Some will then web the area around it, essentially flattening the loose threads against the burrow walls so that they don't fly free.
The lividum and lugardi have occasionally make two veils, and have both removed them the same way.

I've tried feeding those with veils still up (usually recently molted individuals) and if they are hungry enough, they will quite literally bust right through webbing.

The only time I've seen tarantulas "eating" webs are mature males, when they destroy their sperm web. Through, from my observations, particularly with my MM C. cyaneopubescens, they are more interested in recovering any leftover sperm, than ingesting the web itself.

So yes, "ripping right through it" would be personal experience posing as knowledge, thanks.

 

[Mez]

My OBT does this, rips through its webbing usually dragging a cricket with it.

 

[Najakeeper]

They rip it up and reseal it using some new webbing and some of the old ripped webbing.

 

[Bill S]

So yes, "ripping right through it" would be personal experience posing as knowledge, thanks.

OK. Actual observations are good. I'll give you credit for that.

I work the night shift, ..... It gives me the unique opportunity to observe their behavior as it goes from evening to late night,...

Well, I won't give you a great deal of credit for this observation. "Unique opportunity"? You really think the rest of us are only up during the daylight hours? Yeah, I've worked night shifts before. But even on a basic 9:00 to 5:00 shift people generally are up late enough to watch things go from evening to late night. I work pretty much normal daytime hours, but I also do night time field work with "bugs", bats and other animals. Not really a unique schedule or opportunity.

But getting back to the original topic - your observations are good. It would be good to carry them a little further. It's well known that there are a number of kinds of silk produced by spiders, even by single individuals. It would be interesting to know if the type of silk that is used for closing a burrow is different than that used for general webbing or for other purposes. Is it made to be easier to tear? Is it laid down in such a way that it is structurally easier to part? Etc.

 

[kristinnandbenn]

Is it laid down in such a way that it is structurally easier to part? Etc.

My guess would be yes, I have many burrowers that have heavily-webbed silken burrows. The layer of silk they use to close their burrows seems a lot thinner, and I have observed most of them ripping through it. I've had spiders come out of "heavy" layers of silk, but I've yet to see any tarantulas eat the web, I'll have to watch for that.

 

[Hobo]

Well, I won't give you a great deal of credit for this observation

Edited.

But getting back to the original topic - your observations are good. It would be good to carry them a little further. It's well known that there are a number of kinds of silk produced by spiders, even by single individuals. It would be interesting to know if the type of silk that is used for closing a burrow is different than that used for general webbing or for other purposes. Is it made to be easier to tear? Is it laid down in such a way that it is structurally easier to part? Etc.

I've noticed the layer is almost always thin, at least appearing thin when compared to the silk lining their burrow/hide. Sometimes, they will leave a small slit or hole, perhaps to facilitate ripping it out. My lugardi will sometimes take the time to block the entrance with webbed dirt in the morning as well. Even then, she has no issue popping out through it to grab something, leading me to believe the silk used isn't too tough.

For premolt, sometimes they will thicken it up a bit, though not always.

When my avic sealed herself up with her sac, it was very thick and tough compared with how she sealed herself up for premolt.

I've often wondered how slings exit the tough silk of the sac. That I've yet to see.

 

[Redneck]

I've often wondered how slings exit the tough silk of the sac. That I've yet to see.

I believe the mother opens the sac... I think.

 

[Chris_Skeleton]

Well pokies can just teleport out.

But I think the majority of them just burst through yelling "OH YEAH!" on the way out.

 

[Lorum]

I've often wondered how slings exit the tough silk of the sac. That I've yet to see.

I believe the mother opens the sac... I think.

I have heard of "closed" sacs (i.e. the mother dind't open it), from a cf. Aphonopelma sp., where the spiderlings found their way out ripping little holes in the sac. However, maybe not always the slings can get out by themselves; at least, offspring of wolf spiders can't leave the sac if the mother doesn't open it.1

And well, this is somewhat related to this thread (just that it's about getting out of the egg, not out of the sac), and is interesting (and about arachnids in general):

"With the completion of the formation of at least the greater part of the systems of internal organs, the arachnid is ready for hatching. It is still sorrounded by the inner vitelline membrane and the outer chorion, and these must be split. This splitting is nearly always facilitated by the use of an egg-tooth, a small hard projection either on the chelicerae or on the clypeus of the animal".2 Anyway, egg teeth can be also found at the base of the pedipalps.1

1.- Foelix, R. 1996. Biology of spiders. Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, USA. Pages 208 & 220.
2.- Savory, T. 1977. Arachnida. Academic Press, UK. Page 47.

 

[Bill S]

I've often wondered how slings exit the tough silk of the sac. That I've yet to see.

You should see the egg sacs that Bolas spiders produce. The mother is long gone by the time they hatch, and the sacs are hard as rocks. The babies have to make a hole inthe sac somehow and crawl out through that small hole. In one egg sac that my wife hatched a baby got stuck trying to come out through the hole, so my wife enlarged the hole. She used a straight pin to work on the hole, but bent it in the process. But - the baby successfully emerged.

 

[JamieC]

Well pokies can just teleport out.

But I think the majority of them just burst through yelling "OH YEAH!" on the way out.

I second this!

 

[kutlu]

Interesting. Its funny because recently at 4:00 in the morning i caught my Selenocosmia stirlingi burrowing a second hole near the pre made burrow i did for it and it uses it as a second burrow lol and she also buried her self in a vertical position abdomen sticking out lol. sometimes they can be quite hilarious!:worship: