L. klugi questions

nicodimus22

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I know LPs are cheap, but I like the way L. klugi looks a lot more.

For those of you that own or have owned one, what was your experience?

What size enclosure is needed once the klugi is fully grown?

If your experience was bad, is there a similar species that you would recommend instead?

Thanks in advance.
 

Moonohol

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Go for an L. difficilis. They're awesome! Can't speak to the L. klugi as I've yet to own one but they look fantastic from the photos I've seen.
 

Rob1985

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If you're getting a sling, it's gonna be a while before you'll even see the coloring. Otherwise get a juvy or older.

Watch the video below for info on the Lasiodora genus...
 

nicodimus22

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If you're getting a sling, it's gonna be a while before you'll even see the coloring. Otherwise get a juvy or older.

Watch the video below for info on the Lasiodora genus...
I did find this video, but he only has a sling of the L. klugi, so he says that he'll have to see if it's aggressive or not. I am looking for people that own or have owned adults that can share their experiences, but so far there's basically nothing. I guess most people don't get them due to the higher price compared to the other options. The only people who have adults seem to have them eat live mice and birds on youtube just for kicks.
 
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cold blood

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Difficilis, klugi, parayabana...all are kept the same, all reach the same sizes, therefore housing is the same across the board.

Difficilis is often just as cheap as the LP...don't get why klugi is always priced higher....itabunae is another Lasiodora option that's often available for the same dirt cheap prices as LD and LP.
 

nicodimus22

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Difficilis, klugi, parayabana...all are kept the same, all reach the same sizes, therefore housing is the same across the board.
Sometimes there is a species that doesn't quite go along with the other members of its genus, so I don't feel that asking for species-specific information is necessarily a bad idea. I don't want to assume anything about its behavior...I'd rather hear from people who actually have adult specimens of them. It is a bit frustrating how little information there is on them.
 

cold blood

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striatus is a member of Lasiodorides, not Lasiodora (although commonly confused due to the names being so close).

They don't get to the same sizes as Lasiodora and have very slow growth rates.http://arachnoboards.com/threads/lasiodorides-striatus.227829/


Lasiodora species do not get to 10-11", definitely not comparable in size to Theraposa. 7-8" is a more realistic number.
 

cold blood

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Sometimes there is a species that doesn't quite go along with the other members of its genus,
That's pretty uncommon though.

Anyway, that's why I mentioned it....and I made no reference whatsoever to asking being a bad idea.
 

volcanopele

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I have a klugi MF and a sling (though the MF may actually be a difficilis). I keep my adult in a 10 gallon enclosure (20"x10"x10") with a cork bark hide in one end (I should note that my LK has a DLS of ~7.25 in, which is a little smaller than average). I feed "Wanda" an adult dubia once every 1-2 weeks. She has an excellent feeding response, with the roaches barely touching the ground before she nabs it. I'm planning on switching her to Jamie's Tarantula's XL enclosure soon (she's my only adult, so yes, she gets spoiled). I keep the substrate a little moist by over-filling the water dish or spraying the substrate on one side every once in a while.

Personality wise, I wouldn't call her aggressive, or even defensive really. She's never flung hairs at me. I would call her... assertive. She tried to bite the water I was pouring into her water dish a few times. She webs more than I expected. She's put up a lot of webbing along the walls of her enclosure. She is always out in the open, only going into her hide if I'm doing cage maintanence.

The sling acts like the other two Lasiodora slings I have (parahybana and itabunae). Great feeding response. It has a hide but it has dug a burrow in the back of it down to the bottom of the enclosure. The sling is in one of Jamie's juvenile enclosures. She is out in the open a lot of the time, but much more easily started than the adult.

So I have had a pretty good experience. the sling is growing pretty quickly, like any Lasiodora.

EDIT: as discussed below, it turns out that my klugi adult is almost certainly a Lasiodora difficilis instead. so my discussion about personality likely doesn't apply. But there are a few things that are universal among Lasiodoras: great eaters, needs a comparatively big enclosure (either a 10 gallon tank or something like Jamie's XL adult enclosure), and the fact that they tend to be great display animals since they are out in the open most of the time.
 

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boina

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I have a klugi MF and a sling (though the MF may actually be a difficilis).
According to the pic I'm pretty sure that's a difficilis.

I've LP, LD, and LK adult females and the klugi is actually my favorite. She turned out to be the fastest growing of the 3 - from sling to adult in 2 years at room temps. At young adult she's at 7.5", the same size as the 2 years older LD, but I expect her to still grow a bit more (due for a molt sometime soon). She's a massive spider with relatively shorter legs than many Ts with a larger leg span, but a large body. She's also quicker and more defensive than my LD, so you really don't want to mess with her. On the other hand she very rarely flicks - even in premolt she still has all of her hair. The LP may flick, but my L. klugi doesn't - if you annoy her she'll simply attack, though her first line of defense is slapping the offending object with her front legs. And yes, I agree: all my Lasiodoras are always out in the open - excellent display spiders. My LD is a little bit less active than the other two, but I guess that's temperament. My L. klugi also eats everything you put in front of her - if she doesn't eat, like right now, she's going to molt sometime soon. In looks the LK has a stronger contrast: red abdomen and black legs, but the LD is more fluffy.

Personally I'd say: Get one. They are terrific.
 

volcanopele

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According to the pic I'm pretty sure that's a difficilis.
Yeah, it's something I'm suspecting. Of the photos I've seen online of the various Lasiodora species, she definitely looks most like difficilis. But it's been hard to judge since so many people hike up the contrast and saturation in their photos, don't use proper white balance settings, etc. In my photo above, the white balance should be just fine, and I didn't do anything to the contrast. The saturation may be a bit higher than natural off the camera but not overly so. And her size is more in the difficilis range than klugi.

I only hold back because she had previously been owned by an arachnologist here at the local university, but then again I guess it's possible for even an expert to be fooled considering that I haven't found a good ID guide like that great taxonomy paper on US Aphonopelmas. I have a molt; I can measure leg segments if necessary.

Still, obviously, Lasiodora is probably my favorite genus (considering that of my 14 Ts, 4 are Lasiodoras), and even if my big girl isn't quite a klugi, I would still say go for it. Itabunae and difficilis might be decent alternatives if you can't find a klugi. Itabunae looks like a slightly bluish klugi and difficilis looks like a slightly grayish klugi.
 
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boina

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Lasiodora klugi: really red abdomen, black carapax and not all that many setae on the legs:
Lasidora klugi.jpg

Lasiodora difficilis: more subtle colors, but very nice and fluffy:
Lasiodora difficilis.jpg

No, I didn't do anything to the colors - they look pretty much like this in rl
 

volcanopele

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Well, that definitely is decisive. Wanda definitely doesn't have that reddish coloration of the chelicerae near where they connect to the prosoma. And she's only that black on her abdomen. Her only reddish hairs are on her abdomen, like the difficilis. And I see a lot more webbing too in your difficilis photo, so is that a difference in behavior? Wanda webs a lot, basically leaving a never ending string of silk wherever she goes.

My only problem now... I named my klugi sling "Wanda Jr" (not related at all, just intended to reflect that it's to be a future replacement for Wanda since I don't know how old she is). I guess I could still go with that.
 

boina

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And I see a lot more webbing too in your difficilis photo, so is that a difference in behavior? Wanda webs a lot, basically leaving a never ending string of silk wherever she goes.
I've never really thought about it, but now that you mention it: yes, I think my difficilis webs more than the klugi... interesting. :)
 

volcanopele

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Hope you enjoy and that you klugi had a better day than my sling did (we are going on a trip this weekend and it seems to be on pre-molt. There was a cricket in its burrow, so I sadly had to dig everything up to get to it...)
 
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