MBALFOURI COMMUNAL

[margoo]

Hi guys! I was planning on getting an M.balfouri on communal set up. Can you guys pls give me a tips on how they won't eat each other or any other guides rather than that. Any tips will help thankyou!

 

[Arachnopets]

pls give me a tips on how they won't eat each other

By keeping them separate and not communal.

any other guides rather than that. Any tips will help

There are MANY threads on here about this very subject. You would benefit from doing a bit of research by searching through those very threads.

 

[jrh3]

As stated above. Do your own research and you can have a successful communal. Tons of threads here.

 

[Wolfram1]

Cannibalism in M. balfouri has been observed at every stage, from Prelarvae (eggs with legs) to adults.

For every communal that "works" there is another that doesn't.

That said if you absolutely must go the communal rout there is nothing that we can do to stop you. The chances for sucess will rise if you keep them well fed.

They are extremly reclusive so many people force them to build their webs out in the open by only providing anchor points and sandy soil, rather than providing them with proper hides and dirt to dig in. I don't aprove of that practice but it is how it is. Youtube is full of examples.

there are no veryfied reports of communals in the wild and they are found in the little pockets of greenery that exist on Socotra rather than the open desert. So dirt and a corkbark hide/hides with a starter burrow are still the best setup.

 

[viper69]

Hi guys! I was planning on getting an M.balfouri on communal set up. Can you guys pls give me a tips on how they won't eat each other or any other guides rather than that. Any tips will help thankyou!

SEARCH THE FORUM

 

[Mustafa67]

Hi guys! I was planning on getting an M.balfouri on communal set up. Can you guys pls give me a tips on how they won't eat each other or any other guides rather than that. Any tips will help thankyou!

Not a good idea

 

[Matt Man]

Okay so here's a note from us old timers. We have seen a ton of "Doing a communal" where we advise against it and they do it anyway. In the first several months the keeper is puffing their chest out and telling us how stupid we are and how rad their communal is, and sending lots of photos. Once they hit a certain size the postings tend to dry up, and very rarely do the posters ever get past "Well my 8 turned into 6" and they just ghost themselves and all their "You guys don't know squat" braggadocio. So here's my advice if you really want to try it. Clear out your garage or a room in your house and make a giant habitat, say 12 feet x 8 feet. Build some burrows in several locales, with plenty of space between them. Once the M. balfouri hit say 2" DLS release them into the enclosure and monitor their movements, Report back here. But the notion that you can keep half a dozen adult Ts in a 2' x 2' enclosure is absurd.

 

[margoo]

thankyou guys! very much appreciated

 

[Iamconstantlyhappy]

I tried this a long time ago. I started with 5. And yup, wound up with one big healthy girl.

 

[jrh3]

Okay so here's a note from us old timers. We have seen a ton of "Doing a communal" where we advise against it and they do it anyway. In the first several months the keeper is puffing their chest out and telling us how stupid we are and how rad their communal is, and sending lots of photos. Once they hit a certain size the postings tend to dry up, and very rarely do the posters ever get past "Well my 8 turned into 6" and they just ghost themselves and all their "You guys don't know squat" braggadocio. So here's my advice if you really want to try it. Clear out your garage or a room in your house and make a giant habitat, say 12 feet x 8 feet. Build some burrows in several locales, with plenty of space between them. Once the M. balfouri hit say 2" DLS release them into the enclosure and monitor their movements, Report back here. But the notion that you can keep half a dozen adult Ts in a 2' x 2' enclosure is absurd.

12’x8’ is pure ridiculous. They do great in close quarters. Majority of the negativity comes from people who have never kept balfouri as a communal. There is enough posts about interactions with each other to build a plausible case that they can thrive as a communal and even in some cases better than in solitude, in captivity. Socotra Island is not a popular place or easy place to access for research to prove they don't share burrows. I find it funny people seem to think research can only be done in their natural habitat when we don't even recreate that in captivity. They are on a bandwagon that ALL communal’s are bad and that is simply not the case. As well as the famous, no tarantula in the wild has been documented by “science” living communal. We do not keep any species as they would be in the wild. They are forced to thrive in a container and none live on coco fiber in the wild.

 

[Matt Man]

12’x8’ is pure ridiculous. They do great in close quarters. Majority of the negativity comes from people who have never kept balfouri as a communal. There is enough posts about interactions with each other to build a plausible case that they can thrive as a communal and even in some cases better than in solitude, in captivity. Socotra Island is not a popular place or easy place to access for research to prove they don't share burrows. I find it funny people seem to think research can only be done in their natural habitat when we don't even recreate that in captivity. They are on a bandwagon that ALL communal’s are bad and that is simply not the case. As well as the famous, no tarantula in the wild has been documented by “science” living communal. We do not keep any species as they would be in the wild. They are forced to thrive in a container and none live on coco fiber in the wild.

So post me photos/threads /blogs of a thriving ADULT communal that has lasted years.

Every notion of them living on top of each other laughs in the face of millions of years of evolution. Animals tend to need "feeding zones" which they typically defend violently.
Happens in grazing animals as well as predators. Chimpanzee / Baboon etc.... groups have defined areas they rarely cross, and when they do there is conflict. I suggest a 12'x 8' habitat because I am giving each T at least 2',
which I am wagering is a fairly safe zone. They do great in close quarters until they don't and that's the record here and every forum I have followed.
Second, it is counter to evolution via reproduction. Nearly every (if not every) communal is siblings, which means if that's the way it is in nature you'd have massive amounts of inbreeding which wouldn't fare well for the species.
Now add, you have several brothers of reproductive age in the same burrow, you will wind up with conflict there because each male is gonna want to be the one that passes along their genetics.

So you may think my notion is ridiculous, when it actuality I am trying to take nature more into account, then stuffing a bunch in a small area with no escape and having to supply ample amounts of feed (not natural) to help prevent
cannibalism.

Seriously, I would love to be proven wrong, and I would also love to have the room to set a BIG communal to try my notion. I am guessing I could have 2, maybe 3 lines co existing in a situation like that.
Until then I will make all my judgements based on that data I have been able to collect which to this day (from over the last 10 plus years) they have all failed

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Every notion of them living on top of each other laughs in the face of millions of years of evolution. Animals tend to need "feeding zones" which they typically defend violently.
Happens in grazing animals as well as predators. Chimpanzee / Baboon etc.... groups have defined areas they rarely cross, and when they do there is conflict. I suggest a 12'x 8' habitat because I am giving each T at least 2',
which I am wagering is a fairly safe zone. They do great in close quarters until they don't and that's the record here and every forum I have followed.
Second, it is counter to evolution via reproduction. Nearly every (if not every) communal is siblings, which means if that's the way it is in nature you'd have massive amounts of inbreeding which wouldn't fare well for the species.
Now add, you have several brothers of reproductive age in the same burrow, you will wind up with conflict there because each male is gonna want to be the one that passes along their genetics.

So you may think my notion is ridiculous, when it actuality I am trying to take nature more into account, then stuffing a bunch in a small area with no escape and having to supply ample amounts of feed (not natural) to help prevent
cannibalism.

Seriously, I would love to be proven wrong, and I would also love to have the room to set a BIG communal to try my notion. I am guessing I could have 2, maybe 3 lines co existing in a situation like that.
Until then I will make all my judgements based on that data I have been able to collect which to this day (from over the last 10 plus years) they have all failed

If you are giving a group of tarantulas the space equivalent to a decent sized room then you cross the line between communal into free-range. Your permitting of 2 feet of space, which I am assuming is 2 feet in any direction from the opening of a hide or burrow, is about the amount of space the populations of Aphonpelma hentzi I see in urban and suburban areas have. Here in Dallas County, Texas, Aphonopelma hentzi can be found in dense populations as a result of urban development. As habitat is destroyed the tarantulas live in closer proximity to each other with about 2 feet of space between burrows; sometimes less, sometimes more. In more rural areas of the county the burrows are so far apart it is difficult to determine any kind of grouping at all.

Since I see dense populations of Aphonopelma hentzi in urban environments and can clearly see why, I wouldn't be surprised that it would occur in other areas around the world where habitat destruction is prevalent or in areas prone to serious swings in climate. I also wouldn't be surprised if natural selection selected for more tolerant or even cooperative behavior in a species living in extreme habitats. However, even if it was observed in the wild there might be extraordinary circumstances that would cause cooperative behavior or tolerance that couldn't be replicated in captivity. Something I wish more people keeping tarantulas in captivity would understand is that just because it happens in the wild doesn't mean it is the norm for a species and should be replicated in captivity. Animals in nature are surviving and should not be replicated in captivity under the assumption it is best for their health and longitivtiy.

I do like the idea of testing communal behavior in Monocentropus balfouri by giving them space equivalent to the size of a room to live it in order to test if they will naturally group together and exhibit cooperative behavior, or if they disperse and setup their own territory. We would know super fast what their natural instincts are dictating and whether or not a so-called communal setup is ideal without a trip to Socotra Island.