My Australian non-T primitives

[Wesley Barnum]

damn man! this is an impressive collection you have!! I really like your Missulena Bradleyi you have! they look like little goblins demons, and I love them. are most of these wild caught?

 

[RezonantVoid]

damn man! this is an impressive collection you have!! I really like your Missulena Bradleyi you have! they look like little goblins demons, and I love them. are most of these wild caught?

Yes. Not necessarily by me in person, but nearly all of mine, even the ones I've bought, are WC. I'm hoping that I can change that for other people by acquiring some males this summer

So as @The Snark has touched on, it's good to try consider spiders habitats on an individual level, and since our new Homogona STILL hasn't settled in, I figure it's time for action.

So they are very closely related to Cataxia sp.. Good news for me, I have successful Cataxia setups already. My adult one has straight Coco peat and so did both of my slings in their previous enclosures. One of those slings has been rehoused on my latest substrate mix and hates it.

I decided I'd rehouse the second sling on just straight Coco peat and sure enough, after 2 days it made this!

A fully finished and lidded burrow!

I've rehoused the first sling with straight cocopeat, and if it also burrows fine, then I will assume that the Homogona sp, being so closely related, should follow suit and I'll rehouse her to straight Coco peat to in hope she'll finally settle in

Sorry for EVEN MORE updates, expect a heap of new additions tomorrow.

But more importantly, my Cataxia sling that originally hated my substrate mix and was rehoused to straight peat has, in less then 16 hours completed a fully functional burrow and is halfway through making the lid. This was enough for me to rehouse our Homogona, the plant side of her enclosure has my substrate mixture so it can grow better but the clear half is now straight peat with a starter burrow and twigs. Starting tomorrow, we will have a heap more specimens to fuss over and hopefully some progress with the Homogona, as well as an extra special and well deserved thank you to one of our fellow board members

2 of my enclosures in preparation for tomorrow, it's a gifted mystery box so I don't even know what will be living in either;




I'm running so low on decorations I had to hit the reserve pile

 

[Dennis Nedry]

I feel having spiders that hate the substrate you give them. My Arbanitis refused to use coco fibre to dig in or a piece of tree fern to construct a tube in even though they live in tree ferns. Gotta wonder how they get by being so fussy when half the time they’re living in crappy clay

 

[RezonantVoid]

I feel having spiders that hate the substrate you give them. My Arbanitis refused to use coco fibre to dig in or a piece of tree fern to construct a tube in even though they live in tree ferns. Gotta wonder how they get by being so fussy when half the time they’re living in crappy clay

My tube building Arbanitis refused all the natural leaves from her location to make her tube, and instead built it exclusively out of spagnum moss. Spiders are bizarrely fussy in captivity with building materials. This substrate mix is designed to mimic natural conditions in the rainforest with lots of organic matter and crunched leaves (not just chock full of them, but a handful of dried crunched leaves per enclosure). Every other species seems to love it, except for my 2 Cataxia and Homogona sp.

So we have 5 new absolutely gorgeous additions today, all genus I already own but fantastic new species. As will be the continuing custom, we will check on Yukinoshita as an indicator of how exciting any new additions are. Not outside is meh, at the entry is interesting and fully outside is awesome.


I have no idea what such extreme excavation can possibly mean, but I'm sure it's a good sign.

Credit is due where credit is due, and before I unveil our new additions, I, and I'm sure most people viewing, would like to shoutout a massive thank you to @Rhino1 for providing me with some absolutely incredible specimens. He's felt the full force of some of the devastating wildfires we've had down here, and took the time to collect these for me despite the difficult circumstances. I massively appreciate the effort put forward to catch these for me in spite of the above, and make sure to check out his thread on trapdoor communals too.

So to start off, we have a new Cataxian resident, neither of us really know what species it is. What we do know though, is that for Cataxia, this thing is flipping huge. And I'll say, hands down the most aggressive thing I've had in my collection, she chomped straight down on a piece of wood when I opened her lid to check her out after work. I'm guessing 65-75mm DLS? Well, let's check her out!

I can assure you, she's way bigger than she looks.

Way angrier as well. Check out those spiny legs too! who needs a club with nails when your appendages are a direct upgrade already. Now, being a Cataxia time will tell if she'll need a substrate change, but I'm hoping she should be alright.

Next up, we have a new addition from Arbanitis. She's just getting named Chocolate for now because that's honestly the first thing I thought of seeing her colour, she's an extremely low gold species thats drifted away from the yellow metallic colours and more into gunmetal grey. Absolutely whopper of a trapdoor as well, and so feisty she nearly tagged me in my carelessness while trying to climb her plastic.

Just one photo for now, more will come in the near future. These are occupying my 2 enclosures from last night.

Next, another Euoplos Variabilis. I will more than welcome some additional specimens of these anytime, and there's a chance this one is a male too which will be excellent. Still need to get him a proper enclosure, but my temporary tub will suffice for the weekend.


Next, we have yet another addition from Arbanitis, and this one made my jaw drop when I saw her for the first time. She's another tube web from a completely different locale to my initial 2, but wait until you see her patterns. A medium gold species with pretty orange and slender legs, put in front of the prettiest trapdoor abdomen Ive ever seen.


Rehoused into her soon to be revealed enclosure, she looked hilarious in her starter burrow.


And that brings us to the final, and probably most unique specimen for today. It would not be an overstatement to say this is one of a small group of the most bizarre trapdoors in Australia, and potentially the world.
You've seen how well camoflauged Euoplos Variabilis is, but Euoplos Turrificus takes a different approach to stealth...

...it abandons it entirely and constructs ornate above ground tubes. Rhino was kind enough to send me this specimen inside her tube which will make her settle in alot quicker. One last photo of her for tonight, I'm getting tired.


Next week I'll have an update on how they've all settled in, but before I go, somebody else decided to settle in finally!

Moving her to straight cocopeat was the right move afterall.

Thank you for reading and make sure to show your appreciation for Rhino1 and his hard work with collecting these

A quick update on how our newcomers are going.

I'll keep it short and simple, just some pics of each and behavioural updates.

The giant black Cataxia has taken its sweet time settling down, it has only just begun to use the starter burrow I provided and trashed it's spagnum moss. It prefers to be either in the burrow or just outside it, below the small ledge in her enclosure.


Our Homogona sp., which we will now also refer to as Cataxia sp., has not made much progress on her starter burrow but has dragged alot of the debris around the entry.


Chocolate, the Arbanitis sp. Gunmetal Grey, has pretty much just spent the entirety of her short time here underground, which most Arbanitis do when rehoused.

Her burrow was originally in the middle of the wood pieces but has now resurfaced at the dirt pile in the spagnum moss.

The Euoplos Variabilis mastered earth magic and just disappeared overnight.


The Euoplos Turrificus, the one I expected to take the longest to feel at home, has been doing great. I haven't seen any evidence she's come outside at all, and she has eaten the most out of all so far.


And finally the Arbanitis sp. striped tube spider, hasn't really done much at all.

She webbed the starter burrow over, collected some bark and a rock, and brought over a clump of spagnum moss from the other side of the container. She's at least feeling comfortable enough to not seal the entry during the day time which is good.

 

[The Snark]

@RezonantVoid Fascinating. I'm doing a comparison to the dwellers in our yard. Many subtle differences. Most of the feedback I get is dirt kicking and some cursory housecleaning. The Minax are universally very reclusive. Will need to observe yours to ours over the course of a year to get a clearer picture.
One thing of note, our new batch of holes, all youngsters, make oval holes, about twice as wide as they are tall. The adults round the holes out. Do you have similar?

 

[RezonantVoid]

@RezonantVoid Fascinating. I'm doing a comparison to the dwellers in our yard. Many subtle differences. Most of the feedback I get is dirt kicking and some cursory housecleaning. The Minax are universally very reclusive. Will need to observe yours to ours over the course of a year to get a clearer picture.
One thing of note, our new batch of holes, all youngsters, make oval holes, about twice as wide as they are tall. The adults round the holes out. Do you have similar?

Very interesting to hear about the differences in burrows between generations! I haven't been keeping spiders long enough to observe generational behaviour changes in detail, but one curiosity is my Arbanitis sp. Gold slings that have been captive bred seem to make 1-3mm high raised entries while the adults all have the burrow flush with the substrate. Not sure if it will change over time, but 2 older slings from my first sac have now got 12mm holes and also have them raised above ground unlike the mother

 

[The Snark]

Gold slings that have been captive bred seem to make 1-3mm high raised entries while the adults all have the burrow flush with the substrate. Not sure if it will change over time, but 2 older slings from my first sac have now got 12mm holes and also have them raised above ground unlike the mother

Curiouser and curiouser. If the raised area remains constant it would indicate some subtle signal found in situ that isn't present in your environments, or visa versa.
Seems that little variations like this could add up and lead to a better understanding of how to keep and maintain artificial environments.

 

[RezonantVoid]

Curiouser and curiouser. If the raised area remains constant it would indicate some subtle signal found in situ that isn't present in your environments, or visa versa.
Seems that little variations like this could add up and lead to a better understanding of how to keep and maintain artificial environments.

I am particularly interested in monitoring my wild tube building species that take this trait to a new level. It seems to me that the instinct to go vertical is burried in the back instincts of most Arbanitis, and it just takes a certain environment to trigger it. Like my Arbanitis Longipes, it was terrestrial in the wild yet deliberately made a spagnum moss tube all the way to the lid for no apparent reason after arrival in its enclosure

 

[The Snark]

I am particularly interested in monitoring my wild tube building species that take this trait to a new level. It seems to me that the instinct to go vertical is burried in the back instincts of most Arbanitis, and it just takes a certain environment to trigger it. Like my Arbanitis Longipes, it was terrestrial in the wild yet deliberately made a spagnum moss tube all the way to the lid for no apparent reason after arrival in its enclosure

This is pretty much identical to a systems control - multi-path process clearing error. It's exactly like it sounds. A series of processes, call them machines, are all switched on at once. Machine A executes _a_ processes 1 through 6 then halt, Machine B executes processes _b_ processes 1 through 4 and so on. So machine A gets instructions but a setting is incorrect. It never progresses past _a_ process 4 and keeps repeating that process since the completion code must follow process 6.
So your complex multi-function spider has the wrong X and never progresses past executing A _a_ 4 until that process is halted, the setting, moss instead of some other material, is reprogrammed into Machine A subset processes.

I simplified a great deal but it seems to be the same. The spider must run each process programmed into it's DNA code routine. It doesn't have a debug error level built into the code which is standard on system controls in manufacturing and removed at a later date as required. With the spider, it would be just like a faulty sensing I once encountered in a paper pulp system. The black liquor kept being added to the pulp over and over only to cut off when a process way down the line received a vat full sensor signal. The correct signal was being sent but was ignored as it was on the green liquor injection process.

I'd like to hear other possible scenarios that could explain the tube.

 

[SteveIDDQD]

@RezonantVoid ,had a lot of fun reading through this and looking at the great photos of your spiders.

You have some truly amazing (and scary!) species in your country.

 

[RezonantVoid]

@RezonantVoid ,had a lot of fun reading through this and looking at the great photos of your spiders.

You have some truly amazing (and scary!) species in your country.

I'm super happy you've enjoyed reading about them! I do have to agree, some do them look pretty weird (especially that wishbones with the insanely large fangs) but then I look at the adorable face of Idiommata sp. Silverback and it calms me down lol

 

[Dave1969]

Thank you for this post. You have a very engaging writing style that exudes a wondrous enthusiasm for our country's beautiful araneofauna - especially the Mygalomorphs.

 

[RezonantVoid]

So it's been a while since I last updated, and consequently theres been plenty of exciting updates!

First up, @The Snark , I think I may have officially worked out the mystery behind why my trapdoor slings have decided to go vertical, I believe it's actually a method to better help them capture their primary prey: pinhead crickets. Since normally they'd be catching things like clumsy beetles that require little effort to overpower, such elaborate entries are not needed. However, since the crickets have a knack for jumping, I think the protrusions help in that the pinheads run into them while jumping. This is not the first time they have adapted rapidly to change, in the first few months of their life they learnt that catching crickets meant they needed to completely leave the burrow and chase them down.

I have a GIF underway of them feeding, but for now I can't upload any more things to the gallery so I'll wait

There's been lots of other things happen too, we have 2 new molts from Hadronyche Macquariensis and Hadronyche Valida, photos of both will be available soon when I feed and rehouse them.
The giant black Cataxia has finally settled in and constructed a lid, a feeding gif will be available soon. She has probably taken the second longest out of my recent additions to settle in.


My Homogona/Cataxia is still not settled in, she destroyed her starter burrow so it looks like another rehouse in on the horizon.
I've now confirmed I have a third Atrax Robustus and only 1 Hadronyche Versuta, the Robustus has made quite the impressive web in her short time here.


I have rehoused Arbanitis sp. Black into a new, larger setup, which it thoroughly appreciated. Unlike my other Arbanitis, this one only took 24 hours to make a full burrow.



I finally got a clear shot of one of my Seqocrypta Jakara slings, I now have 2 healthy slings left.

I'm just gonna chuck in this photo of Namea Salanitri because it's good.


Australothele Nambucca pairing appears to have gone successfully, and my male was not wastefully slaughtered afterall


A quick tube spider photo


And finally, on the note of tube spiders, our newest one has laid us an eggsac! This is likely the reason she held off building a tube for so long, but now she is building one between her 2 pieces of bark. Her enclosure is now called "The Great Wall"


I hope you all enjoyed this little update. Are there any species you want me to do an in-depth analysis on? Let me know and id be happy to give it a shot.

 

[Arthroverts]

Awesome looking @RezonantVoid! Excited to see what happens with them tube spider slings. Any chance of us seeing some more of those Namea sp.?

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[RezonantVoid]

Awesome looking @RezonantVoid! Excited to see what happens with them tube spider slings. Any chance of us seeing some more of those Namea sp.?

Thanks,

Arthroverts

I can definitely do that

I've got something pretty special lined up for the tube spider slings, involving a decent sized fishtank. I've been preparing for it over the last few months but the eggsac has presented me a perfect opportunity so to speak. I'll have a little more info on it soon

 

[Dave1969]

Congrats on the Australothele. I hope all augers well and a bountiful sac is produced. Namea are always nice - their photos are never gratuitous additions. The Barychelidae looks good, all the spiders do.

My Homogona/Cataxia is in a similar boat to yours. After nearly three weeks, I decided to construct a starter burrow. She uses the burrow sometimes, but, has not excavated it further so half her cephalothorax hangs in the air. I might have to spoon feed her and dig further myself.

 

[RezonantVoid]

Congrats on the Australothele. I hope all augers well and a bountiful sac is produced. Namea are always nice - their photos are never gratuitous additions. The Barychelidae looks good, all the spiders do.

My Homogona/Cataxia is in a similar boat to yours. After nearly three weeks, I decided to construct a starter burrow. She uses the burrow sometimes, but, has not excavated it further so half her cephalothorax hangs in the air. I might have to spoon feed her and dig further myself.

Thank you for the compliments! Yea, Cataxia always seem to be very fussy with moving in, straight peat and sand is the mixture I have the most (but still little) success with, they don't seem to appreciate added leaf litter mixed into the soil and high amounts of other organic matter. Keep the sub composed of as much mineral content like sand, crushed rocks and clay as possible

 

[The Snark]

First up, @The Snark , I think I may have officially worked out the mystery behind why my trapdoor slings have decided to go vertical,

I was just out looking at the T holes and idly wondering when they will start webbing. Now, thinking about your comments I'm going to take a much closer study. Could be much more going on than the casual observation would notice.

 

[RezonantVoid]

Apologies for the lack of uploads, we have been very busy and on high alert for bushfires as of late. The entire east coast is pretty much burnt out at the moment, this was the working conditions last week.


I've had some new communal scorpions arrive as well as my first tarantula eggsac, so I have been hyper busy. To top it all off, all but one of my Namea have entered premolt so it will be a while before i get any photos. Are there any other species you guys want an in depth analysis on instead?

 

[Andrea82]

Apologies for the lack of uploads, we have been very busy and on high alert for bushfires as of late. The entire east coast is pretty much burnt out at the moment, this was the working conditions last week.
View attachment 325762

I've had some new communal scorpions arrive as well as my first tarantula eggsac, so I have been hyper busy. To top it all off, all but one of my Namea have entered premolt so it will be a while before i get any photos. Are there any other species you guys want an in depth analysis on instead?

I read about it on the news and was wondering if you and fellow Aussie keepers were okay. Glad to see you are!