So many questions about cyriocosmus elegans

kreuz

Arachnopeon
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Jun 12, 2007
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hello everybody!
first of all i want to apologize for my english! since i come from germany it might sound a bit weird!:eek:
I'm keeping tarantulas for 1 1/2 years now and have become increasingly interested in "dwarf species". I'm planning to get a cyriocosmus elegans and have so many questions about this species but the internet and the books I have at home aren't too revealing. I hope some of you can help me out and give me some information! So, then on to my questions!

1) I know that cyriocosmus spp. possess urticating hair but is hair they can flick off or is it contact hair that is "pressed" into an enemy? I've read both versions so far. And is the heart-shaped spot the only urticating hair or does it possess more on the abdomen.

2) How potent is the venom of cyriocosmus spp.?

3) Is it a rather docile or aggressive spider?

4) What do you feed them? In Peter Klaas' book I read that for small species such as Cyclosternum fasciatum houseflies are ideal and one should not feed crickets! Is it a problem for a terrestial species to catch the flies? An how much do you feed?

5) How hardy are they? Is it one of these species that one should not leave alone when going on holidays or is it no problem as it is with grammostola spp.?

6) What is the ideal humidity?

7) Is a 15x15x15cm (sorry for not having inch measurements) okay for the size of the enclosure?

Ok, that's it for now. I know these are a lot of questions but I hope everyone could understand what I mean and help me! :)
Best wishes,
Gregor
 

Arachnobrian

Arachnoangel
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Aug 27, 2004
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I'm pretty new to this species myself, so I will be watching this thread for more information as the experts respond.

So far, my C. elegans 1/6" has been mostly burrowed for time I have had it.

It takes pinhead crickets with no problems. (Kind of neat the way it attacks from below the substrate)

From what I have read, it is aggressive towards crickets and food items.

Mine is currently housed in the pill vial it came in, and there it will remain for a while or until it grows a bit more.

Hope this helps.
 

kreuz

Arachnopeon
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Jun 12, 2007
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thank you!
do you also have a water dish? and if this is the case, what do you use? because i think they could drown in the smallest dish...
 

Lorgakor

Arachnomom
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1. Yes they can kick hairs, in fact my female kicked hair at me last night. The heart shaped patch is their only patch of urticating hair as far as I know.

2. I don't believe it would be too potent to humans, most new world species do not have significant venom to humans, at least according to the bite reports.

3. I've seen no threat displays or attempts to bite from this species, though she will kick hair if very disturbed. Once out of her container she is very docile, I've held her with no problems. However they are quite shy and skittish and can move quite quickly.

4. For very small Cyriocosmus slings I feed them very small pre-killed baby crickets, or I feed them pieces of slightly larger crickets. C. elegans are a voracious species and once a little bigger will have no trouble taking down prey larger than themselves. I feed mine about once every one to two weeks, sometimes twice a week for very small slings. They also grow quite quickly, so you won't have to kill their prey for too long. I have no experience feeding house flies so I cannot answer that. But I do know that you can purchase flightless fruitflies that small terrestrials can eat.

5. I have found Cyriocosmus sp. to be quite hardy. Small slings I wouldn't go too long without watering, but I feel that way about all species. I've left mine for holidays without any problems though.

6. Sorry I can't answer that one. I keep all my spiders the same way, dry substrate with a water dish that is always full, unless it is a sling, which I mist at least twice a week. If an adults cage is looking particularly dry I give it a bit of a misting or soak a corner of the substrate.

7. Honestly that sounds a little big, unless it is for a spider that is already adult. I kept my female in the smallest size kritter keeper and she burrowed right to the bottom and stopped eating. I rehoused her into a much smaller container and now she is always visible and is eating again. So on the smaller size is better in my opinion. For slings they will need the smallest pill vial, even juvies don't need much bigger than that. These are very tiny spiders!

Hope that helps, good luck with your new spider!:)
 

kreuz

Arachnopeon
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Jun 12, 2007
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Wow...thank you sooo much Laura!!!
Have you got hit by the urticating hair? I guess it isn't too bad, is it? because i'm getting more and more sensitive to urticating hair of my other fellows... :(
 

Lorgakor

Arachnomom
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You're welcome!:) The hairs from this species do not seem to bother me much, but then the only species that does bother me is T. blondi. But she certainly doesn't flick often, only if I really disturb her.
 

Merfolk

Arachnoprince
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I wonder what is the maximum size of a Cyriocosmus. Is it true that virtualy no one is bigger than 2 inches LS? Anyone saw à 3'' one???
 

MindUtopia

Arachnoking
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I wonder what is the maximum size of a Cyriocosmus. Is it true that virtualy no one is bigger than 2 inches LS? Anyone saw à 3'' one???
The largest I have is about an inch and a half. I think 2" would be the max and 3" is an absolute impossibility.
 

M.F.Bagaturov

Arachnoprince
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Hi!

I wonder what is the maximum size of a Cyriocosmus. Is it true that virtualy no one is bigger than 2 inches LS? Anyone saw à 3'' one???
If meaning the described species You would go for the sizes to the same link on my site above, but in general the largest Cyriocosmus sp ex. Bolivia which is near 5 cm in BL, so really not so small.
 

titus

Arachnosquire
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Everyone here has given very good advice, I would like to add in addtion that in the recent publication of ARACHNE from DEARGE (Deutsche Arachnologische Gesellschaft) found over 100 C. elegans of all ages living in a 1 square meter area. This adds some questions to the thought that these spiders lived alone an shows that the can fuction well in groups.
 

kreuz

Arachnopeon
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Jun 12, 2007
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but in general the largest Cyriocosmus sp ex. Bolivia which is near 5 cm in BL, so really not so small.

:eek: did not know that! i thought Cyriocosmus sp. Bolivia is of the same size as elegans but only has different coloration. So it is not really a dwarf species ;)
 

M.F.Bagaturov

Arachnoprince
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Yes, it is really not dwarf, Kreuz.
And Titus - thanks fro info - can You give the exact reference for the article?

And also to add there is some evidences that these tarantulas leds semi-arboreal style of life, so, really a curiouse group...
 

kreuz

Arachnopeon
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Jun 12, 2007
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great, then I'll try to get hold of the magazine!

to come back to the size...so c. elegans is the smallest of the cyriocosmus family, isn't it? C. leetzi is about the same size, right?
what about the other species of this genus? are they so too or do they tend to be as large als c. spec. bolivia? :confused:
 

tarcan

Arachnoking
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Mar 8, 2003
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Hello Kreuz,

C. elegans and the other species from Venezuela that has no triangle on the prosoma are the same size.

The biggest female C. leetzi I have seen was slightly larger then any of the C. elegans females I have, but it was a WC specimen, so possibly CB specimens do not grow as big.

If I remember right, Hans Werner told me that his C. sellatus was more of the size of the undescribed species from Bolivia. He also has C. bertae, so he can maybe mention how big they are.

Look on the picture thread on this borad for this genus, some brazilian hobbyists have C. chicoi, so maybe they have some dimensions to give, maybe it is even already there.

For the rest, would need to look into the papers, eventually when I get the chance.

Martin
 

M.F.Bagaturov

Arachnoprince
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Martin et al.
I check the Fukushima&Bertani revision and found no refferences to the size s of the species except the newly one described in the article, so I can't tell about the C. sellatus size, but as far as I know it is not as much big as You've supposed.
Unfortunately the Perz-Miles revision from 1998 also doesn't reffered to the size of sellatus, but for most others which were described there, the biggest is 2.5 in BL.
So, the question of the maximum size of sellatus is still remains the same...
 

M.F.Bagaturov

Arachnoprince
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Other sizes of the mentioned species (the size of the body without cheliceare and spinnerets, given in "mm") by Perez-Miles:
C. chicoi - 23.70 for the female; adult male - 12.1.
C. ritae - 14.2 male holotype.
C. berate - 16 for male holotype.
C. blenginii - 18.
 
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