swiming t's?

Bob the thief

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I remeber a long time ago that there where some t's that could swim, anyone remeber what they where?
 

vulpina

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One of the T's that I know can swim is Hysterocrates gigas, T. blondi also comes from swampy areas, not sure of their swimming abilities though.


Andy
 

krystal

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want to say either a b. albopilosum or a a. versicolor, but don't quote me on that. i remember it being on the nigel's wild wild world special on tarantulas--i'll dig out my videotape and try to find out for sure what the species is.
 

MrT

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Conipto ( Bill )
Did a thread on H. gigas. He was talking about putting a pond in a gigas enclosure w/ fish..

Ernie
 

conipto

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Yes, I did. Martin H. had a really good article on his website about H. gigas diving into water to avoid a threat. Also, many people have said they can get these to feed on fish in captivity. The project is my next plan, I just have to convince a certain someone that the research is vital to science!

Bill
 

Steve Nunn

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Originally posted by Bob the thief
I remeber a long time ago that there where some t's that could swim, anyone remeber what they where?
H.gigas (M.Huber observations http://www.spiderpix.com), Avicularia spp.(observed as a means of escape), Tapinauchenius spp.(also used as a means of escape), Selenocosmia crassipes (my own personal observations 'see Martin Huber's site for reference URL http://www.spiderpix.com ').

Probably other species too (Hysterocrates spp.), but these are the ones that have been noted so far.

Cheers,
Steve
 

That Guy

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ALL T's can swim...... But for how long is the real question...They get water logged and drown from all the hairs on the body.........
 

deifiler

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Originally posted by hampton
ALL T's can swim...... But for how long is the real question...They get water logged and drown from all the hairs on the body.........
dont forget the placement of the lungs on a spider - not very useful for swimming if the lungs are submerged...

try and find out if these swimming spiders lungs have adapted in any ways at all, may be interestin find:?
 

That Guy

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Thats what I was saying( Besides the hair)... They ALL can swim....But they cant do it for long.
 

MrDeranged

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Just to fill you guys in on a couple of things...

The hair on a T is not hair, it is acutally part of the exoskeleton, it does not get waterlogged.

The "hairs" on the exoskeleton actually act as attachment points for an air bubble to form around the tarantula when submerged. Much like a second skin of air. As long as that second skin of air is not disrupted, t's can remain underwater for a long time and book lung placement does not have any effect.

Scott
 

Tarantula Lover

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hey

Originally posted by mrderanged
Just to fill you guys in on a couple of things...

The hair on a T is not hair, it is acutally part of the exoskeleton, it does not get waterlogged.

The "hairs" on the exoskeleton actually act as attachment points for an air bubble to form around the tarantula when submerged. Much like a second skin of air. As long as that second skin of air is not disrupted, t's can remain underwater for a long time and book lung placement does not have any effect.

Scott
Thanks for the info Scott, may i ask where did you hear this from?? just curious, thanks,

James
 

MrDeranged

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Originally posted by Martin H.
Hi,

just some more photos (Hysterocrates cf. hercules):
Hey Martin,

You need to be a member of that forum to view those pics.

Scott
 

MrDeranged

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Re: hey

Originally posted by Tarantula Lover
Thanks for the info Scott, may i ask where did you hear this from?? just curious, thanks,

James
James,

All of this info and more has been discussed numerous times on the Yahoo group lists (Arachnid_World and ATS_Enthusiast)

Scott
 

MrDeranged

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Martin,

Do you have them hosted on your site? Why not use the "IMG" tag. Then you can have multiple pics in one post. PM me if you need instructions.

Scott
 

Midwest Art

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Theres a cool article in the July/August 1999 American Tarantula Society Forum Magazine titled "Swimming Tarantulas", it mentions that an H. gigas went "scuba-diving", competely immersing itself and hid under some leaves. Cool stuff!

N-Joy
Art
 

genious_gr

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There are also those True spiders that actually LIVE underwater. They live in a big Buble of air and feed on fish.
Their name is Argyroneta aquatica and they do impressive things.... I don't suppose they are available in the hobby right?
 
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