Update on community A. avicularia project

[SkyeSpider]

As many here will remember, I started a project about six months ago to house five Avicularia avicularia together in a 55 gallon terrarium with a lot of hiding space. I thought I'd post an update to what happened with the project.

I started out with three females, and two males. All were about one molt from maturity.

One female built her web on day one. Another female built her web on day seven. One female never built a web. One male took a hollow log (vertical) as a hide and lined it with webbing. Another male waited four months to build a hide (under a log), and only did it to molt.

Two females and two males molted in the six months. Both males reached maturity. Both of the females seemed to reach maturity.

Both males are MIA. I can not find their remains anywhere. I don't believe they were eaten by any of the other tarantulas, as that would have left SOME remains.

I consider the experiment a failure. My conclusion is that even A. avicularia, given enough space and hides, should never be housed together, long term.

I hope someone finds this useful.

-Bryan

 

[sunnymarcie]

What a bummer
Too bad that it did not work out.
It would have been nice to see a community tank.

Are you sure the MIA's are dead, eaten or what ever?
Could they have escaped the tank?

Did any of the remaining T's end up gravid?
Maybe all is not lost

 

[RugbyDave]

the leftover T parts could have been mixed in with the substrate or broken down alot and webbed over a bit andhidden somewhere


seriously, i was breeding 2 A.seemani's last year and the male got crunched and the next morning, NOTHING was left over.. im sure some claws were, but nothing i could find.

Then after i took the eggsac and i did a whole cage cleaning, i found half of half of a leg down in the substrate.

thanks for taking one for the team, bud.

Please do let us know if any are gravid. Im sure if sperm webs were built that at least one of your females is gravid. Avics are like bunny rabbits to me =D

peace
dave

 

[MizM]

Thanks for taking the loss to further our knowledge of the cohabitating T mystery!

Like Dave said, there are probably parts SOMEWHERE. The cannabalistic female would have done her very best to hide any leftovers... in the wild they could attract unwelcome visitors, so she would hide them instinctively I would think.

Again, SOWWY for the loss of your fuzzy little ones!

 

[deifiler]

meh there goes my dream of letting a swarm of avics rule one of the rooms in my future house

Maybe pokies will work!