Hi everyone
I bought a family of h incei (Trinidad olives), a mom and about 10 babies that I have managed to count. I was just wondering when can I move them into a bigger tank and what size tank should I use? The babies are about 1cm or so in size. Any info on the best way to keep these guys will be appreciated.
They are very cool. Watch the mom re-decorating. Definitely one of my favorites!

Hi Debbielynn,

First of all congrats on the purchase. H. Incei are very cool spiders, I used to own a communal as well.

IMO, you should keep them in as small a enclosure as reasonably practicable. Initially I put my Incei's in a reasonably large container, which was mistake #1. After about a week one was missing. Knowing they cannibalized the one, I just left them be which was mistake number 2. I should have rehoused them to a much smaller enclosure.

Right now I have a communal of 6 Poecilotheria Striata (thanks Cerat ) They are all around 7cm in size, yet I keep them in a 200mm x 100mm x 100mm enclosure, the same size I keep my other pokies individually in, and they have no hassles at all. The reason to keep them quite "tight" is to prevent them from establishing territories, in which case they will be aggressive towards each other.

So my best recommendation would be to not move them into a larger enclosure, especially now with the slings still being small. As they grow larger you can maybe eventually move them to a larger home, but for now they should be fine.

That being said, how big is the current enclosure, and do you maybe have any pictures?

You can move them over as soon as you have a tank set up for them.

For a start you can put them in a tank that is 220mm(L) X 150mm(W) and as they grow you can put them into a tank that is 300mm(L) X 220mm(W) with lots of hiding spots.
Depending on how many adult females you have in your enclosure you can get a bit bigger tank, but the last size I suggested will be fine for them.

I keep mine in a 300mm X 220mm tank.

Cascade wrote:

For a start you can put them in a tank that is 220mm(L) X 150mm(W) and as they grow you can put them into a tank that is 300mm(L) X 220mm(W) with lots of hiding spots.

I know the following is regarding Poecilotheria communals, but it should not differ much in the way one should keep any other communal's:

Pokie communals:
Pokies are one of the small number of theraphosids that can actually live communally. However, not all species can be kept together. P. Regalis, P. Fasciata, P. Rufilata, and P. Subfusca are examples of Pokies that will live together. However there is always the chance of cannabalism, so if the pokies you have housed communally are precious to you, or hard to replace, I would suggest housing them individually. If you do decide to keep a communal, try not to provide too much space, or too many hides, as this could encourage territorialism. It is also advisable to house spiders that have been reared from the same sac, rather than introducing unrelated specimens. It is indeed possible to house different species of pokie together, but this could encourage hybridisation. There is no real need for it, so please dont try. Remove mature males from a communal set up if there are multiple females present, unless you want a sac. If you do, remove mated females from the communal and house them seperately, to prevent agression.

Bearing in mind what was stated in this link, "lots of hides" would maybe not be the best of ideas for pokies, but would it differ so much with other species? I realize and take into account that Cascade is keeping his in his own method, and granted successfully. But maybe the statement: "if the pokies you have housed communally are precious to you, or hard to replace, I would suggest housing them individually.", is the truest and best statement. (IMO)
here's the link as well: www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/spiders-i...e-poecilotheria.html

I guess it all comes down to personal opinion and judgement.

Pokie communal are different in a sense.

H. incei are not territorial, but when the females are on egg cases they become very protective.
They are very interesting species , I added two H. incei adults to a mother with 50 slings, rehoused them all together, and a week later, the two new H incei had webbed up there sides and now had slings living with them.

That what makes them so nice, I have 7 females in a tank and a whole lot of slings.
And I have not had any problems with this communal as of yet.

This is the one that had the Female and then added the other 2 females.
This tank size is 150mm X 220mm X 220mm










This tank has 7 females and lots o slings ranging from a couple weeks old to 3cm slings.
the tank size is 300mm long X 220mm wide X 220mm high.

Wow! Thanks Cascade. That's really cool! I'm getting rid of most of my NW species bar a few, but now I think I want to try a H. Incei communal again.