Thanks for clearing that up Scarab, its really awesome how they share food ...so how long can you keep them in a communal setup until they start canabalising each other ?

I will take donations Dimitri... thanks for offering this kind sponsorship of 2 HD Cameras... :woohoo:

Let me start by saying Huzi, in the words of Uncle Stanley, "there is no such thing as a truly communal Tarantula". When the going gets tough, the weak become supper...

BUT

I have VERY serious doubts if they will ever turn cannibal. Only time will tell. I do however believe that the females, once mature, might become somewhat territorial. With this I suggest that they will set up their own nest and inhabit this like they would in the wild. Males will mature and wonder, females will stick to their nest and mate with whatever passes by. I doubt females will go on nightly walks to "clean up" their territory. This will only become clear once there are a few adult females in the enclosure.

M balfouri MUST rank among the most tolerant Tarantulas of all, towards their own kind that is. The motherly devotion is rather special, the social interaction between siblings something to behold.

I don't have enough mature females to experiment with this, for example house two adult females in the same enclosure and see what happens. I will put money on them confronting each other with some sort of posturing, but at the moment, I can't see them harming each other. Truth is, I have been wrong often, so this might be no exception.

A while back, I introduced two males into one mature females enclosure. This was an extremely interesting experience, to some extent proving what I believe to be natural selection of the fittest/strongest/prettiest... not all that different to any other rivalry among males (although in humans, money seems to outweigh even good genes).



The first male started vibrating a few seconds after I introduced him into the females enclosure. The red wine then told me to introduce a second male. He proceeded with similar vibrations. The second the "stronger" male noticed that a rival is around, he turned his focus away from the female and with very similar vibrating motions, moved towards the rival male. The "weaker" male made no attempt to challenge the stronger one, but made his way out of the enclosure.



Once the coast was clear, the stronger male proceeded to mate with the female in the normal leisurely fashion.

I do not yet have experience with two adult females coming into contact with each other AND I am not about to test my theory on my females. The communal enclosure will eventually answer this question.

Once I have a few adult females, it might be a good idea to record contact between females on video... don't you agree Dimitri??

This thread just gets more and more interesting .@Scarab hope you have success with the mating.

I must say WOW Scarab you have outdone your self, I can't wait until the price drops on the balfouri's that is the last T I want to buy for my collection, but just maybe I will start a communal as well.

Well done scarab

This thread never fails to deliver. Thanks Scarab. Some nice photos as well.

29 February 2012

I have a funny feeling the original five slings, that are obviously not slings anymore, are starting to look to new horizons. They are close to 8cm in leg span, maybe more, maybe less.

One of them have already moved out, made a nest about 15cm away from the adult female. I have seen it almost inside her nest, no aggression was witnessed from the adult female, nor any aggression from the juvenile towards the adopted slings.

I also get the impression the original nest is getting a bit cramped for five juveniles, so it is rather obvious that they would start moving out.

Although human emotions and crap can not be attributed to spiders, from the image below, it does seem that the one behind is sort of "pushing" the other one in an encouraging fashion... like, "piss off, I need your room..." :laugh: