First communal egg case in SA

Now that you put it like that, it probably is the case (no pun). I am very convinced it won't be the last.

The male is still active, but has no real purpose now. The female won't allow him near her egg case and the young are typical modern youngsters, want nothing to do with their father... Probably because they are not sure he IS the REAL father... :laugh:

I am rather excited about this because of all the possibilities an egg case in this enclosure will have. Just not sure if I should add ten youngsters from other females as originally planned. Will see how many hatch from the newly constructed sac...

LOL, Scarab's found a way to turn a scarce species from Yemen, into an excessively procreational species from a trailer park...

You are going to need to buy Satellite TV for these M.balfouri so they have something to do OTHER than lay egg cases all year...

I just knew that communal enclosure was going to bring on some magic...

Well done mate!

Yeah well, I mentioned before and I state here for the record...

M balfouri females are slutts.
The procreate like flies.
There will be more M balfouri in the hobby by 2014 than there were OBT in 2009.
Now that the code is cracked, even "blind" keepers will breed them.

I predict that M balfouri will be ranked with H incei as one of the most communal spiders known to the hobby... just give them time.

It can also be noted that their VERY special nature will keep them high on the list of "wanted" spiders for a long time to come...

Edit: This makes me wonder what the hell happened on Socotra. Uncle Stan mentioned in another thread that Nature is a bitch (no in those exact words, but then he IS a gentleman.) Things are not what they seem, it can be a harsh place to survive... Maybe the Government of Yemen would allow re introduction of a few hundred... but that is a can of Anacondas if ever there was one...

Wow, I only came across this thread now and I am speechless. This is so amazing and I'm sure Scarab could write a book now on M balfouri, if you do, I'm first inline for a copy. I just can't get enough reading out of this truly amazing spider. I am tempted to throw 6 of my small ones together now. lol

Congrats on all the hard work and THANKS for SHARING.

I am in the process of compiling a rather lengthy document (NOT BOOK) on the topic. It is not a quick process as these things take time... May publish as an ebook once I'm done...

Where are the young of the original egg sac? Did the mother evict them? What will happen if she closes up her borrow like she did the last time while some of the original young are still inside?