Communal ref avics from different post.

[Adam Smith]

On the subject of communal living I have a question in this area that I was hoping could be answered and more towards Ray Gabrials area of expertise. If say, a pair of Poecilotheria Fasciata are kept communal since spiderling given enough hides, room etc when they start to grow and seperate them if I have a male and female will these breed or will they be less likely to breed as they were kept together previously?
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ADAM SMITH

[Ray Gabriel]

Hi Adam,

Given plenty of room and hides, in my experiance they would probably eat each other well one would eat the other (cannot say to much as i need to keep something for the pokie book and BTS articles),

BUT

we should start finding out soon, as it is only comparitively recently that people are now starting to keep Pokes in groups, so more information should start appearing on websites.

As for being more or less likely to breed, i would say more likely. I read an article a couple of years back on a species of Lycosid spider where the females are more inclined to mate with males they met when thay were s/a.

Also as Pokes are very social (with the ofdd exception) there would be more chance of a sibling mating than if a male was introduced for the following reason. If the female is one of these male munchers, there is more chance of her mating just after a moult when there is a male already in the tank than there is sometime after when a unknown male is introduced.

Ray

[Adam Smith]

Thats great to know if they are more likley to breed having been around the same tank, well I keep them in a medium sized coffee jar. Just hope they are male and female but if have 2 sexes of the same cant complain. Thanks for that anyway.