Cyclosternum fasciatum - CR Tiger Rump

[andy hood]

doh , jus remembered its a cyclosternum/davus pentalore that i have and not c.fasciatum

[Mikhail F. Bagaturov]

From the pics Your spider has distinct stria marks on the carapace front...
Not like this one on my pic.
Sorry to had crop Your picture for the better view, Andy.

[andy hood]

no problem mikhail ,i will get a better photo of the carapace if that will help to properly identify it ??

[Mikhail F. Bagaturov]

Thanks!
Would be nice.
As for the proper ID we'll only can go to the other /or same species I'm afraid... ;(

[Peter Lacey]

Well, things are still the same. Absolutely no sign of C. fasciatum and that's 4 weeks and one day now. No crickets have been eaten within the last week (prob never eaten) despite the fact I put 2 lively ones in which crawled over the whole enclosure. There's no signs of mites either. I've subsequently been told they prefer it on the dry side so I've only lighted misted once a week and she's under room temperatures of around 70+.

At what point do I consider she may have died (no smell or sign of pests) or decide to disturb her?
And how should I disturb her? dig her up or flush her out? We're talking a small amount of substrate and I'd prefer to provide a better hide tbh. Obviously I'd be careful not to injure her but if its considered its best to leave her be then I'll settle for that. But, at what timescale do we feel a need to interupt? I believe I'm right in saying they're not normally a pet hole.

[James Box]

well everything i've heard suggests they do need humidity and are sensitive to the lack.
i'm sure your's isn't suffering for that, though. i don't often have to mist mine because the humidity is kept quite high by the enclosure itself.

mine webbed itself up good and proper for i believe a few weeks (should've taken notes, sorry)...no way in or out. i eventually 'caved in' (sorry) and did a little excavating. spider wasn't happy, but i didn't eat her, so she was alright.
she (i hope) had essentially holed up to moult. once she was out again, she was eating ravenously and being out in the open more often. she's nervous about me, of course, and often runs to her hide, but i think her pet hole behaviour was largely due to moulting.
so it's possible in your case that's what's happened. if you're gentle and slow with your digging she shouldn't be stressed dangerously, though she'll moan....but at least you'll see what's up.

[Peter Lacey]

Well I felt it was time to investigate tonight, rightly or wrongly, rearranged things a little, put a coconut shell in and took up the soil where I guessed she might be. Totally webbed in a blanket of substrate, not a burrow. I placed some of the webbing in and around the coconut shell hoping she'd adopt that but it seems she may be going for the same things, lifting the substrate over her head and snuggling in. Maybe I should have removed the blanket. She conveniently used the water bowl as a toilet!

She's looking healthy, full abdomen (despite not eating), and not too skittish. I took some pix which I'll get up soon.

Thanks to those who provided their advice.

[James Box]

glad she's well, Peter!
no sign of an exuvium, then? i didn't spot mine right away, but it was in there after i looked round a bit.

i have to say this is a great species...fairly visible most of the time and a voracious eater, which is nice!

it's possible both of ours would've dug themselves out when they were good and ready too...but it's hard to know how a spider is if you can't see it, so for me i figured it was best to check, and nothing bad came of it, thank God. glad the same is the case for you, Peter

[Peter Lacey]

This morning I noticed some webbing on the coconut shell. I knew I'd placed some of the soil and webbing inside and around the shell to coax her into using it, the familiarity thing.
Well, it seems to have paid off because this morning she was sat in the shell, rather hidden at the back but just visible. So, "Darth Maul" has gone over to the dark side

I shall be looking through the old blanket for an exuvium as she does seem well groomed at the moment and I'm looking forward to tonight because its time to feed the tarantula! And to think Friday used to be spent drinking copious amounts of alcohol !!!
I'll get some nice pix up in the gallery tonight, and a teaser in here, plus a shot of her new set-up.

I don't suppose anyone could enlighten me to the confusion between Cyclosternum fasciatum and Davus fasciatum? is this a re-classification or what I've found to be a doppelganger? And does anyone have any experience with breeding these?

[James Box]

there's another lookalike called M zebratum, as well! but it's smaller.

i know what you mean about spider feeding times wait til you have 90 animals, most of which are spiderlings or scorplings!!! goodbye social life lol

...and yet on the plus side, hello to a completely different, if nonverbal social life getting to know other life-forms is so rewarding

[Peter Lacey]

Not worth setting up a new thread for just these 2 pix, most of the others are just facsimile of these.
So, finally some pix of Darth Maul

[James Box]

gorgeous spider you must be very proud!