Citharischius crawshayi Mating Thread

[Austin S. Spears]

Well folks, nothing has changed. As of a couple days ago, she has now begun refusing food. She will not eat anythhing. she is freshly molted too, molted several months ago. So I'm not worried about that. It's not that her abdomen is still gigantic, its just that it is more robust/swollen/round. Not so long and fat. Any ideas on that?
As a note, she made a big chamber at the end of her burrow. It is about 10" long, 6-7" wide, and 5" tall. Pretty big if you ask me. Anyone ever knowtice there craw do this once settled in?
There is a small heating pad on the side of the tank, doesnt put off a lot of heat, but enough to keep the glass in that area warm. I used it on the last females tank prior to her laying, so I figured why not.
Ah hopefully the male wasnt a dud!!

[Nicola Dolby]

Hopefully the lack of eating is part of the process of producing an egg sack. I believe (though I might be wrong) that they bury themselves and go without food in the wild whilst they are producing little ones, so if she's increased the chamber and is off food, then maybe its a good sign!

[Mrs Linda Street]

Our large adult female C. Crawshayi burried herself into a large chamber, did a lot of webbing, refuses all food, and has been like this for the last 8 weeks, and she's never been mated, and wonder if it is something they go through. Our other smaller adult female started to do the same thing about 3 weeks later, she's not been mated either, and is also refusing food.

[Austin S. Spears]

Found her this moring silking up her burrow somewhat, not the chamber, but everything else. Her abdomen is fairly big, you can barely see it in the pic, but hopefully something comes from it!!!



Mr. Tansely, if you come across this thread, as well as others who have bred this species, I have a couple Q's for you.

The temp in the T room is around 75 during the day, but I'm sure the inside of her burrow is quit a bit warmer right? About 3 weeks ago I applied a small heat pad on the side of the tank, close to her burrow. In your (s) opinion, will that make it too hot? Or do you think it will make the temp more stable/warm enough in the burrow? Another thing:
The temp at night here in the room can drop to 65, I turn on a space heater that keeps the room anywhere from 72-80 at night. Is this a good idea or not? Or in your opinion, should it be kept off and have the temps drop?

[Guy Tansley]

Hi Austin,

I would guess that the temperature inside the burrow is warmer due to it's nature (restricted airflow etc). This artificial environment differs from the usual in that burrows in the wild are somewhat cooler than the surface temperature and so, similar to nature, I would also recommend the night time drop as you described. Remember that it's impossible to recreate wild conditions in captivity so it's all about trial and error.

There is a chance that the spider will simply 'go through the motions' and produce an eggsac, even under the wrong conditions, only to eat it very soon afterward. Only time will tell!

[Austin S. Spears]

Thank you very much Mr. Tansley. I will be keeping the temp around 80-85 during the day (with heat lamp) and around 67-70 at night, with heat pad. Hopefully things will go good!

I grabbed a couple pics of her chamber tonight as well.

[Austin S. Spears]

Well I tried feeding her today, but still no go, shes still refusing food. the dubia only wondered at her feed and she only threw up the threat display. First time for me to see her as a whole in a while! That butt is getting BIG!

[Paul Behan]

Do you intend to take the sac away from her after say 28-30 days for fear of her munching it? Good luck with her.

[James Box]

i've heard they are usually decent mothers, if they can be persuaded to drop a good sac...
whatever you decide to do, Austin...good luck! thanks for not giving up, it's all valuable data you're gathering!
and one of my favourite spiders too...yes, i know i have about a million favourites

[Austin S. Spears]

Well I am going to leave it with her until I see some babies! I made the mistake of pulling last time, and all the 300 eggs turned black

[Austin S. Spears]

There was a large abundance of mold inside her burrow, on the walls, bottom, everywhere, white mold. So I redid it all, heres the scoop:

Alright! Well it is finished! Took forever! Here is the entrance of her old burrow, you can see the mold even at the top.

It is 3 fingers wide (I had to work up the nerved to stick two down there!!!)

This is a 30 gal high, so LOTS of dirt


The only plant that survived in the old tank (the shrub died b/c she burrowed under it, tearing the roots to shreds, which may have caused the mold??)

Pre made burrow

Finished product!


Putting big mama back in

What does everyone think??



Home sweet home!

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Austin, some nice pics you've got there, it's nice to have that depth for her, but I think it can cause mould problems. Our C. Crawshayi, she's about the same size as yours or a bit bigger, we've got her in half that depth to try and keep her burrow private but ventilated at the same time.

Good luck with her, and I hope she does well.

[James Box]

i think with these the deeper you go the better...i've got mine in 8x8x15, about 12 inches of substrate, and they seem pretty happy...though if and when i attempt breeding them, they will go into large opaque rubbish bins full of dirt, as per a few tips i heard!
as for mould...it may not be the worst thing in the world to have some. granted some are dangerous but most are not.
could try using woodlice to control it if you're worried about the sac she's hopefully going to produce.
keeping it fairly dry also should help control it as well.

[Austin S. Spears]

Just an observation that has been noticed during this past week. After transfering her into her new tank and 'strate, she burrowed about 5" down the first night. Since then, she has not done a single thing. Two night ago she made such a think layer of silk over her entrance I couldnt even begin to see through, but last night she has tworn through it, leaving a gapping hole. She has not burrowed anymore and I'm starting to wonder if she will. Maybe she needs more time, but she rarely moves. Even when dripping a little water down her burrow for hydration, she does not move. I don't know, interesting behavior has to be documented. Any ideas?

[Austin S. Spears]

Not sure what the outcome of this will be, but we'll soon find out!