My New Metallica... A couple of quick questions...

[Journey2Anywhere]

Hi,

I’m a new member to this forum and relatively new to Tarantula keeping (1 year). There appears to be lots of professionals here who seem to know what they’re talking about here so I think i'm certainly in the right place. I have tried to hunt down some literature on the A.metallica but none of it really answered clearly the questions I needed to know. I was wondering if anyone would kindly help me out and answer some questions I have. They’re regarding my new A.Metallica I have just purchased. It’s a sub-adult, with about 3 “ leg span.

(1)Can I house the A.metallica in the same enclosure as any other Aviculria species of the same size?

I was told by the seller that any pinktoe should be able to live comfortably together.

(2)Do I actually need a water dish, or is misting sufficient?


(3)When I do mist, the water droplets don’t really stay on the side of the Viv… they sort of dry away or slide into the substrate within a couple of hours… why could this be? I don’t want to over humidify by consistently spraying more water in.

I would be extremely grateful for any help…..

Thanks for your time

z

[Sarah Malcolm]

Hiya,

I also have an A.metallica of the same size. I asked the same question regarding communal living and was advised that although it is possible that Avics may live together given that they have adequate space, food etc, there is still a high risk of you losing one or more spiders. Also, if you were mixing sp. then there would be the risk of them breeding and producing hybrid offspring (there is alot of controversy surrounding hybrids, in that they might damage the purity of captive bred t's if mistaken for a pure bred sp.).

Regarding watering: what kind of viv are you using for your A.metallica and what form of heating are you using? I don't provide water from a dish (my metallica doesn't tend to go down to the floor of the enclosure often enough!), instead I mist every 2-3 days. I keep him/her in a tall plastic jar (approx. 13"/14" high and 6" diameter) with a tall piece of cork bark. My heat pad is pinned to the wall and the jar placed against it so that the heat comes from the side of the enclosure as opposed to underneath. If you mist the side with the heat this creates a good humidity. Also making sure there are some droplets of water on the webbing (not too big) provides a good reservoir for all Avics.

Hope this helps

[Journey2Anywhere]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply! I’ve taken on board your suggestions regarding communal living…I will have to look further now into the risks involved. If you have any links to more detailed information regarding communal living I would be very grateful for them.

I would like to put 2 metallicas in the viv, but not at the expense of one of them dying!

Regarding the watering issue: the viv is glass with the following dimensions; 15” high 11” wide 10” deep. I have one peace of cork bark going diagonally and another piece of java wood also going diagonally. The heat mat is pinned to the back of the enclosure.

I find that any misting I do is dried up by the end of the day. The shallow water dish also evaporates rather quickly…. I don’t know why. I am going to purchase a humidity gauge asap to see whats going on.

She hasn’t managed to spin much of a web yet… and is moving rather slowly… I’m not sure if she is about to molt. She does have a bold spot on her abdomen which is quite dark. I hope she is ok
.

Thanks

Oz

[Sarah Malcolm]

Sorry I have taken so long to get back to you, systems all go at the moment, lol!

Regarding the links.... when I considered attempting the communal living with my metallica, I scoured the net trying to find info and turned up with next to zilch. There doesn't seem to be much in depth info on managing colonies successfully (or not that I could find) which is why I ended up posting on another forum. All I was told was that you should make sure that the t's were approx. the same size, well fed and that the viv was large enough that the could both/all have their own space. I kept my three versicolor slings together for the first 3 weeks that I had them. They made an extensive network of tunnels, but appeared to keep themselves to themselves in the sense that they each had their own tunnel and they did not at any point share tunnels. I don't know if this was typical behaviour but I certainly got the impression that they did not particularly want to be in close proximity of each other. At the end of the day, I seperated them as no matter how perfect you have the set up, there is no guarantee that it will work and I did not want to risk losing a spider.

Regarding the watering.... is your heat pad pinned to the inside or the outside of the viv (sorry for the silly question, I just wasn't sure, lol). Also, how ventilated is the tank? If there is too much ventilation then it will be difficult to keep the humidity correct as the moisture leaves the tank as opposed to hanging around in the air. When you open the lid, the air coming up from the viv should feel warm and slightly moist on your skin (I hold my face over the top as it's better at judging than your hand). If he/she is coming up for a moult, you'll need to get the humidity raised to avoid complications.

Hope you get it sorted out

[Journey2Anywhere]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your experience of communal living. It’s more than I managed to find myself on the net! Bit by bit, as I find out more I’m getting the feeling that its really not a good idea to risk it.

With regards to misting…….

My heat pad is placed on the outside of the rear section of the tank. You mentioned the possibility of too much ventilation, I think that may have been the case.

I read on the net that covering the top of the enclosure can be helpful. I placed cling film over the top of the tank and now the moisture is being retained much better. I can feel the air is wetter when removing the lid.

I also got a humidity gauge which is reading 70%, but I think I need to get it higher still.

Is there anywhere in particular the gauge should be placed to get the most accurate reading? High or low, Near the heat pad or not?


Thanks for the help

[Sarah Malcolm]

Hiya,

that was the conclusion I came to with regards to the communal living. If I had loads, I might attempt with some but they are too precious to me to take risks

I'm glad you have your humidity problem sorted out. I was going to suggest cling film, lol! If you are still finding that the humidity is too low just give an extra little spray, as long as the substrate does not get soaked

With regards to the placement of the gauge, I'm afraid I have never used one in the 5 years I've been keeping t's, so far I've gone by intuition (don't know if this is good or bad ). I would not like to say incase I was wrong, but I will try to find out and will let you know if I do.

Good luck

[Ray Gabriel]

Hi,

I have an eggsac of A. mettalica (the large green colour form) which should be spiderlings in the next couple of weeks.

If you both are interested in doing some work with communual rearing of these Avics (i.e. Posting regularily on the site as to how they are doing etc, or maybe an article for the journal) I will let you both have a bunch free.

if you are Both interested (Sorry i am not giving them away free to everybody just the people in this thread)

drop me an email i will let you know when they are ready

Ray

[Journey2Anywhere]

@Angel Arachnid

Thanks for your offer regarding the metallica slings. Although the idea sounds fascinating to do....I think I'm still too inexperienced to undertake such a project!

When I have some more experience I may well get back to you!

Cheers

Oz

[Ray Gabriel]

Ok, i will not be breeding these again so if you reconsider let me know.

You have to start somewhere.

Ray