Xenethis Immanis....

[Grant Brown]

Since I can't edit my post for some reason, I'd like to add that with many CB animals keepers report having to start burrows for burrowing species, compared to WC animals which will usually still display the characteristic "knowledge" to start a burrow.

I've seen it with Liphistiidae burrowing in clay - "more domesticated" specimens (i.e. that have been in captivity a number of years) often display a lack of willingness to start a burrow from scratch, whereas recent WC imports will try to dig through just about anything, even somewhat solid clay.

[R Thomas]

Since I can't edit my post for some reason

I find the inability to edit posts most infuriating as on all the forums I have been on in the past it has been an option for members to do so. I hate posting to find a basic spelling mistake I have made and not being able to correct it.

Perhaps the ability has been disabled for a very good reason (it definately stops you removing whole posts from a thread at whim leading to confusion).

Richard

[Joanna Pendleton]

Sorry, just wanted to add that I give all my terrestrial Ts ample substrate to burrow in. some (like my OBT)s become pet holes. my A. chalcodes has a burrow but is often out and the L.parahybana and X. immanis refuse to either burrow or use their hides, The X immanis has taken to actively destrying her hide. she used to move things round daily, esp her little water bowl but now she seems to have it how she likes it as she has settled down!

My apologies though, I have read that frog thing before somewhere, so I must have known they were burrowers, I think the behaviour of mine made me forget!

x

[Colin D Wilson]

Perhaps the ability has been disabled for a very good reason (it definately stops you removing whole posts from a thread at whim leading to confusion).

The ability to edit posts was an option on here untill recently, this option was totally abused by "some", threads involving the "some" were making no sense at all due to continued editing (whether it to "back-pedal" to avoid looking the fool or to edit out brash heat-of-the-moment insults/derogatory statements - which the BTS does not tolerate)

Moderation became a nightmare and thus editing was removed. Moderators and admin do not mind the occasional "flare up" or disagreement, these are expected with so many people having differing husbandry and beliefs in the hobby.
It came to a chore when just visiting the forum to catch up we had to go through endless posts to check suitability of content for other readers and visitors to the forum.

There is still (i believe) a limited time that you may edit your text soon after you post, offered for the purpose of spelling correction etc.

Sorry for any inconvenience people......rant over

[Grant Brown]

Not a problem Colin - editing posts can be a pain when it's ages afterwards. Meh, I'm not fussed to simply doublepost if relevant material needs added

I must say at this stage which I forgot previously to add was that her current burrow was provided (i.e there's a roof over which she greatly enlarged a small proto-burrow). In older set-ups she started burrowing without provision of half burrows or such.

It could be that certain cues are required for these spiders to deem a site suitable for burrow construction (presuming there's enough substrate depth) and if these are not there then burrowing behaviour may never instigate. It could be simple things like incline, surface moisture or ambient light levels.

[Christopher Smallman]

It would be a good survival technique in the wild if some burrowed and some lived on the surface because if they all burrowed and there was a flood they would be wiped out same if there was a fire those on the surface would not survive.

In captivity maybe they regard the enclosure as their burrow so see no need to waste time digging maybe thats why the OP's spider is hunched up like that just as they do when you have to turf one out of its safe hole. Those that do dig maybe found a scrape under a piece of bark and thought Im going to dig me a home

We all know our spiders have their own individual traits and do things their way even when the books say they should'nt lol.

Chris.

[Grant Brown]

It would be a good survival technique in the wild if some burrowed and some lived on the surface because if they all burrowed and there was a flood they would be wiped out same if there was a fire those on the surface would not survive.

In fairness, I do not know if fires or floods are a problem in their native lands. However, I did think of older "Noah's floods" situations when you mentioned floods - this sort of behaviour would surely only be selected for if such catrastrophre cycles were regular in their occurance? (i.e somewhat predictable).

In captivity maybe they regard the enclosure as their burrow so see no need to waste time digging maybe thats why the OP's spider is hunched up like that just as they do when you have to turf one out of its safe hole. Those that do dig maybe found a scrape under a piece of bark and thought Im going to dig me a home

This reason in itself ("keep them in a small tank, they will treat it as a burrow") so oft-quoted by other keepers is something I do not agree with.

Bear with me - My own specimens are in larger than advocated enclosures do display different behaviours from those I previously kept in smaller tanks (if I knew of a way to quantify such behavioural change as I've observed then I would, but I'm not really up to date with behavioural standards).

I'm not saying it's not plausible that this occurs, but my own intuitions suggests that this is not the full picture. A smaller enclosure as a neccessity has less complexity than a larger one (ar least in most circumstances this is undoubtedly true) and thus comparisons of behaviour in depauperate tubs vs. "naturalistic" would not seem valid IMHO - if you provide multiple potential sites for web building, burrowing, etc then surely it increases the tendancy for such behaviour to occur (if possible based on existing behavioural plasticity), compared to only single (or zero) potential sites to instigate such behaviour?

We all know our spiders have their own individual traits and do things their way even when the books say they should'nt lol.

Chris.

I do agree it varies per singleton - but whether this source of variation in individuals due to intrinsic behaviour is outweighed by the variation in how keepers house their animals.. I don't know. I'd think it might well be that case that both co-vary, and that you'd see a response whereby more complex enclosures provoke increasingly complex behaviours in some individuals to an asymptote, whereas this peak is truncated in simpler enclosures which simply do not provide adequate "nuclei" for instigating such behaviour. Some spiders might never hit this asymptote of "behavioural variation" even in complex, stimulating containers, whereas others might be inhibited in simpler containers lacking various environment cues.

Just my 2 cents really..."how do we know what's real, man?" etc.

[Christopher Smallman]

Fair do's I was just giving my brain some exercise on the subject

Chris.