Poecilotheria striata community?

[Jamie Cooper]

Hi guys.

I bought 5 Poecilotheria striata spiderlings about 6 months ago. They all arrived together as a community. I decided to separate them and house them individually. Now I kind of regret doing it and am considering re housing them together again.

Will this pose a problem?

Will the fact that they have adapted to life alone mean they will show aggression to one another and canibalize?

If so I will keep them separate. Does anyone have experience with this? All advice is greatly appreciated.

They have all moulted 3 times in my care and are about 3cm in leg span.

Thanks, Jamie

[Colin D Wilson]

To be honest it could go both ways mate, they could just settle down nicely or one or two could be lost to predation.

Keeping spiders together is not a science, it's more luck than anything that they settle down together, of course there'll be some that will say do this and that and it will be perfect, i've had more communities go bad for one reason or another than run well (and i've done a fair few (some not neccessarily the usual) over my time in the hobby) and i'm of a mind now that it's just tempting fate to be honest and if i had my time again i wouldn't bother with the majority of them.

in short ... it's a risk bit up to you at the end of the day Jamie.

[Lee Corless]

I also had some thing similar happen with H.incei slings I got 6 that were living well together then seperated for maybe 10 days, when reintroduced together 3 got ate. Now i am not saying Pokies will do the same, but it is worth baring in mind. I also fully agree with Colin. When i was researching H.incei colonies there was a wide spectrum of completely established 4th generation colonies right down to complete disaster with 1 survivor. So it seems a completely hit and miss project.
Most people who have had successful colonies that i read about started with full egg sacs and just left them to it. They did suffer heavy loses until nature balanced out. (http://www.edmontonreptiles.com/foru...ead.php?t=2350)

[Jamie Cooper]

Thanks for the reply guys!

I think I'm going to keep them separated. I would hate to put them at risk.

Jamie

[Nicola Dolby]

I tried the same thing with P. formosas once. Had to seperate them quickly! I think you've made the right decision

[Peter Lacey]

I mirror Colin's thoughts on this. Ive had and have lots of communities including 20 x P. striata that lived with mum for the best part of a year and now have a community of 15 (I hope). If you're concerned about losing 1 you shouldnt consider it. Personally I enjoy the fact there can be a great degree of success with communities and put the occasional loss down to a variety of factors, perhaps these are the weak ones picked off by the stronger ones?
I split a community of 15 x P. rufilata for 8 weeks. When I brought them back together the 2 communities seemed to separate, with one lot going fossorial and and the other adopting the cork tube. The community went down to 9 and seemed to consist of those in the tube. I certainly wouldnt try that again.
The trick with pokie communities is making sure they stay together in one hide, once some move out its time to separate those IMO.

[Jamie Cooper]

Thank you for the replies. It has made very interesting reading. I'm definitely going to keep them separated.

Thanks again, Jamie

[Peter Roach]

I bought 5 Poecilotheria striata spiderlings about 6 months ago.



They have all moulted 3 times in my care and are about 3cm in leg span.

Hi Jamie

I cant help you with your community problem as I've never attempted it (probably never will) but I'm extremely curious about how you keep your pokies ie temps and feeding.
When I last had pokies (rufiata, formosa, fasciata) I bought them as small 2-3 cm slings and 6 months later they were an average of 4 inches.
I bought them all from TSS on 21st July and sold most of them at BTS the following May (10 months later) When I sold them most of them were approx 6 inches with a few MM's which were slightly larger. From memory the temps were approx 25-27C with a once weekly feed of lobster roach(s) That is the average temps of my shed and i only ever feed once weekly.
I am struggling to work out how such a fast growing species isnt growing as fast as i would expect.
This is in no way doubting your abilities as a keeper, I'm just curious is all

[Jamie Cooper]

Hi Jamie

I cant help you with your community problem as I've never attempted it (probably never will) but I'm extremely curious about how you keep your pokies ie temps and feeding.
When I last had pokies (rufiata, formosa, fasciata) I bought them as small 2-3 cm slings and 6 months later they were an average of 4 inches.
I bought them all from TSS on 21st July and sold most of them at BTS the following May (10 months later) When I sold them most of them were approx 6 inches with a few MM's which were slightly larger. From memory the temps were approx 25-27C with a once weekly feed of lobster roach(s) That is the average temps of my shed and i only ever feed once weekly.
I am struggling to work out how such a fast growing species isnt growing as fast as i would expect.
This is in no way doubting your abilities as a keeper, I'm just curious is all

Hi Peter,

I keep them at around 28C with a drop at night to about 22/23. I feed them all once, sometimes twice a week on small black crickets. Humidity I estimate to be around 75%. Each has moulted 3 times in my care, although they are all due to moult again soon. A more accurate measurement shows they are about 3.5cm in leg span.

To be honest I didn't think they were behind schedule. Perhaps I need to increase the size of my food items to speed things up a little? If I am correct and they do moult within the next couple of weeks, that will be 4 moults in 6.5 months. Is this slow progress?

Jamie

[Thomas Jessen]

I would say normal, but can be pushed a little. If you keep them at 28c they should be easy feed. Just give them a good size meal and they grow quickly

[GIRAUD nicolas]

reply to community pokies

hello, i ve got a P.subfusca community. I bought them when they do 3 cm LS, they were born on december 2009. Actually, i've got 3 adult males, and 2 sub-adult females 13-14cm LS. I feed them once a week, and the males were adult in 12-14 months, females i think 24-26 months.<br><br>the day temp is 20-21&nbsp; (they re on the low) night 18-19, and for one month on winter, a temp night and day of 15-17 degrees. <br><br>When they're not in community, they grow lower. male adult in 18 months, and adult female more 30 months.<br><br>For other Poecilotheria, i don't know, but i've breeding rufilata with success, and the slings are in community. They do 2,5cm LS, and they're placed in 2,5 l plastic jar with 20 slings. They're going to be st2 and all be fine.<br>I've breeding subfusca and the slings are placed by 20, and all be fine to. They're st2 and going to st3.<br><br>Thank you and sorry for my english, but i'm french !!&nbsp; i do what i can do !&nbsp;

[Jamie Cooper]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I think I will increase the size of my food items to get them growing. I've never been a fan of over feeding or power feeding, but they could probably benefit from more food each week.

Jamie

[GIRAUD nicolas]

It's a good choice, but you must remember, the size of the preys is not the most important, it's the quantity of preys distributed per weeks.
Because some slings can takes two preys, and if you give only the same number than tarantulas, you will finished with canibalism.

For my poecilo in community, i give 25-27 little roaches for 20 tarantulas. And the day after, all were eating !!

bye.