Any Lyrognathus keepers out there?

[Tom Dauncey]

Howdy one and all,

As the title suggests, I'm on the look out for anyone who keeps, or has kept in the past, any Lyrognathus species. I have my eye on some L. Crotalus slings and was wondering what their growth rate is, as well as the average size of mature adult specimens?

Would I be right in thinking to house this spider in a similar way to Chilobrachys and other South Asian fossorials, i.e. deep layer of slightly damp substrate, possibly with a few twigs/pieces of bark/misc items to anchor webbing to?

Finally, being an OW fossorial I would assume their temperament to be... flighty, at the least. Anyone have any experiences regarding their general behaviour/defensiveness?

Thanks!

[Michael Olsinia]

Hey Tom,

I've raised an L. crotalus to a mature male in the past, IIRC it was about two to three years to maturity?
I'm currently raising groups of crotalus and robustus. I house them pretty much the same way as any other Asian burrower.
I find them to be a little nervous, but when they have a secure burrow to escape to, they'd much rather disappear down there than stand and fight.
I think people found them (robustus at least) quite hard to keep in the past, as they were hard to acclimate. But in my experience with captive bred slings, they all feed really well.

[Tom Dauncey]

Hi Michael,

That's all really helpful, thanks! Haven't been able to find much online reading material for this genus. I'd heard wild-caught specimens don't adjust that well - the ones I'm looking at are captive-bred. Your comments on their behaviour - preferring to have a burrow to disappear into - sounds similar to my [limited] experience with Chilobrachys. Can you remember what size your male L. Crotalus was when he matured (body length or L.S.)? And, out of interest, did you manage to get him paired up?

[Michael Olsinia]

IME these guys are less highly strung than Chilobrachys. Can't remember the exact size he was, but I think probably around the 4 inch mark. Couldn't find anyone with a female over here, so I traded him in with one of the German traders at a BTS show.