Can some one clarify terrestrial?

Redneck

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Ok I know aboreal is a T that is more for climbing..

And terrestrial is a ground deweller.. But what I am trying to understand is are T's that burrow are they also known as terrestrial?

I know this is prolly a stupid question but my curiousity is getting the best of me and I cant locate nothing that clarifies it..
 

Ariel

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It's not a stupid question at all, I didn't know the term either until recently. Obligated burrowers are call "fossorial" (if I'm not mistaken)
 

Redneck

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Ok thanks for the quick reply Ariel.. This is something I am going to have to write down.. I dont like not knowing somethin when someone else asks me.. Some of my family and friends ask me stuff about my T's all the time and I hate saying "Oh I dont know.." Makes me stop and say to myself if I dont know then why do I have the creatures.. Thanks again
 

Ariel

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No problem. :) and i know what you mean, it's kind of embaressing when someone asks a specific question about your pets and you're like "uh...". :8o Happens to me sometimes. (especially with common names, I'll be on a roll talking about differint Ts and someone (usually my mom) goes, "Can't you use common names" "uh...." {D )
 

Steve Calceatum

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Ariel is right. Obligate burrowers are known as "fossorial" species. There are 4 types of tarantulas, if I'm not mistaken:
Fossorial
Terrestrial
Semi-Arboreal
Arboreal

I'm sure you can guess as to what each type does. Hope this helps.
 

Redneck

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lol Yea some of my buddies do that with the common name.. My mom just goes by their pet names.. She is sorta the reason I got into T's in the first place.. She has never owned one but called me a chicken on holding one.. I use to be scared to death of spiders just the sight alone my skin would crawl.. Then I got my first scorpion and desided to hold a T.. Which was a G. rosea.. Mom said if you hold her I will buy her for you.. So I held her and she bought her.. 30 days later my baby girl lays me an egg sac.. Rosie was my first T and she is sooo sweet.. Only once has she ever did a threat pose.. And NEVER has kicked hairs.. Before she had the sac I held her every day.. Lay on the bed she would go up to my shoulder and just sit there till I rolled over and she would climb on my hand and I would put her up.. She is an awesome T so far cant wait till I can get a few of her babies and raise them as well.
 

Redneck

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Ariel is right. Obligate burrowers are known as "fossorial" species. There are 4 types of tarantulas, if I'm not mistaken:
Fossorial
Terrestrial
Semi-Arboreal
Arboreal

I'm sure you can guess as to what each type does. Hope this helps.
Yea I know what they do now thanks for the reply.. I really didnt know about the semi arboreal till now tho but thanks for tellin me that..
 

Ariel

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lol Yea some of my buddies do that with the common name.. My mom just goes by their pet names.. She is sorta the reason I got into T's in the first place.. She has never owned one but called me a chicken on holding one.. I use to be scared to death of spiders just the sight alone my skin would crawl.. Then I got my first scorpion and desided to hold a T.. Which was a G. rosea.. Mom said if you hold her I will buy her for you.. So I held her and she bought her.. 30 days later my baby girl lays me an egg sac.. Rosie was my first T and she is sooo sweet.. Only once has she ever did a threat pose.. And NEVER has kicked hairs.. Before she had the sac I held her every day.. Lay on the bed she would go up to my shoulder and just sit there till I rolled over and she would climb on my hand and I would put her up.. She is an awesome T so far cant wait till I can get a few of her babies and raise them as well.
Originally when I was getting into the hobby I avoided getting a rosie because of all of their 'tendencies'. my first T was my 5" B. smithi and I adore her. But as a I get more into the hobby and collect more Ts, I still see those rosie threads and I started wishing I had one. :eek: I'm starting to look into getting one, probably a sub-adult RCF female. And I totally understand your excitement, I'm going to be picking up a female pinktoe in a week and I plan to breed her with my MM. It'll be my first breeding attempt :D heres to good sacs and healthy slings!!!
 

Redneck

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Originally when I was getting into the hobby I avoided getting a rosie because of all of their 'tendencies'. my first T was my 5" B. smithi and I adore her. But as a I get more into the hobby and collect more Ts, I still see those rosie threads and I started wishing I had one. :eek: I'm starting to look into getting one, probably a sub-adult RCF female. And I totally understand your excitement, I'm going to be picking up a female pinktoe in a week and I plan to breed her with my MM. It'll be my first breeding attempt :D heres to good sacs and healthy slings!!!
well good luck with the breeding and getting a good sac hope all goes well.. i have been wanting a rcf rosie as well but at the moment money is tight and can only do trades.. also if u are interested in a regular rosie if i get a good sac id be willing to send a couple ill keep u update on the sac if u are just pm me.. dont want to get to far off topic as i have already done :eek:
 

Bill S

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There are 4 types of tarantulas, if I'm not mistaken:
Fossorial
Terrestrial
Semi-Arboreal
Arboreal
Keep in mind that these classifications are gross generalizations in behavior and were invented by people, not tarantulas. Tarantulas feel no obligation to adhere to categories and behaviors that we designate.
 

curiousme

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Keep in mind that these classifications are gross generalizations in behavior and were invented by people, not tarantulas. Tarantulas feel no obligation to adhere to categories and behaviors that we designate.
Well put, here is my outlook on it.

Ts can be grouped into 2 main categories. They are either arboreal or burrowing. Then those two groups can be broken down further when talking about behaviors in captivity........

Arboreal = semi-arboreal(e.g. P. murinus)/ full on arboreal(e.g. Avicularias)
Burrowing = Opportunistic(which is also called terrestrial, e.g. Grammostolas)/ obligate burrowers(e.g. Haplopelmas)

In captivity people break it down to arboreal, terrestrial/opportunistic burrower and obligate burrowers, however these 'terrestrial Ts' when found in the wild, for the most part live in burrows.

When in captivity, a T is considered terrestrial/opportunistic burrower if it doesn't stay in a burrow all the time. If you give them enough substrate to burrow in however, they will most likely make one. That doesn't mean they will stay in it all the time, just that they will dig a burrow. This makes them opportunistic, because the seem 'alright' with not having a burrow. Obligate burrowers do not seem 'alright' if they do not have enough substrate to dig in and will stay in their burrow most of the time, so they are put in a different category. Both types will burrow, but humans place labels/ categories on them that apply to behavior in captivity.

i consider true arboreal Ts to be the ones that make their tube webs up high, and away from the dirt. In the wild, a fair amount of what are considered arboreal Ts in the hobby will make a tube web, but it ends in the dirt. This would make them semi-arboreal according to the hobby definition, but we humans will still call them arboreal, because of how they act in captivity. So, semi-arboreal is what the majority of the 'arboreal' Ts are, when not in captivity.
 
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Ariel

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curiousme, while I agree with most of what you're saying, there are a few things I understand differently. Especially what you said is semi-arboreal. My understanding from what I read around the boards are that, the species people call semi-arboreal are species that are generally found in low brush and thus exhibit terrestrial behavior and arboreal behavior even in the wild, building their webs in low to the ground branches.
 

Steve Calceatum

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Keep in mind that these classifications are gross generalizations in behavior and were invented by people, not tarantulas. Tarantulas feel no obligation to adhere to categories and behaviors that we designate.
Agreed.
It is, however, a necessary evil to classify things so our brains have something to attach to. In the hobby, having a way to universally define characteristics gives the prospective owner a framework; by which they can make appropriate arrangements for their new animal.

True, you can break it down to its basic elements: Arboreal (spiders found in trees), and Terrestrial (Crawlies on the ground). But if I heard that P. murinus was a terrestrial, kept it as such, and later found out that it had arboreal tendencies as well; I would be wondering why no one told me about this in the first place. Especially if I had spent an ungodly amount on an enclosure. I would be a bit more than bent about it, actually.

So, I guess to clarify my previous post: There are four types of setups that are required by certain species:
Arboreal (little substrate, a lot of height, vertical hide)
Semi-Arboreal (Arboreal setup with more substrate and a den, or terrestrial setup with more height)
Terrestrial (3" - 4" substrate, lots of floor space, little height, den or hide)
Fossorial (alot of substrate, and a hole)

Hope that clears things up.
 

curiousme

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curiousme, while I agree with most of what you're saying, there are a few things I understand differently. Especially what you said is semi-arboreal. My understanding from what I read around the boards are that, the species people call semi-arboreal are species that are generally found in low brush and thus exhibit terrestrial behavior and arboreal behavior even in the wild, building their webs in low to the ground branches.
This is what i meant by 'their tubes end on the ground', sorry if that wasn't clear.:D When i say 'true' arboreal, i mean the species that do not have webs that reach the ground. i think we are saying the same thing, let me know if that is still in question for you.
 

Ariel

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This is what i meant by 'their tubes end on the ground', sorry if that wasn't clear.:D When i say 'true' arboreal, i mean the species that do not have webs that reach the ground. i think we are saying the same thing, let me know if that is still in question for you.
Oh, sorry, after going back and re-reading, I must have misread your original post, you're right. :D
 

curiousme

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Terrestrial (3" - 4" substrate, lots of floor space, little height, den or hide)
If you give 'terrestrial' Ts more substrate, they will generally burrow. At least in my experience they will. Our G. rosea and A. sp.Guatemala both do and have their own burrow, but they are provided with plenty of substrate.
 

Steve Calceatum

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If you give 'terrestrial' Ts more substrate, they will generally burrow. At least in my experience they will. Our G. rosea and A. sp.Guatemala both do and have their own burrow, but they are provided with plenty of substrate.
True, but I was giving 3" - 4" as a general guideline. Funny thing is, I gave my rosie enough sub to burrow, and she would rather do her arboreal impressions, or lay out in the open rather than either burrow, or use her den.
 

Ariel

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True, but I was giving 3" - 4" as a general guideline. Funny thing is, I gave my rosie enough sub to burrow, and she would rather do her arboreal impressions, or lay out in the open rather than either burrow, or use her den.
same with all of my terrestrial T's they all have ample substrate to burrow but simply hang out or sit in their hides.
 

Bill S

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It is, however, a necessary evil to classify things so our brains have something to attach to. In the hobby, having a way to universally define characteristics gives the prospective owner a framework; by which they can make appropriate arrangements for their new animal.
I understand - but all too often people will take a simplistic label and assume simplistic behavior. It does give our minds something to attach to, but all too often we become more attached to the label than we should, letting the label define reality.

For example, there's a local variety of tarantula that I have often seen hunting 4 feet to 10 feet above the ground. Would you classify that as arboreal?

We also have a species that lives in burrows. Would you classify that as terrestrial?

Would it help you to see why I don't attach simplistic labels too firmly if I pointed out that both of the animals I described above are the same one? (Aphonopelma chalcodes)

Applying a label to something does give us an easier way to pigeon-hole an animal, but that does not always mean it helps us accurately understand that animal. Labels can mislead as much as clarify.
 
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