Request for Pictures of Burrows in Captive Brachypelma ssp. and Grammostola ssp.

AphonopelmaTX

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Hello all!

If you have pictures of your Brachypelma species or Grammostola species with a completed burrow in captivity, please post them here. I want to get an idea of the burrow structure in captivity and to get an idea of how common it is. I'm also trying to get a feel for if anyone out there has individuals of these two genera that are "pet holes."

A few guidelines of what I am looking for...

- A burrow or "scrape" in which there is a defined burrow opening and chamber either underneath a cage decoration (cork bark, half log, large stone, etc.) or "in the open"
- Not looking for a tarantula just sitting under a half log or any other object.
- All species of Brachypelma and Grammostola welcomed. I'm especially looking out for Grammostola rosea or any of the "red legged" Brachypelma species (smithi, auratum, klassi, boehmei)

Thanks!
Lonnie
 

Mindibun

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Here is a B boehmei sling burrow. The cavity seems to take up half the bottom of the container and starts at the surface and goes down a gradual slope until it opens up into the large "living space"


This is a G pulchripes sling. Her tunnel follows the same gradual downward slope pattern and opens into a smaller cavern at the bottom. It is just big enough for her to turn around in and she doesn't seem keen to enlarge it.


She put a "back door" on her chamber, which goes almost straight up. You can see it here.


When they do burrow, it seems to look like these. But for some reason only about 50% of all my Ts have decided to burrow. Half are content to live life on the surface just hiding under rocks/logs/ etc.
 

AphonopelmaTX

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When they do burrow, it seems to look like these. But for some reason only about 50% of all my Ts have decided to burrow. Half are content to live life on the surface just hiding under rocks/logs/ etc.
Thank you for your response. Would you provide a few of the species you have that hide on the surface and their approximate leg span? Just a few, I don't expect you to list all of them.
 

ratluvr76

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I wonder if there is a correlation between whether they decide to burrow or live on the surface and whether or not they are male or female. Like, are Females more prone to burrow and males more likely to just get under something...
 

viper69

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I wonder if there is a correlation between whether they decide to burrow or live on the surface and whether or not they are male or female. Like, are Females more prone to burrow and males more likely to just get under something...
Well males wander around particularly when they approach maturity. Females remain typically quite close to their burrow.
 

ratluvr76

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Well males wander around particularly when they approach maturity. Females remain typically quite close to their burrow.
That's what I mean... I wonder if that behavior is life long, so that it would be evident even in slings. That way you could sort of semi guess on sex much earlier... o_O
 

viper69

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That's what I mean... I wonder if that behavior is life long, so that it would be evident even in slings. That way you could sort of semi guess on sex much earlier... o_O
I don't know for sure. To guess, I highly doubt it, when they are small they are both easy to be someone else's lunch, and suspect they both hide.
 

Formerphobe

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Female Brachypelma emilia. Five years old, ~4.75" DLS. I raised her and four of her male sac mates from 0.5 inch. All five were avid burrowers.
This girl was rehoused to this tank in February 2012. I set her up with a 'pre-fab' burrow and she continues to elaborate on it. There is a coconut shell hide in there. She used substrate from her excavations to fill it up and nearly cover it.


Just in the last month she has opened a 'back door' that comes straight up the corner of the tank. It's hard to appreciate in the picture the 'hallway' leading to the surface. (I think she wanted a short cut to the bathroom...)


Several of my Brachys and Grammostolas have filled in their hides or pre-fab burrows and treat the entire enclosure as one big burrow.
Both AF G. rosea and AF B. boehmei have designated toilets, dining rooms, sunken living rooms, molting chambers and basking areas in their respective tanks. The areas are not well delineated, but both are very particular where certain functions are performed.
 

Cavedweller

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Here's one of my B. albos when it first began its burrow


The burrow now winds all the way around the floor of the box (I put an upturned deli cup in the bottom to encourage visible burrows). My other 3 B. albo slings have similar burrows.

Edit: Oh and despite the extensive burrows, my B. albos are out most of the time.
 
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darkness975

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What size tank is that b. emilia in former? And unlike the ones here my grammostolas do not burrow. I wonder what makes the difference.
 

Formerphobe

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What size tank is that b. emilia in former? And unlike the ones here my grammostolas do not burrow. I wonder what makes the difference.
She's in a 2.5 gallon tank.
My first G. pulchra, a male, was acquired at ~2.5". I brought it home on 8/28/2010. I came home on 9/1/2010 to find a hole in the substrate. A couple of days later it pulled the hole in after it and I didn't see the spider for 5 months. It pitched out 2 exuviae during that period and resealed the hole each time. After a rehouse, it never burrowed again though I think it might have had I provided better substrate. I was using predominantly coco fibre at the time which just doesn't hold large burrows well, even when firmly packed, IME.
Another G. pulchra, also male, was acquired at ~1.0 inch (now ~4.0"), has more suitable substrate for burrowing, yet has never burrowed. He actually filled in his hide and has always been out in the open, his choice.
G. pulchra AF, recently acquired. I provided deep, firmly packed substrate, a pre-fab burrow as well as a hide. She promptly stuffed her ping pong ball and a fake plant into the pre-fab burrow, ignores the hide, has expanded a small wallow and spends all of her time out in the open.
G. pulchripes female, acquired at 0.25", burrowed as a sling, came topside at ~3.0" and filled in her burrow.
G. rosea sling now about 2.5", acquired at 0.5", has never burrowed.
G. rosea AF, acquired as an adult, uses her entire enclosure as though it were a chambered burrow.

I think there are a lot of factors involved as to whether a spider burrows or not:
type, suitability and/or depth of substrate
size/age of spider
WC vs CB
enclosure set up - small enough that spider feels secure? Large enough that it can or feels the need to burrow?
location of enclosure - air currents from fans or ventilation systems? Lack of air currents?
individuality
temp/humidity
etc.....

Sometimes it seems as though there is no rhyme nor reason, but each spider seems to have a master plan. :)
 
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Mindibun

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Thank you for your response. Would you provide a few of the species you have that hide on the surface and their approximate leg span? Just a few, I don't expect you to list all of them.
My surface dwellers are my rose hairs at 4" DLS each, E. olivacea at 1.5", GBB at 4" and 5", male and female, Most of my B smithi and B boehmei slings at 1" - 1.5", My adult male boehmei at 4", My Giant Vinegaroon slings and adult, My A hentzi female at 4", and my A chalcodes at 4" (unsexed).

---------- Post added 09-18-2014 at 06:54 PM ----------

I wonder if there is a correlation between whether they decide to burrow or live on the surface and whether or not they are male or female. Like, are Females more prone to burrow and males more likely to just get under something...
I've always thought about this myself. Me, personally, I've noticed that male and female are both more likely to burrow when they are young, but the male burrows tend to be smaller/shorter/shallower. The females get very elaborate and usually have a long "runway" type entrance. The males have all had very simple holes under a hide kind of deals. As the males mature, they leave the burrow and wander, as we all know, while the females stay. I think this prompts the females to make theirs more elaborate since they don't expect to leave. The males just need a sort of "temporary shelter" while they mature. No sense investing a lot of time and money into a place when you intend to move around a lot.

And I have noticed these burrow differences even as small slings. There are exceptions, but the majority of the deep diggers have molted out female, while those with shallow burrows proved to be male.

Someone needs to have their kids to do a science fair project on my hypothesis!
 
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