Question about M. Balfouri in Communal Setting... Or T's in General.

I have set up a small group of M. Balfouri in a communal setting about 3 days ago. They are doing well. However, on 2 occasions, I've seen one of the smaller males and the larger female locking legs as if trying to breed. They aren't showing any aggression, and she has had plenty of opportunity to kill him if she wanted, but my question is, will spiders who are not mature try to breed? I don't know if the female is mature or not, but she is close. The male I know isn't. Is she trying to get him to breed? When I opened the container, the male just walked away. Here is a picture of the two. I snapped the pic as he was walking away.

I've seen some other species of baboons do that. Example: I watched a video of Harpactira species, where the mom and her sixth instar babies did that as like some form of communication. My balfouri communal just has siblings from a breeding loan and they're too small right now.

This spider is communal ? Too pricey for me hope price drops in the next few years. Do deaths occur often? do they get along well.

Balfouri like some other baboons are amazing together! I have five together and no problems. I haven't heard of any problems with balfouri together. I love the piles of balfouri and when they hunt together as a team.

fuzzyavics72 said:

Balfouri like some other baboons are amazing together! I have five together and no problems. I haven't heard of any problems with balfouri together. I love the piles of balfouri and when they hunt together as a team.

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I had no idea, I know that OBT don't work in this set up. Which other baboons are communal?

I know H ince is communal., I never saw slings cheap enough for me to consider them.

I would ask catfishrod69 or do some research. I only know of M balfouri and some Harpactira species. P murinus fail as a communal and so does I mira.


I don't like dwarfs as a communal and have been told by some hobbyists not to. The ONLY perfect communal is M balfouri, but other hobbyists might think differently. I don't have to worry about them fighting over territory and making sure I feed them enough like in pokies and dwarf sp.

From what I've read, and videos I've seen, I haven't seen or heard of any issue keeping them together. I have heard that it's best to start them as slings together, but haven't heard of anything negative otherwise. I have 4 in this setup together. I believe they are 2.2, and they are all unrelated. I did hear a little squabble between the females tonight, but when I got up to look, one just ran off. I'm keeping an eye on them closely until they get settled in their own burrows. I have several hides and a big log separating both sides, so everyone should be able to find a spot. I've attached a pic of the setup. Not the clearest, but you can get an idea. So far it's been 3 days and no deaths. Lol

I've actually laid the big log down, instead of standing it up like in the last pic, to give more separation. You can see (vaguely) in this picture through the plastic. I have them in a 27 gallon sterilite.