california trapdoor care

dtknow

Arachnoking
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Anyone else working with these guys?

I am trying again with these after poor success the last time I tried.

Some changes

-I have 1 young female and one quite large female(door bigger than 50cent piece)...I made sure to get the door from both and with the large female I have the entire burrow. I feel this will ease acclimation to captivity.

-vertical slope setup: Yet to find a burrow oriented vertically in the wild-seems this species invariably lives on steep slopes

-more loamy mix: I am going to add quite a bit of coir to some local soil instead of purely local soil.
 

Ambly

Arachnobaron
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Aug 20, 2012
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Let us know your luck. I use local soil as well and keep them on slopes similar to that I've observed here, but they are a different genus entirely. Do you keep them together? You might have better luck with a ten gallon and keeping them together, hoping one eventually matures.
 

dtknow

Arachnoking
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I found glassware at Michaels that looks sort of like a horse watering trough in miniature.

I stuck the large female tube and all into one and covered it up with substrate, leaving a slope for the door. I think the mix I made may be too fluffy-too much coir. May be tough to keep a burrow from collapsing. I may add in more clay gradually. Curious to see if she keeps the door and tube.

The younger female's door broke in transit :eek:oh:. So she is starting from scratch in a similar setup. Will see what happens.

Last time I set up two females-one in a large container with only native soil compacted to form a slope. She settled in for a few months and slowly withered away without modifying the burrow other than sealing it up. I note that Josh R mentions he's had success with these in more loamy soil despite the hard stuff you find them in in nature.
 

kellakk

Arachnosquire
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I keep some myself, and I think the key if you're using native soil is to water it down when you add the spider. They seem to be much happier digging in wet dirt than dry, and their door then forms cleanly in the same way that they do naturally. One of my trapdoor spiders has a much bigger appetite ever since I rehoused it into native soil in this way; it eats multiple times per week compared to once a month before.
 

Ambly

Arachnobaron
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I honestly know little about their biology, but I would assume Kellakk is correct. A lot of the native trapdoors here build homes in the spring when the ground is soft. While I am sure they can tear through very difficult substrate, I'd imagine many of them take advantage of the rains. A fella here, shotgun something methinx, mentioned that they hydrate with a wet ball of substrate.
 

Smokehound714

Arachnoking
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Yeah, as Kellakk stated above, these need moist substrate to burrow properly, especially clay. They DO like hillsides, but they seem to be more attracted to the lowest portion of the slopes, they seem to like a gradual slope, rather than a steep one, which is more attractive to aliatypus or aptostichus, both of which tend to build burrows perpendicular to the soil surface, to maximize protection from flooding.

bothriocyrtum, however, tends to burrow with a sharp bend a few inches down, again, perpendicular, but less-so, as the bottom of their burrow has a SECOND door, and a large chamber which is used for molting or sac production.
 

Ambly

Arachnobaron
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ah not shotgun, smokehound (above) was the fella who I recall having good info on these guys. Let us know how it goes for you. I am surprised more don't keep this species.
 

Smokehound714

Arachnoking
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they're not exactly the easiest things to collect, lol. I recently sold a specimen to someone that took a few days to collect, as I really dont like digging them up and destroying habitat. I have a technique that requires extreme finesse- I open the door, and wait for them to rush up to close it- keeping my forceps under the lid. Then when they dig their fangs into the door, i pry the door open VERY slowly, as they're extremely reluctant to let go. Usually, they hold on, and when they've been exposed enough, I carefully block the burrow entrance with my thumb and tickle their hindlegs to make them let go. Sometimes I fail, and have to return the next day.

many animals will reuse an abandoned trapdoor burrow, especially other trapdoors, and even tarantulas.
 

tonypace2009

Arachnoknight
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I had 5 trapdoors in a 10 gallon aquarium for 2 years. They were close to the same size they each had there own little territories in the tank. They like there substrate to hold together well not real fluffy. I like to put a couple of inches of clay close to the bottom of enclosure it seems to help with there micro climate and I have seen them with a webbed ball of wet clay in there burrows. To get them to start burrows where I want them I poke a stater hole 1" deep and put a PVC 1 1/4" coupling over the hole with the hole right close to the edge of the inside of the coupling. They follow the inside conture of the fitting until the reach the hole. Usually works like a charm. After they go under the substrate I scatter some leaf litter over the substrate that they will use for camouflage.www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYQa63vBb5Q This is a old video forgive me for the music and the Tarantula in the video but this trap door snatches a cricket nearly as big as it self. I wish it would have had the trapdoor shut but Its still pretty neat.
 

Smokehound714

Arachnoking
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It's funny you mention that, because my california trapdoors NEVER behave properly when I offer them pre-started burrows, they'd simply go beneath the surface, make a big chamber resembling a molting retreat, and refuse to build a door whenever I do this.

The best possible thing to do is to mimic their natural soil the best you can, these things are very touchy. Sand, silt and clay is fantastic for trapdoor substrate. You dont need much clay at all, try this ratio for substrate:

30 percent sand / 50 percent silt / and 20 percent clay. Clay should be pulverized finely, and it should all be mixed by hand. Shaking or stirring vigorously will cause the brazil nut effect, in which the larger, denser particles will shift to the surface. Mix it by hand (keep tamping to a minimum), then saturate it well all the way to the bottom. The different grains of sand lock together and the clay is a binder, which glues them in place.

Once their burrows are complete, they should be given periods of dryness, as their burrow will protect them from then on. Trapdoors DO need water! They drink when their doors and silken walls become saturated, and from condensation.
 

dtknow

Arachnoking
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SH: Thanks for the info!

I will say that what you're seeing is different from what I've observed in the field.

I have always found trapdoors on fairly steep slopes-quite a few in vertical clay faces. Mainly talking about road cuts here. The burrows tend to go horizontally back for anywhere from ~7-14 inches. Some burrows are unlined-not sure why this would be. Others are lined thickly. No second door or large chamber observed even in burrows I've seen with females and young. The large female I collected was in a clay bank that was actually quite damp-sprigs of moss are present on the door. Her burrow was lined with silk and went about 8 inches back into the bank ending in a little bag.

Do you give the trapdoors even a little divit to start with? or just dump them in and let them waddle around until they decide to dig somewhere? I gave the female a little hole just big enough for her to crouch down into and she went ahead and buried herself. Do you suppose I should dig her up again?

The first time i kept these on native soil I did wet the substrate thoroughly when I introduced them. Perhaps the premade holes were the mistake?

I'm thinking I will add some more silt and clay by putting it on the surface and spraying it-should result in it percolating into the mix.

i also like that collecting method. Since you've had success with these guys I think I will try getting just the spider if I do take any in the future.
 
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