Just out of interest sake, the Balfouris I bought from you, were they from the same batch as these "original slings'? If so, what do you feed them and how often? My biggest sling as around 2.5cm, that is one HUGE difference to yours!

The slings you "received" from me are from the same batch as the adopted ten living with the female in the communal. They are about the same size as yours. The five juveniles that are about 7-8 cm are from the female in the communal's previous batch. Remember, she made a dud sac inside the communal enclosure, that's why I gave her 10 from your babies's mother, which she readily adopted. Confusing? Your slings are siblings of the adopted ones and not from the original five. The original five are offspring from the surrogate mother.

I see... Its hard to keep track of your balfouri family tree. They're like a bunch of rednecks

Well I have some sort of idea what is where. Rednecks indeed. I heard through a birdie living in a grape vine that breeding M balfouri in "other countries" still seems to be a bit difficult. The birdie says that those folks keep on removing egg cases from the females, with dire results. I did the same during 2010 and lost 278 slings, then I learned from David Štastný and had no issue since. In my experience, M balfouri is extremely easy to breed, and hopefully the South African hobby will be swarming with them soon.

It is hard to imagine how, in only four years, these spiders have become such an integral part of my life...

Great news Scarab.

If you keep this up, in the next 4 years they will be all over the market! More abundant the B. Vagans. The new "Starter Spider". R30 a pop
Now you should just find the secret to breeding P. Metalicas!