I know Swifty is a guy, are you telling me whom I may, or may not love?

Oom?? Am I married to your Auntie ??

Back to the topic then...

Hahaha.... I had a lekker laugh now!

Scarab just loooves me... its a balfouri kind of love
That looks fantastic. I think you are spot on in creating a viable environment. And soon an entire self contained micro-biological eco-system will develop. It would be so cool to see. (you dont think we can twist your arm to bring it to the auction) purely for display purposes of course?!

Suntiger my love, if I attempt lifting this little eco-system, not only will I fracture several vertebrae and possibly tear all anchorage from my already fragile sac, but also undoubtedly break the bottom glass.

Viewing will have to be arranged, entry fee can be substituted with a Castle ??

Now back to reality. It has been stated that M balfouri are profuse webbers. I know people often mention that some species web a lot more in captivity than when they are observed in the wild. The females I have in smaller enclosures have extensive webbing outside the burrow entrance, which would appear to prove the mentioned theory. The female inside the communal has virtually no webbing outside her nest at all. She has however lined the area within her hiding place, but very little outside.

Strange but true. :huh:

The male hides in a different spot each day, has no permanent nest. This correlates to what mature males would do in their natural environment. He is very active at night and surely has mated with the female already. Imagine a double clutch... inside this enclosure!!!

You will have to intensify your grazing area... good thing M.balfouri are browsers :silly: I guess you would be able to see pretty quikly what headcount your environment can sustain. One question though; would'nt a clutch constitute its own values of communal? Then you would have a double communal in a communal. Sounds like sqwatting to me.

I am replying to Shakou here, I think this thread is more relevant.

May I say, thanks for the kind comments, and awesome that you joined us here. For me, mission accomplished. It has always been the purpose of "going public" with my few observations, now you have proven that some seeds fall on fertile eyes.

Now on to more important matters.

It seems that keepers from countries other than SA have something against "blue". In SA on the other hand, it seems blue spiders are more popular, perhaps because we see so much blue around, especially up above. :lol: For the life of me, I can not understand how someone can describe M balfouri as a "Pet Hole"? It certainly does not sit out in the open all day, but there is a multitude of spiders with more secretive lives than these "blue" Baboons. The secret to enjoying them lies in a visit after dark. Granted, a gravid female might become a bit of a recluse, a pre molt spider would stay underground, but BOY do the make up for it once these cycles are completed. Also, the webbing they produce outside the burrow is just magnificent. I have stated that the female in the communal has a LOT less webbing, but the females kept in smaller enclosures make up for this, big time. You might argue that you are not keeping "webbing" but spiders. This is true, but with M balfouri, there is a lot more that goes on in and around this.

Now your question(s) on the new arrivals. I don't normally say this on a first date, but I must tell you, I am probably just as excited as you are. I can understand your reservations, mainly because of the price. This has been one of the contributing factors, preventing people from trying communal set ups. I must presume that the slings you will receive soon come from the same egg case. I have had slings separated from each other and re introduced them after a few days, without any hassles. Their mother was introduced into the communal enclosure first. I then placed the five slings in close proximity to her fresh nest. They lived there for about a week. Recently, (can't remember exactly when) the female vacated this spot and moved about 80cm (0'8m, 800mm) away and created a new nest. The young spiders stayed behind, seemingly expanding the webbing she had started. What fascinates the crap out of me is the fact that the male has now moved in to this nest and seem to prefer it as his daily resting area. The young are often seen outside while the legs of the male are visible inside the nest. If I am bluntly honest, I have concerns that he might have nipped one or two, but this can not be proven yet. I regularly see the young, but not all at the same time, so I just don't know if there is still five slings alive and well. My gut tells me that they are all fine, I will most certainly state it here once I know for a fact.

I will be introducing five slings from my second egg case withing a month or so, and repeat again by November from the third sac.

It is not my place nor position to advise on your situation with the new arrivals. This is a decision only you can make, BUT, from what I have seen and done here, the chances that your five will somehow harm each other are VERY slim. This is because I have NEVER witnessed ANY form of aggression between siblings. What the outcome will be when I introduce slings from another mother, being a few months younger, I just don't know yet. My current feeling is that this will prove to be successful and hopefully remove all doubt that M balfouri are similar to H incei when it comes to communal living. Let's wait and see...