The question remains then, can Rozanne arrange that the spiders reach you Cerat?

TH

The Animal wrote: The question remains then, can Rozanne arrange that the spiders reach you Cerat?

TH

I have pm'ed her, so we see.

Ceratogyrus wrote:

Reynolds wrote: Synergy, your post makes me think...does anyone have data on females in the wild living in their burrows, info such as the period they spend in their burrows before finding a new home, thats if they do? just a though

Think a guy by the name of Martin Paulsen might have done research like this on H.hamiltoni and A.junodi. Will ask him tomorrow if i remember.

Had a look through some spider club newsletters and found a bit of info by Martin Paulsen regarding baboon spiders moving burrows.

Taken from the SCSA newsletter September 2010:
I think the issue with baboon spiders is that there was a widely held belief for a long time these animals
are not able to construct new burrows for themselves in the wild if they are moved, and thus they could
not be relocated. The theory that I was given to support this was that baby baboon spiders are able to
construct burrows because they have a rastellum, a specialized scraping structure on the front of the
chelicerae used for digging, which they use to construct a burrow which they live in for the rest of their
lives. The rastellum is lost as they get older, and the spider is only able to enlarge the burrow as it grows.
This theory is incorrect as baby baboon spiders do not have a rastellum, and baboon spiders of all ages are able to burrow by digging in the soil with their fangs. Furthermore, Martin Paulsen found that adult
female Harpactira hamiltoni, a species widespread on the Highveld grasslands, actively move to find new
burrows every two years or so. Conversely, he also found that Augacephalus junodi, a savanna species,
does not move and appears to live in one burrow for its whole life.
In conclusion there are a number of observations, including the results of the project at Hoedspruit,
Martin Paulsen’s studies, and observations of burrowing behavior in captivity, that indicate that baboon
spiders can be translocated and can potentially construct new burrows or occupy burrows made for
them.

Thanks for the info Cerat.
Appreciate your effort in researching this for us.

I think we can take 2 important points from this:
1. When released into the wild, they can reconstruct their burrow, so increasing survivability. But also meaning exotic species might have a better chance to survive.

2. "observations of burrowing behavior in captivity". Having permit holders that can observe them in captivity has a positive effect on the understanding of animals. This for me confirms that it is important to have people actively study them.

This is some great info you have posted thanks Ceratogyrus! Appreciate your time and effort, as i will be adding this to my personal database.

I think its a good thing for us locals to get familiar with local species as they are just as beautiful and exiting as any exotic!

Thumbs up!

Pleasure guys. Glad there are some users here that appreciate some good info. heard nothing from rozanne regarding the spider, so suppose her 'friend' is just going to keep them.
Hey, you win some, you lose some.