# H.Gigas communal? maybe not!!



## Lerg (Apr 15, 2010)

How very upsetting, I have been advised by a fair number of keepers that I could keep gigas's together. I bought two slings a few months ago and both are well fed and were practically identical in size, they made their burrows next to each other (i thought quite cute lol) and seemed to share meals. I decided to have a thorough look this morning as for the last days I have only seen one sling. The other is no where in site, no remains, not in either burrow (i put the one sling into a vial whilst i was searching for the other) turns out that my little fatty must have munched her.

I have never kept ts as communals before, and doubt i will again, im just so annoyed with myself because when i first bought them together my initial instinct was to seperate them, wish i had now.

Ahh well atleast the fat one is thriving lol I guess every cloud has a silver lining and all that.


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## Jamesrm (Jul 30, 2008)

I've never heard of these being communal but if you really wanted to do a communal tank you should try h incei Ive seen pics of these in colonie of over 80 t's ive also seen lots of communal pokie tanks hope this helps


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## Craig Mackay (Feb 2, 2009)

Some people seem to have had success with H. gigas but unfortunately any communal setup is experimental. You never know whether it'll work out ok or not. What size of enclosure did you have them in? I don't know for sure regarding H. gigas but most "communal" species will simply just tolerate each other if there is enough space. Force them closer together and the risk of cannibalism increases. Others such as Pokies seem to do better with less space but there's always a risk.


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## Dr3d (Jul 31, 2010)

Lerg said:


> How very upsetting, I have been advised by a fair number of keepers that I could keep gigas's together. I bought two slings a few months ago and both are well fed and were practically identical in size, they made their burrows next to each other (i thought quite cute lol) and seemed to share meals. I decided to have a thorough look this morning as for the last days I have only seen one sling. The other is no where in site, no remains, not in either burrow (i put the one sling into a vial whilst i was searching for the other) turns out that my little fatty must have munched her.
> 
> I have never kept ts as communals before, and doubt i will again, im just so annoyed with myself because when i first bought them together my initial instinct was to seperate them, wish i had now.
> 
> Ahh well atleast the fat one is thriving lol I guess every cloud has a silver lining and all that.


Hi Lerg sorry for ya loss fella i'm off to pick up a couple a communities myself tonight  Reglis an Cambridgei.... if it stops there lol going to the bank now to get some serious money and gonna fill my boots hehehe ill post ya with what I end up with on my arrival home  this will be an amazing fix LoL


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## ebmoclab (Nov 21, 2009)

Jamesrm said:


> I've never heard of these being communal but if you really wanted to do a communal tank you should try h incei Ive seen pics of these in colonie of over 80 t's ive also seen lots of communal pokie tanks hope this helps


I've known of people who have kept H.gigas together from sac to sub adult with no sign of hostility, they're not commonly reguarded as a comunal species though.

Any community project should be considered an "experiment" there is no guarantee of success with any species. I wouldn't let this put you off the idea of a commune but maybe stick with something thats been proven to be better kept together.


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## Willenium (Apr 17, 2008)

I've got a couple of communes at the moment which seem quite healthy (regalis and OBT). Got two of each living together and they've tolerated each other very well with no scrapping for food or fighting over territory.


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

I have some theories about communities
First they're always regarded as an experiment
2nd you need to find out as much as possible before getting the Ts. What conditions, temps and why might they live together in such close proximity.

You also need to consider that sometimes the loss we experience might not be down to cannibalism. When I kept tropical fish I noticed the weak and unhealthy were often picked upon, sometimes they've be eaten. It made no immediate sense but perhaps they were removing what might threaten all of them. Or eradicating the weak. Im more inclined to believe what we might put down to cannibalism in tarantula is the same I experienced with the fish. 
Just a theory.


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## Tavor21 (May 24, 2010)

Bad luck mate


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## liz200898 (Oct 13, 2008)

don't let it stop you from trying out other communal set ups in the future it is never going to have 100% success rate (Well for most of us anyway)


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## empirecook (Sep 1, 2009)

Poxicator said:


> I have some theories about communities
> First they're always regarded as an experiment
> 2nd you need to find out as much as possible before getting the Ts. What conditions, temps and why might they live together in such close proximity.
> 
> ...


^^^^ this ^^^

Remember the saying "Only the fittest shall survive".


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## Lerg (Apr 15, 2010)

Poxicator said:


> I have some theories about communities
> First they're always regarded as an experiment
> 2nd you need to find out as much as possible before getting the Ts. What conditions, temps and why might they live together in such close proximity.
> 
> ...


That would actually make good sense poxicator i experienced the same thing with my cichlids and sometimes marine fish. I suppose in their natural environments the old laws of "only the strong survive" still apply. Im happy I still have one, just like I said, wasnt upset at the t really just myself for my own failure on behalf of the other sling. Oh well ill put that one down for experience. I wouldnt mind having a little communal set up tho, any recommendations on species that are not pokies? I love pokies, but they can be a right handful one at a time, never mind a communal set up lol



Dr3d said:


> Hi Lerg sorry for ya loss fella i'm off to pick up a couple a communities myself tonight  Reglis an Cambridgei.... if it stops there lol going to the bank now to get some serious money and gonna fill my boots hehehe ill post ya with what I end up with on my arrival home  this will be an amazing fix LoL


haha Dr3d you is getting worse lmfao I know the feeling though, since I have discovered online sellers i kinda have a click click click mentality lol regalis are really nice ts and ihave become a huge fan of the cambridgei, i bought another sling last week after falling in love with my other one lol keep us updated mate and get up some piccys


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## TEENY (Jan 4, 2008)

Lerg said:


> I wouldnt mind having a little communal set up tho, any recommendations on species that are not pokies? I love pokies, but they can be a right handful one at a time, never mind a communal set up lol


Yamia live well in communal set ups but need a lot of space per spider considering they are so tiny, my communal tank is at standstill atm with only one female as all 4 others moulted out as males, one male killed another, one died mid moult ( pendilaps stuck  ) another went out on breeding loan and she ate the last, buuuuuut she looks nice and fat and has webbed herself in so fingers crossed


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

I have communities of a number of pokie species, OBT and cambridgei.
H. incei and H. villosella work well plus, if you can find them A. minatrix.


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## spider_mad (Mar 8, 2007)

Communal keeping tarantulas is really experimental, when it comes to nature nothing is foolproof. Don't let it put you off in the future. I had success keeping pokies together, a couple of H maculata together. The only failure in communal keeping was when had 2 P irminia slings together.


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