I was born in Singapore. But spent 16 years growing up in PJ. Attended La Sale PJ till Form 4 then moved back to S'pore to finish school and National Service. Been in the US since 1987. Have not been back in M'sia since Summer of '88 but I would like to some day.
I just lurk a lot in some forums and pick up what I know from other people's experience. I've only been at it since 2004 but it's great seeing how much the hobby has grown since then. I still lurk once in a while in other forums but not as much as I used to.

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Added on June 14, 2009, 6:32 amFrom what I've read of communal setups- your chances of success are higher if you use sac mates that have not been separated. Also you can't give them too much space or they will start staking out their own territory. I did see a pokie setup where this one guy had pokies of different sizes all in one enclosure- obviously they weren't sac mates but I don't know how he did it.

This post has been edited by Oldfart: Jun 14 2009, 06:32 AM

I've 3 OBT communual setups. Cannibalism does happen though. I'm using slings from the same sac.

Cool! how many you got in each setup? do they share the same hides?

10 in each container.
I'm using dried leaves as hides.

Will you share pictures of your OBT setup andrew? I'd love to learn from there.

Also, has anyone here tried introducing OBTs measuring about 1inch into a communal enclosure?

Why not?


I've notice some drumming .. its like they're interacting !

Old fart: Do come back and visit, 1987 i am still drinking Baby Milk!, nice to meet you here. Been in the hobby nearly a year, still quite fresh. Currently waiting to go Alabama for training.

Leetplayer: So far is the cannibalism rate high? Old fart mention would they stay togather, cause i also thinking would feeding them cause a problem. Mind me i only have 5. Anyway Nice! Neat and easy setup.

guys i have a CBT,
the enclosure is 6'' high, most of the time it goes down there and very hard to spot it to surface, i understand.
but what i dont understnad is that the leftover it eats is down there as well...
i cant clean it as it goes very deep down there
i saw mites are feasting the left over,
is it ok for me to let the mites to stay with my T which is about 3 incles long?
can anyone please enlighten me

sure, a friend's SP blue died because of predatory mites because he house it in a deep/big enclosure that is hard to manage.

but the things is that deep enclosure ensures their stress level to be lower.
so is there anyway i can kill the mites if keep them in the way i was doing?
if there is non, i think i have no choice, but to cut down the bedding so can manage easily.

Get some springtails.

wat is springtails?

ya i heard of them that they can eat the mites and lives with tarantula, but do you have any idea where to get them?

I tot those mites feasting on the left-overs are springtails?

BTW...which T is the most dangerous to human?

This post has been edited by HyourinMaru: Jun 14 2009, 07:03 PM

yeah...how to get it..? can explain what is it..

U nid2 get them? My case they juz appear in any tropical setup tank i have
I shld have set a tank to breed them in future hmm...

so how to breed them? just placed some uneaten food and they just come in... ???

There are a number of things you could do.
The mites that feed on leftovers are scavengers and should not pose a threat to your T unless you have a major infestation and they are crawling all over your T- in which case, a change of substrate would be a good idea. Scavenger mites can be controlled by letting the enclosure dry out. These mites have thin cuticles and dry out faster than a T will. Provide a water dish for the T and let the rest of the enclosure dry out. Sometimes you will see them in the water dish- clean it out regularly and their numbers will dwindle to more manageable levels.
You could also give your T a bigger enclosure so it has a choice to move to some other part of the enclosure if it is being bothered by the mites. This can be a visual cue to you that something needs to be done about the situation.

If you have parasitic mites, that's a different story.

they are not dangerous if no1 plays with them, but referring to venom, the genus poecilotheria has quite potent venom, and ive also read that a stromatopelma calceata venom can cause heart attacks

I've also read some bad bite reports on Heteroscodra maculata and Hysterocrates gigas. Haplopelma schmidti and Haplopelma hainanum are also supposed to have pretty potent venom.