B. Albopilosum eating disorder

[Ian1980]

My sub adult female curly hair T is behaving oddly at meal times. I give her a bug and she takes it quite normally. She holds on to it for a few hours and does the usual dancing and spinning around with it and the next day when i wake up there is a whole bug laying dead on the floor next to her. None of my other T's exhibit this behavior. Has anyone else had a T that does this? Is it normal? I gave her her first bug two weeks ago and she did the same. I gave her another bug a week later and she did the same and now with this one. She shows normal behavior when i put it in there. She will make the effort to chase it and take it down and then not completely eat it, if she is doing anything with it. The bugs look pretty intact. The first 2 bugs i gave her were black crickets and this time it was a brown cricket. I am absolutely stumped. I am quite new to the hobby so would really appreciate some input from the more experienced keepers.

 

[Andrea82]

When is the last time she molted? How is her abdomen looking?

 

[BC1579]

Sucking stomach issue? Sounds like you've only had her for a few weeks. I would really get back in touch with the seller and see if she had a bad molt. She may be capable of killing but not consuming.

Maybe a brighter possibility would be that a molt is imminent, and she will kill prey as to not bother her but her body is telling her not to eat. Although of all of my Ts, when a molt is coming they just ignore prey items. I've read about that happening on these boards, but I get the feeling it's rare.

 

[viper69]

My sub adult female curly hair T is behaving oddly at meal times. I give her a bug and she takes it quite normally. She holds on to it for a few hours and does the usual dancing and spinning around with it and the next day when i wake up there is a whole bug laying dead on the floor next to her. None of my other T's exhibit this behavior. Has anyone else had a T that does this? Is it normal? I gave her her first bug two weeks ago and she did the same. I gave her another bug a week later and she did the same and now with this one. She shows normal behavior when i put it in there. She will make the effort to chase it and take it down and then not completely eat it, if she is doing anything with it. The bugs look pretty intact. The first 2 bugs i gave her were black crickets and this time it was a brown cricket. I am absolutely stumped. I am quite new to the hobby so would really appreciate some input from the more experienced keepers.

Drop a pic of your T from above. Ts do kill crix w/no intention of eating them. I've seen it myself, many reasons for this.

 

[Garth Vader]

I have seen this with my Hapalopus sp Colombia large. That T has killed crickets and then just left them without eating them. I think he just wasn't hungry but didn't want to be bothered. Everything else seemed okay as he was eating somewhat regularly at other times, molting regularly, etc.

 

[NukaMedia Exotics]

I've seen slings of mine hold prey items in their mouth only to end up dropping them somewhere out of the way. Not sure how long they held onto it for before dropping it though.

 

[Ian1980]

When is the last time she molted? How is her abdomen looking?

Not sure about the molt. I'll ask the shop I got her from. She looks very well. See below for a picture of her taken Tuesday night.

Drop a pic of your T from above. Ts do kill crix w/no intention of eating them. I've seen it myself, many reasons for this.

Sucking stomach issue? Sounds like you've only had her for a few weeks. I would really get back in touch with the seller and see if she had a bad molt. She may be capable of killing but not consuming.

Maybe a brighter possibility would be that a molt is imminent, and she will kill prey as to not bother her but her body is telling her not to eat. Although of all of my Ts, when a molt is coming they just ignore prey items. I've read about that happening on these boards, but I get the feeling it's rare.

I've literally had her for 3 weeks. I have only been keeping T's for about 6 - 7 weeks now so am very green. All my other T's are doing really well.

Drop a pic of your T from above. Ts do kill crix w/no intention of eating them. I've seen it myself, many reasons for this.

What reasons? Maybe I can relate to one of them with her.

 

[Ungoliant]

What reasons? Maybe I can relate to one of them with her.

The most common reason a tarantula would kill but not eat is pre-molt.

 

[Ian1980]

The most common reason a tarantula would kill but not eat is pre-molt.

I do hope so. That would be ideal.

 

[Andrea82]

Ah, I got the impression somehow you have been keeping longer.
She looks alright, not a very large abdomen though. I can't see very well, are you sure it's a female? Maybe post pics of pedipalps to rule out mature male?

They sometimes pack their food in webbing like they do with old webbing or bunches of substrate to dump it out later. Lots of mine dump what they don't eat packed in webbing in or near the waterdish.

Keep an eye on that abdomen, if it shrinks, and she is still refusing food, she might have an internal problem. But I don't expect this to be the case.
Sometimes they just aren't hungry.
I assume there is a full waterdish in the enclosure?

 

[Ian1980]

Ah, I got the impression somehow you have been keeping longer.
She looks alright, not a very large abdomen though. I can't see very well, are you sure it's a female? Maybe post pics of pedipalps to rule out mature male?

They sometimes pack their food in webbing like they do with old webbing or bunches of substrate to dump it out later. Lots of mine dump what they don't eat packed in webbing in or near the waterdish.

Keep an eye on that abdomen, if it shrinks, and she is still refusing food, she might have an internal problem. But I don't expect this to be the case.
Sometimes they just aren't hungry.
I assume there is a full waterdish in the enclosure?

I always keep a full water dish in there. She doesn't web on the bug at all. Just kills it and leaves it on the floor .