Chaco Golden Knee sling not eating

[speekaspeeka]

Hi, I got my little Chaco a few months ago when it was very small. It was eating well and growing so once it got to be about the size of a quarter, I decided to move it to a small deli cup from it's original condiment sized cup. I gave it enough substrate to burrow and keep it moist but the sling hasn't eaten in over a month. It ate twice after the move but now just sits in its burrow and doesn't even emerge to the surface. I tried giving it small crickets to coax it out but it is to no avail. There isn't even an opening for it to come out from. I am an amateur arachno-parent and am getting very worried about my spiderling. When pets don't eat, it usually isn't a good sign. I have tried to find some information by scouring the internet but I couldn't find much. Do you think it's molting? Should I take it out/reduce the amount of substrate? I've heard that you can try to feed them already dead prey but I don't know how I'd go about that if it is hiding down in the burrow. Please help!

 

[miss moxie]

Hi, I got my little Chaco a few months ago when it was very small. It was eating well and growing so once it got to be about the size of a quarter, I decided to move it to a small deli cup from it's original condiment sized cup. I gave it enough substrate to burrow and keep it moist but the sling hasn't eaten in over a month. It ate twice after the move but now just sits in its burrow and doesn't even emerge to the surface. I tried giving it small crickets to coax it out but it is to no avail. There isn't even an opening for it to come out from. I am an amateur arachno-parent and am getting very worried about my spiderling. When pets don't eat, it usually isn't a good sign. I have tried to find some information by scouring the internet but I couldn't find much. Do you think it's molting? Should I take it out/reduce the amount of substrate? I've heard that you can try to feed them already dead prey but I don't know how I'd go about that if it is hiding down in the burrow. Please help!

It could be in pre-molt, it could be currently molting, or it could just be fasting. Grammostola are pretty good for pulling the 'no food please' card.

You should watch this video. It is from a reputable source, goes over the basics of G. pulchripes care and also mentions how his refused food for a while before emerging.

 

[Venom1080]

Agreed. Sounds like normal premolt.

 

[speekaspeeka]

It could be in pre-molt, it could be currently molting, or it could just be fasting. Grammostola are pretty good for pulling the 'no food please' card.

You should watch this video. It is from a reputable source, goes over the basics of G. pulchripes care and also mentions how his refused food for a while before emerging.

Thank you for showing me that video! I am less worried now as it seems to be a regular phase. I had a Mexican Red Rump for almost two years before this one and it just died without any warning signs or anything, so I think I may be a bit unnecessarily jumpy because of that. Thanks again, though, you were really helpful.

 

[miss moxie]

Thank you for showing me that video! I am less worried now as it seems to be a regular phase. I had a Mexican Red Rump for almost two years before this one and it just died without any warning signs or anything, so I think I may be a bit unnecessarily jumpy because of that. Thanks again, though, you were really helpful.

Is it plausible that it was a mature male? Mature males (MM) do not live as long as females do.

 

[speekaspeeka]

Is it plausible that it was a mature male? Mature males (MM) do not live as long as females do.

I'm not entirely sure. It grew to about the size of a medium juvenile and then quit. I don't know how big MM get, but I'd assume larger than it did. It was still eating and moving around fine for a while after it initially stopped growing. Then, one day, it decided to go in its webbed cacti skeleton home and not come out. A few weeks later I decided to try to get it to come out and it was dead. It was my first spider so I thought I just must have done something wrong. I am used to mammals and their warning signs when sick so arachnids are an entirely new spectrum of warning signs to me.

 

[aphono]

I have two babies of this species, the one with deep substrate does that for weeks on end- made a nice tunnel with a chamber at the end... and closing it off for weeks on end. Don't try to feed or dig it up. When the hole is open or if you see it on surface, that's a sign it is hungry and wants to eat.

If feeding crickets, no need to kill them first.. they are pretty good at taking down live prey. However if feeding meal worms or dubia roaches, it really is a good idea to crush their head so they do not burrow down out of reach. It is very surprising how fast they go underground. Use tweezers or something like a pen to push down on the head.

by the way make note of the abdomen color. You will eventually be able to figure out if it is entering premolt or when it's really close to molting.. the abdomen turns way dark, swollen and super shiny. Don't try to feed if you notice those kind of changes.

It molted later in the very same day, notice how dark and shiny the abdomen is?View media item 41789
Next day:
View media item 41813

 

[PidderPeets]

My G. pulchripes sling has only opened it's burrow for food 6 times (and then closes it off again) in the past almost 3 months, and prior to that, it fasted for about 2.5 months with it's burrow closed off. Treat the closed off burrow as a "do not disturb" sign and let it open it when it's ready. They'll let you know when they're hungry. You'll see the feet sticking out of the tunnel. Lol

 

[cold blood]

There isn't even an opening for it to come out from. I am an amateur arachno-parent and am getting very worried about my spiderling. When pets don't eat, it usually isn't a good sign

Ts aren't pets like that...its completely normal for them to go long periods without eating or in hiding, or both....its one of the reasons why many of us have a lot of them.

I don't know how big MM get, but I'd assume larger than it did

MM sizes vary greatly, that vagans for example could mature as small as 3.5" or as large as close to 6....although its usually in between...but small MMs are common for virtually all species and IMO theyre more common than MMs that get on the very large size.

I am used to mammals and their warning signs when sick so arachnids are an entirely new spectrum of warning signs to me

Nothing alke, spiders don't really get sick like mammals sometimes do. Lacking an interior respiratory system has advantages.

My G. pulchripes sling has only opened it's burrow for food 6 times (and then closes it off again) in the past almost 3 months

That's an oddball pulchripes.

 

[PidderPeets]

Ts aren't pets like that...its completely normal for them to go long periods without eating or in hiding, or both....its one of the reasons why many of us have a lot of them.


MM sizes vary greatly, that vagans for example could mature as small as 3.5" or as large as close to 6....although its usually in between...but small MMs are common for virtually all species and IMO theyre more common than MMs that get on the very large size.

Nothing alke, spiders don't really get sick like mammals sometimes do. Lacking an interior respiratory system has advantages.



That's an oddball pulchripes.

Oh, I'm well aware that mine isn't the most typical for it's species. I was trying to express that even the slings can fast for a decent amount of time, and that they'll also close of their burrows without issue. I was trying to reassure the OP. Sorry, I should've specified that mine's a bit weird

 

[Renoxus]

Ohhhh, so that's what keeps bothering me. I actually am a new T Keeper bought my Chaco sling yesterday from an exotic keeper. My T is probably an 0.8" big, and when I bought Rakno (my chaco) I saw its molt on the enclosure. I'm also new to this site too!

Edit: What I mean is that I was worried that Rakno wasn't eating until now and the seller told me that Rakno just newly molted. Rakno is so cute btw xD I feel bliss everytime I think of her/him? (I dunno what its gender yet)

 

[darkness975]

Thank you for showing me that video! I am less worried now as it seems to be a regular phase. I had a Mexican Red Rump for almost two years before this one and it just died without any warning signs or anything, so I think I may be a bit unnecessarily jumpy because of that. Thanks again, though, you were really helpful.

Did your spider molt ?

 

[bjorktaiwan]

I'm not entirely sure. It grew to about the size of a medium juvenile and then quit. I don't know how big MM get, but I'd assume larger than it did. It was still eating and moving around fine for a while after it initially stopped growing. Then, one day, it decided to go in its webbed cacti skeleton home and not come out. A few weeks later I decided to try to get it to come out and it was dead. It was my first spider so I thought I just must have done something wrong. I am used to mammals and their warning signs when sick so arachnids are an entirely new spectrum of warning signs to me.

THE EXACT SAME THING happened with my Brachypelma vagans (Mexican red rump)... Seemed fine for weeks (it was just becoming a juvenile when I got it) and it molted one time.. I gave it a slightly larger enclosure and it was going about its life as usual... Then one day I woke up and it had done some renovation... Including sealing the opening to its hide.. I'd read this is really normal and it might molt in there so I just left it alone... After about a week of seeing NO change to the substrate I tried to coax it out with a little mealworm, but it didn't emerge... After another week or so I was freaking out so I decided to carefully lift its sealed off hide and just check on it... I found a molt right away, and just another inch or two away, found its corpse... I was really bummed... It had shown no sign of issues or anything and was eating before that and had molted etc... Then buried itself and died... And by the dryness / texture of its body it had been dead at LEAST a week...