Class Pet GBB- Fasting or Broken Fangs???

[MrTeacher]

Hello Arachnoboards!

It's been a while since I have posted. I am the 3rd grade teacher who took in a class pet GBB sling around a year ago. Azul, our GBB, has been doing great and the students really enjoy watching he/she eat and taking notes on the tarantula's behavior. It has went through 2 molts in our care and grown to about 1 1/2 inches now!

Recently, I have been a bit worried though. Azul's last molt was in January of 2018 and since then they haven't eaten a thing! I've thrown in crickets, meal worms, roaches once a week for a few months now, but I find the prey untouched (so I remove it) the following day. I figured it may just be fasting; however, today Azul finally went into a pose where I could see under it. Normally, Azul is in it's hide or on the ground, but today it ventured on the side of the terrarium. Could it be that it's fangs are broken off? I'm not used to seeing it's new fangs after the recent molt so I could be just a little worried/paranoid. Better safe than sorry though. I wanted advice to see if I should be trying to help Azul by offering liquid mealworm guts and such or maybe it's just still fasting.

Thanks a ton!
-Room 2, Grade 3

 

[Danalemp1216]

Hi Mr Teacher,

Your GBB looks perfectly fine. She may be fasting due to environmental factors like temp or low humidity. They come from an arid climate with infrequent wet periods, so are adapted to fast for long periods and gorge when prey is abundant in wetter periods

 

[cold blood]

grown to about 1 1/1 inches now

What on earth is the number you are trying to convey??

I see the fangs in the pics...and I can see its plump...so its likely just fasting....if fed a lot, they will fast a lot. Heavy feeding directly leads to long fasting periods. I think you just need to stop feeding for a while and be patient...looks plenty healthy.

 

[Ghost56]

What on earth is the number you are trying to convey??

Can about guarantee they meant 1 1/2 inches. Probably just hit the 1 instead of the 2.

 

[cold blood]

Can about guarantee they meant 1 1/2 inches. Probably just hit the 1 instead of the 2.

Seems logical...just appeared larger than that....but then again, there was no reference for size.

 

[Ghost56]

Seems logical...just appeared larger than that....but then again, there was no reference for size.

Agree, I thought it was way bigger than that when I was looking at the pics. Maybe he's measuring the carapace and abdomen length or something.

 

[MrTeacher]

Sorry! I meant 1 1/2 inches. I only measured the last molt so it is probably bigger now haha. Thanks so much for the advice everyone. We will continue to keep an eye on Azul until they decide to eat again.

 

[Wolfspidurguy]

Hi Mr Teacher,

Your GBB looks perfectly fine. She may be fasting due to environmental factors like temp or low humidity. They come from an arid climate with infrequent wet periods, so are adapted to fast for long periods and gorge when prey is abundant in wetter periods

the fangs are fine maybe its just in a long pre molt ive heard of that happening