Concerned about Mexican Red Knee

[Amberr567]

My fiance has a Brachypelma emilia tarantula. We are almost certain it is a female (breeder said it was female and we tried sexing it with the legs and couldnt find tribial hooks?), but now we are having a few doubts after talking to someone.

He got her about 4.5 years ago, but she has not molted in about 2. She is definitely smaller than a female should be - I would say she is between 3-4 inches long.

She has not eaten in months, but we continue to put two crickets in the habitat (it varies small to medium depending on where we get them. We don't buy large ones) and hides in her little cave without ever really coming out. He has almost never handled her to keep her stress level down as much as possible.

I attached some pictures of her, I know she's not in the best position, but I'm wondering if you can tell if she looks healthy or not. Is there anything that we can do to get her eating again?
I know spiders can go a while without eating, but he literally has no idea when she last ate is how bad it's been.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

[Thekla]

First of all, please try to use scientific names. "Mexican Red Knee" is typically reserved for Brachypelma hamorii, but yours is a Brachypelma emilia (if I'm not completely mistaken). So, you see, common names are really confusing, especially in this genus.

Secondly, your T looks healthy, nothing to worry about. They can go a very long time without food... months, even years. She could also be in premoult.

Although, if you're feeding it crickets like the one in the pictures, they might be just too small. If the prey item is too small, a tarantula might not recognise it as food. I'd give a T that size large crickets, adult red runners or superworms.

Does she have a water dish? Do you mind posting a picture of the whole enclosure? Just to make sure, there's nothing else we might miss.

Beautiful T, by the way. That's a species I'd love to add to my collection one day.

 

[lazarus]

Yes, that's a Brachypelma emilia (Mexican Red Leg).

we tried sexing it with the legs and couldnt find tribial hooks?

Tibial hooks are only present on mature males, imature males don't have them. So the absence of the hooks does not guarantee that it's a female. Also, not all species have them (B. emilia mature males do have them).
But if you say it hasn't molted in 2 years it's probably a mature female, B. emilia is slightly smaller than B. hamorii.

 

[Minty]

Abdomen looks plump enough so don’t worry about the lack of eating. I agree with the posts above.

 

[Amberr567]

Thanks for such a quick response.

Sorry for using the wrong term, the breeder referred to her as a Mexican Red knee and I'm not a scientist, lol. If I can fix the forum I'll do that.

The crickets that we buy vary in size, these are probably the smallest we've gotten, but we can try large crickets next or try the other options you listed.

I've attached pictures of the enclosure. We do not use a heat lamp and it is not near anywhere that there is a draft.

 

[Thekla]

I'd get her a bit more substrate and please, take whatever that is in her water dish out of it! She needs unobstructed access to clean, pure water. No sponges or such. In order to drink properly, she needs to submerge her mouth parts... not sure if that's possible with that "thing" in her dish. It could also be a perfect breeding ground for unwanted bacteria. And don't worry, she won't drown.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

My fiance has a Mexican Red knee tarantula.

You have a Brachypelma emilia (aka Mexican Red Leg aka Mexican True Red Leg aka Mexican Painted Red Leg, this is why I hate common names).

We are almost certain it is a female (breeder said it was female and we tried sexing it with the legs and couldnt find tribial hooks?)

Tibial hooks are only visible on mature male specimens, immature specimens of both sexes are practically identical. You can either vent sex (where you check the epigastric furrow for either a gonoslit or epiandrous fusillae) or moult sex (where you check the same region of the inside of the moult for spermathecae).

Area to check for vent sexing
View media item 55208
Area to check for moult sexing

0.1 Caribena versicolor

• The Grym Reaper
• Dec 18, 2018
• antilles pinktoe tarantula avicularia versicolor caribena caribena versicolor female martinique pinktoe tarantula spermathecae

Spermathecae of a 4.5" female.

She has not eaten in months

Hardly a concern, this is one of the slower growing species in the genus, they have pretty low food requirements and are known to fast from time to time (especially if you overfeed), just make sure it has a full water dish (also, ditch the cotton in the dish, tarantulas are stupidly hard to drown) and maybe attempt feeding once or twice a month

 

[Amberr567]

I'd get her a bit more substrate and please, take whatever that is in her water dish out of it! She needs unobstructed access to clean, pure water. No sponges or such. In order to drink properly, she needs to submerge her mouth parts... not sure if that's possible with that "thing" in her dish. It could also be a perfect breeding ground for unwanted bacteria. And don't worry, she won't drown.

I told him to put more substrate in the cage and his mother insisted that they should have the cotton in the dish.
Apparently that came from the original pet store (this is his third unfortunately) that told him to use mulch instead of dirt so his mom wants him to reach out to the breeder but I convinced him by showing him a source online.
I did see that it should probably be a more shallow dish, so we will go out and buy a better dish tomorrow. For the time being we'll fill this one up half way without any cotton in it.

Once she molts again we will definitely try checking her, but do you have any suggestions for how we should go about sexing it the other way? We are worried about putting too much stress on her if we try sexing her too much. Thanks!

You have a Brachypelma emilia (aka Mexican Red Leg aka Mexican True Red Leg aka Mexican Painted Red Leg, this is why I hate common names).


Tibial hooks are only visible on mature male specimens, immature specimens of both sexes are practically identical. You can either vent sex (where you check the epigastric furrow for either a gonoslit or epiandrous fusillae) or moult sex (where you check the same region of the inside of the moult for spermathecae).

Area to check for vent sexing
View media item 55208
Area to check for moult sexing

0.1 Caribena versicolor

• The Grym Reaper
• Dec 18, 2018
• antilles pinktoe tarantula avicularia versicolor caribena caribena versicolor female martinique pinktoe tarantula spermathecae

Spermathecae of a 4.5" female.

Hardly a concern, this is one of the slower growing species in the genus, they have pretty low food requirements and are known to fast from time to time (especially if you overfeed), just make sure it has a full water dish (also, ditch the cotton in the dish, tarantulas are stupidly hard to drown) and maybe attempt feeding once or twice a month

@The Grym Reaper(sorry didn't properly respond last time)

 

[The Grym Reaper]

but do you have any suggestions for how we should go about sexing it the other way?

Coax it into a ventilated clear container so that you can get a good look at the underside (using a flashlight helps). If you can get a clear photo then you can post it in the gallery linked below and people can give you an educated guess as to the sex.

http://arachnoboards.com/gallery/categories/epiandrous-fusillae-sexing-not-molts.9/

 

[cold blood]

Set up looks good, it doesnt need more sub.

A plump t not eating isnt a concern, in fact, its to be expected.

No need to offer food on any regular basis if its refusing...it could go a year without food.

 

[Amberr567]

Set up looks good, it doesnt need more sub.

A plump t not eating isnt a concern, in fact, its to be expected.

No need to offer food on any regular basis if its refusing...it could go a year without food.

Thanks!!! Is the any concern on the lack of molting though?

 

[cold blood]

Thanks!!! Is the any concern on the lack of molting though?

Slow growers have long molt cycles....and the larger they get, the longer those cycles get. It will molt when it needs to, molting isnt something we can directly control. The long cycle you are seeing is perfectly normal.