E. uatuman juvie female drumming with all legs????

[Cycle of Chaos]

So I just received my little female uatuman about a week ago from Jamies Ts. When she arrived she looked great and healthy and even ate on the second night. A few days ago I went into my spider room to spry/give water to everyone when I heard a loud banging sound. It was her drumming with all her legs at the same time, almost like throwing a tantrum. She is only about 3.5-4" so not mature but Ive never seen this before. I did a bit of research and of course ran into the DKS. She hasn't done anything else odd, but last night she wasn't moving much, I gently brushed her with a soft paintbrush and she was kinda limp. A few seconds later she sprung up and made laps around the cage like normal.

As of now instead of digging she has a weird web cylinder on top of the dirt, so I'm hoping she is just in premolt. She is not fat but none of my Ephebopus' have large abdomens.

Has anyone seen this before? I wish I could have recorded it. As for her enclosure its like all my other skeletons. Deep moist (not soggy) dirt with a full waterbowl and plenty of ventilation (its a medium kritter kepper with some of the top vents blocked and extra holes in the plastic drilled in. It did get really hot that day hitting 88 degrees F in the room but nobody else seemed to mind. I just hope she does not have anything wrong like DKS.

 

[korg]

Sounds like you just got this spider (great species!) so I'd let it settle in a bit and observe it for a few more weeks before concluding anything might be wrong. If it made a hide, eats, and is reacting to stimuli then maybe you just observed some chance odd behavior. When mating this species can do a strange kind of "hop" sometimes... Skip to around 2:40 in this video, does that look at all like what you saw?

 

[Cycle of Chaos]

Sounds like you just got this spider (great species!) so I'd let it settle in a bit and observe it for a few more weeks before concluding anything might be wrong. If it made a hide, eats, and is reacting to stimuli then maybe you just observed some chance odd behavior. When mating this species can do a strange kind of "hop" sometimes... Skip to around 2:40 in this video, does that look at all like what you saw?

That little hop is adorable.... It's hard to describe what it looked like. Like if a T threw a temper tantrum at walmart. She hasn't done it since and from my understanding Ts with DKS show signs regularly. As of right now she is just kinda sitting curled up (not death curl) behind a big curved wall of web. Ive only seen her eat once but her abdomen is nice and healthy. I'll keep an eye on her and thank you for the response.

I love Ephebopus, after getting my blue fang, I had to look for a few other species. I will say out of my 54 Ts, Ephebopus are one of the fastest I have, with maybe my caribbean diamond being a bit more warpy.

I have a T stirmi female who would drum at me when I would walk around and vibrate her cage, although it was just her palphs.

 

[cold blood]

he is only about 3.5-4" so not mature but Ive never seen this before. I

Curious how big you think they get?

Its definitely mature....this species is pretty small....like 4"

 

[Cycle of Chaos]

Curious how big you think they get?

Its definitely mature....this species is pretty small....like 4"

Really, I knew the males were small, but I thought the females get around 5" give or take. My MF I mira is about the same size too as she is. Maybe she is mature then, thanks for the info.

 

[cold blood]

Really, I knew the males were small, but I thought the females get around 5" give or take. My MF I mira is about the same size too as she is. Maybe she is mature then, thanks for the info.

That would be a large I. mira....they usually top at under 4"...3.5" is typical for a female....this is a 3" mira...

 

[Cycle of Chaos]

That would be a large I. mira....they usually top at under 4"...3.5" is typical for a female....this is a 3" mira... View attachment 301175

Oops sorry I worded that wrong, I meant my mira is about the same size as my uatuman is now. about 3.5-4. My mira is currently my smallest adult T which is why I brought her up. Again sorry for the wording.......I wish my mira would get that big, lol

Just curious is the uatuman the smallest for the Ephebopus? My blue fang is still a sling but my murinus is much bigger, closer to 4.5-5".

Just an update, the little uatuman is currently walking around like normal, not showing any weird signs. So her crazy spaz might have been a weird fluke.

 

[cold blood]

Oops sorry I worded that wrong, I meant my mira is about the same size as my uatuman is now. about 3.5-4. My mira is currently my smallest adult T which is why I brought her up. Again sorry for the wording.......I wis

if the mira is the same size as your uatuman, its a huge mira and larger than the one I pictured pairing.

 

[Cycle of Chaos]

The mira just molted a few weeks ago and has started to pop her little blue legs out. She is a pretty good size, I measured her before she molted and after hearing how small they were, I knew it definitely wasn't a male when I bought her from a local pet shop. The uatuman is about the same size. Ive read mira's get around 4" so I didn't think much of her size. I'll try to get a picture, when she comes out, then again I may be doing the "fishermen exaggeration", as I haven't measured her by ruler yet after her molt.

Edit, the mira was actually out. Not spread out, but is around 3.5, probably a bit smaller, and the uatuman is about the same size. Actually by looking at my receipt when I bought the uatuman, it says "3.5-4" but definitely closer 3.5.

 

[cold blood]

Edit, the mira was actually out. Not spread out, but is around 3.5, probably a bit smaller, and the uatuman is about the same size. Actually by looking at my receipt when I bought the uatuman, it says "3.5-4" but definitely closer 3.5.

Both would be mature

 

[Cycle of Chaos]

Thanks for letting me know. The uatuman may have just been super excited to see me. Makes me feel better, Ive been lucky None of mine has had DKS or any other major problems "knock on wood". After seeing some videos of DKS, its so sad especially since no one really knows what causes it.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Just curious is the uatuman the smallest for the Ephebopus? My blue fang is still a sling but my murinus is much bigger, closer to 4.5-5".

I don't think any of them get that big tbh, my E. cyanognathus male was 3" before he hooked out, I have a rufescens female but she's only about 2" atm.

After seeing some videos of DKS, its so sad especially since no one really knows what causes it.

The term "DKS" is a misnomer, a syndrome implies a linked set of symptoms whereas tarantulas only experience one symptom - dyskinesia. To paraphrase @cold blood, if you had a runny nose you wouldn't say you had "Runny Nose Syndrome", it's probably the result of a cold or allergens or something else. Dyskinesia is the result of something else and we now have a much better understanding of what can cause dyskinesia in tarantulas;

Poisoning - Either from household chemicals or pesticides.
Extreme dehydration.
Impaction.
Internal parasite (extremely unlikely unless you buy a WC specimen that is already playing host to one).

Tarantulas can also spaz out a bit if startled, my P. metallica goes on a mad one running around all over the place if I open her enclosure and I have to wait for her to settle down before I can take the lid off to do maintenance.
If I posted a vid of her doing that with no background information in one of the FB tarantula groups they'd all tell me that she definitely has "DKS" and that I should stick her in the freezer.

Of course, I know that she doesn't have "DKS", there's absolutely nothing wrong with her besides the fact that she's stupidly skittish. She webs, hunts, eats, and moults normally so I have no cause for alarm.

 

[Vanisher]

Ephebopus is one neat genus!!

 

[Cycle of Chaos]

Wow, thanks for all the help, especially about the DKS information. I think she's fine, just worried me a bit as I've never seen that before. Almost all of my other spiders are pretty calm, even my Pokies just sit there when I spot clean. The only other time Ive seen spazzy behavior is with my Cobalt blue sling and my crazy 3i deathstalker.

The uatuman has webbed and is moving normal now, so I might have just startled her that night. She has only eaten one cricket in my care but she looks healthy.

Again thanks for all the help!

 

[Arachnophoric]

I don't think any of them get that big tbh, my E. cyanognathus male was 3" before he hooked out, I have a rufescens female but she's only about 2" atm.

Pretty sure E. murinus does.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Pretty sure E. murinus does.

Probably a poor choice of wording of my part. Basically, I was trying to say that the genus is comprised of relatively small species, most don't get over 4.5" (with the possible exception of E. murinus, I've heard they can reach 6" but max sizes always get exaggerated so I wouldn't be surprised if 4.5"-5" was more accurate).

 

[Arachnophoric]

Probably a poor choice of wording of my part. Basically, I was trying to say that the genus is comprised of relatively small species, most don't get over 4.5" (with the possible exception of E. murinus, I've heard they can reach 6" but max sizes always get exaggerated so I wouldn't be surprised if 4.5"-5" was more accurate).

Ah, gotcha! Pretty sure my young adult female is sitting ~5"+ if her size relative to my 4" P. irminia is anything to go on. I'll have to see if I can measure her.