Have you tried to syringe feed her? I would buy a very soft prey item, a silk worm or something soft like that, crush it up and add water. Suck it up in a syringe, flip her on her back, and drop droplets of the mixture right onto her mouth parts. You would need to do it slowly and wait until you see the droplet being sucked up. The same thing that you would do for dehydration, but with a bug soup mixture.
She has not molted with me, unfortunately, but she has eaten in my care (albeit VERY infrequently). If not for that, I would assume it was her stomach.
I have known more than one person to successfully use that method to feed a tarantula who lost both fangs. All they needed to do was keep the tarantula alive until their next moult and they had their fangs back. It might not be successful in this case, because it is unknown what is causing her to decline, but it is worth a try.
Right. I'm worried she's so weak that she might not even react to something being placed on her mouth, but I'll try it in a bit. Just have to go pic up some waxworms for her! If she could just gain bit of weight and get some nutrients in her, I have a feeling she'll get stronger... but that might be wishful thinking.
I've never had to do it myself, but, in her condition, I would guess that she would suck it down almost immediately. I would wait a minute or so.
Trying it a day we speak, but she doesn't seem to be sucking much of anything down. She does seem to be putting up more of a fight that I'd expected, which is a good sign, but it's still pretty minimal. Her legs do seem a bit stronger than yesterday, but not by much.
I'm not sure why she always looks chubbier on photos, but she's quite skinny... I guess because the photos make setae appear like solid mass. But she's about half the size I'd expect from a tarantula about to molt, and twice as lethargic (and stumbling--her steps are slow and clumsy). Her inability to lift her abdomen is now what's worrying me most. You're correct that starving may not be the issue, but even if she was in premolt right now, it doesn't seem like she'd even have the strength to get through a molt successfully.
They are pretty flexible and the abdomen will droop in both directions easily if you don't support it. When you watch them, they sometimes pull their abdomen under them to web, so it is perpendicular to their carapace. It goes the other way like that too - my Avicularia metallica lets hers droop sometimes when she is face down on the side of her enclosure. I don't think it is a sign of anything being wrong on it's own, someone can correct me on that if I am wrong.
They can get extremely lethargic before moulting. She does look dull and black, but I am not sure if that is just the photo. Leave the soup in there and maybe wait for a while to see if she moults. Make sure she always has fresh water.
She's actually more of a dull gray and has been since I've had her. I suppose it's possible that she could be in premolt, but I've just never had a tarantula look this clumsy/drunk even in heavy premolt.
This is a slightly better photo.
Well that's good to hear! I agree that her abdomen doesn't look shriveled, but I guess I've always attributed that more to dehydration rather than nutrition.
Mine didn't eat, moped around lazily forEVER. I got worried, but the told me basically what @VanessaS told you. 10 days after she finally molted she was in full "feed me, puny human or else!"
and she destroys the blasted thing while I'm not looking.
She seems to have a little more energy today, though still extremely clumsy. One thing that is worrisome is that her abdomen seems to have a bit of a dip in it? She also had 3 or 4 mites around her mouthparts (attacking anything left of the bug slurry--the same type of mites that always seem to be attracted to spider poop and boluses), and I had to remove those before I left her alone. Those mites seem to pop up no matter what I do in every enclosure that isn't completely bone dry...