G. Pulchripes sling odd behavior

draconisj4

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About a week ago I got a 1 inch G. Pulchripes sling along with several other slings of different species. All are starting to settle in and have eaten a couple of meals except the G. Pulchripes. It has been hiding though I have seen it out drinking water once. It has readily taken a small lat twice however it has not eaten them. Today it jumped on a small lat immediately about 7 hours ago and has been carrying it around since but not eating it. It's on the side of it's enclosure right now and I can see that the lats body is still plump. Has anyone had a sling do this? Is it possible it could be in premolt or maybe it doesn't feel like it has a safe place to eat it's meal? It's abdomen is rather dark all the way around and appears a bit small. Sorry I can't get pics, it's very dim lighting where it's enclosure is at and I don't want do disturb it any further.
 

jaycied

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Obviously picture would help, but.... I've seen tarantulas of all sizes carry food around before munching them up. If the abdomen is dark it could be premolt as well. Is the abdomen shiny, like a grape?
 

cold blood

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That's kiinda odd...pulchripes are typically stone cold killers and fast eaters....its almost like its having an issue eating, perhaps its sucking stomach didn't molt right?...does it have both fangs? I know when one is lost, they catch and kill just as easily, but eating takes a long time. Either way, if it has enough reserves to molt again, any issue could and probably would be fixed.

Post pics, pic quality isn't as important, we just need to see the basics.
 

draconisj4

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Obviously picture would help, but.... I've seen tarantulas of all sizes carry food around before munching them up. If the abdomen is dark it could be premolt as well. Is the abdomen shiny, like a grape?
No, it's not shiny as far as I can tell.
 

draconisj4

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That's kiinda odd...pulchripes are typically stone cold killers and fast eaters....its almost like its having an issue eating, perhaps its sucking stomach didn't molt right?...does it have both fangs? I know when one is lost, they catch and kill just as easily, but eating takes a long time. Either way, if it has enough reserves to molt again, any issue could and probably would be fixed.

Post pics, pic quality isn't as important, we just need to see the basics.
I've tried to see if it had both fangs, they do appear to be there but seem very small compared to the other slings. This was the best I could do with pics, the acrylic is scratched where it's sitting and the blurry one is because I have tremors and can't hold the phone still. sling 1.jpg sling 2.jpg
 

Venom1080

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I'd give it more time and see if it will fully eat.

Are you taking prey from it and assuming it's not eating?
 

draconisj4

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I'd give it more time and see if it will fully eat.

Are you taking prey from it and assuming it's not eating?
No, it's still holding on to it's roach. The one I gave it 3 days ago I did take out after 24 hours but the sling had dropped it outside it's hide. It appeared to be intact.
 

Venom1080

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No, it's still holding on to it's roach. The one I gave it 3 days ago I did take out after 24 hours but the sling had dropped it outside it's hide. It appeared to be intact.
So it's not gaining any size? If not, then I agree with cold blood, its a sucking stomach problem.
 

draconisj4

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So it's not gaining any size? If not, then I agree with cold blood, its a sucking stomach problem.
I hope not, I don't want to have to watch the poor little thing starve to death. I've only had it a week, I can't tell if there any size difference in it's abdomen. I guess there isn't anything I can do for it except wait to see what happens.
 

Venom1080

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I hope not, I don't want to have to watch the poor little thing starve to death. I've only had it a week, I can't tell if there any size difference in it's abdomen. I guess there isn't anything I can do for it except wait to see what happens.
It could molt. I imagine that would fix it. But I wouldn't be too optimistic.
 

spotropaicsav

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Has it taken other feeders in the past besides roaches....have you tried since it started doing this? Not sure if that would help.
 

Little Grey Spider

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I've never seen a G. pulchripes with such a small abdomen. Poor little guy. I agree, this sounds like a sucking stomach issue. I think you are doing all you can. Do you know when the last molt was?
 

Little Grey Spider

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One other thing forgot to add... Has it attempted to burrow at all? These little ones love to build a burrow to hide/molt. At that size I used to introduce my G. pulchripes to guests as "and this is my pet box of dirt..."
Make sure there's enough sub for a little digger. :happy:
 

draconisj4

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One other thing forgot to add... Has it attempted to burrow at all? These little ones love to build a burrow to hide/molt. At that size I used to introduce my G. pulchripes to guests as "and this is my pet box of dirt..."
Make sure there's enough sub for a little digger. :happy:
It hasn't tried to burrow at all, it has 3 1/2 inches of sub and it's only 1 inch leg span. It's been hiding on top of it's hide in the moss and behind a leaf. Out of all the slings it seems the most terrified and not settling in at all.

I gave all the slings fresh water this morning and checked on it, it no longer has the roach and I can't for the life of me find it in the enclosure. I know the roach didn't run off because I squish their heads quite thoroughly before I give them to the babies. I'm hoping it's a fang problem and the little guy managed to get something to eat.
 

spotropaicsav

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No, I don't have anything else to feed it. I don't want to feed it anything wild caught.
Darn, I was thinking trying crushed mealworms or pinhead crickets might be an alternative, if you had acccess to these. Some of my Ts rejected Dubias, good luck
 

draconisj4

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Darn, I was thinking trying crushed mealworms or pinhead crickets might be an alternative, if you had acccess to these. Some of my Ts rejected Dubias, good luck
Darn,I did have a ton of various species of darkling larvae but unfortunately I culled them out of my desert beetle tank a couple of weeks ago because there were too many in there,it never occurred to me to save some , there will be more but not for a few weeks. The only other thing I have are Gymnetis Caseyi larvae but they are all L3's and I'm rather attached to them.
 

spotropaicsav

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Darn,I did have a ton of various species of darkling larvae but unfortunately I culled them out of my desert beetle tank a couple of weeks ago because there were too many in there,it never occurred to me to save some , there will be more but not for a few weeks. The only other thing I have are Gymnetis Caseyi larvae but they are all L3's and I'm rather attached to them.
Can you pick up some other feeders to try from local pet store....
 

draconisj4

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Can you pick up some other feeders to try from local pet store....
There is no local pet store, I pretty much have to order every thing online.There's no bait shop either, there's a couple of people that sell crab bait, but I doubt the little one would be interested in a salmon head or razor clams. I'm going to dig through the desert tank today, I might have missed some larvae.
 
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