Is something wrong with my T Blondi?

[SlimJ87D]

She's about 6 inches in diameter now and has been eating like crazy the last two weeks. Around a total of 25 crickets. She's also been out of her hide and has been crawling on the walls and rolling up balls of dirt and flipping her hide around. Her abdomen is also missing large patches of hair and it forms an upside down Y formation. I noticed she was missing a little bit more hair today, is something wrong with her?

 

[Wish_mastera]

Hi. Maybe she is preparing for upcomming molt. Mine has done the same thing and molted on a bed of hairs. Take a look of the pictures. Maybe they can help you.
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=58710&page=2

 

[Pennywise]

I think it sounds like pre molt

Larger Blondis can have a long pre molt period. It might be up to 6 weeks or more before she actually molts. Most of them quit eating and will only attack a cricket if it runs into their fangs. One real givaway is that they suddenly become a lot less active too.

 

[Anklebitr]

Was your blondi CB or WC? Sounds like (s)he's doing a little spring cleaning

 

[stonemantis]

If your T. blondi is in pre molt, which it sounds like it is. I would place a blanket over the enclosure or decrease the light level in the room and check on it every once in a while.

IME,I do this when my slings and adults start acting stressed and it usually results in the beginning of the molting process.

 

[Windchaser]

I just thought I would mention that the diet of 25 crickets in two weeks sounds a bit excessive. They really do not need this much food. Granted, as a larger species they will require more than most species, but this amount quite significant. Just because a tarantula will eat, it does not mean it should. The same can be said for humans, which is one reason we have an obesity epidemic on our hands.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

She's about 6 inches in diameter now and has been eating like crazy the last two weeks. Around a total of 25 crickets. She's also been out of her hide and has been crawling on the walls and rolling up balls of dirt and flipping her hide around. Her abdomen is also missing large patches of hair and it forms an upside down Y formation. I noticed she was missing a little bit more hair today, is something wrong with her?

I don't think anything is wrong and in all you've said I don't see anything that supports the thought of pre-moult. Instead in pre-moult I'd expect her to calm down, get a dark abdomen, stop eating.

 

[SlimJ87D]

Yeah, I keep humidity at 80. When I turn on the heat lamp she settles down and then goes back to sleep. I notice she crawls on the cage when the heat lamp is off, she climbs towards the heat lamp even though it is off. The heat lamp is on the opposite side of her home. It's 85 degrees F.

Is she asking for more heat? because when i turn on the light she immediatly settles down and just goes into her small barrow and sleeps. I don't want to put the home back over it because I think she took it off and put it over the ball of dirt for a reason, she probably feels really cold with it over her.

Yeah, she's also a girl, I looked into one of her molts, so I got lucky. Her abdomen is very fat now, she drank two bowls of water, which is about half a cup the week she ate all those crickets too and her abdomen was already big. She's not too obese but looks alright.

This is her enclosure

This is her before she ate all those crickets

Picture those two lines on her abdomen (which were formed by her spinerets) and imagine they've grown like this

Did she kick a lot of them off? And is the light and heat what she wants? Since it's really near summer time and it's a little cold in my room?

 

[Mike H.]

Looks like she kicked off the hairs, blondi are very well known for kicking a pile of hair everywhere, I would not increase the heat, becareful with the heat lamp, they can dehydrate your spider, I keep my blondi's at room temps...dont think you have anything to worry about, try feeding her in a week or two...

Regards, Mike

 

[SlimJ87D]

But the light calms her down, and when it's off she crawls on the cage where it was. My room doesn't face the sun so it gets pretty cold. In the summer, I'll have it off for sure though.

 

[Marilyn]

I just thought I would mention that the diet of 25 crickets in two weeks sounds a bit excessive. They really do not need this much food. Granted, as a larger species they will require more than most species, but this amount quite significant. Just because a tarantula will eat, it does not mean it should. The same can be said for humans, which is one reason we have an obesity epidemic on our hands.

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

what a speach,,

25 crickets in 14 days...
for a human that would be about
2 big mac's with fries, a day for 14 days..

you would most prob end up looking like this:

 

[ShadowBlade]

No, just think. Humans eat (usually) 3 meals a day, plus snacks. If u only ate 2 big macs and 2 fries a day, and nothing else, you probably wouldn't look like that! Especially if you were active anyway.
(I know it was a joke, but u can't really compare spider digestive systems to ours!)