P. Hanumavilasumica Bad molt

Abyssmu

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 9, 2018
Messages
9
So my hanumavilasumica, Ramanujan, had a bit of a bad molt. I think it was due to his hide being a little too small and he got really cramped. I have since switched out the hide, but he doesn't want to go in it a whole lot. Used to hide all the time. Anyway, the pictures I took of him are what has happened. I feel bad for the little guy, but he seems to be doing just fine movement wise. He's still really sluggish, though. I worry about him, but I am also fairly certain (like 95%) that he is a male. He had no flap or spermatheca whatsoever. Nor did anything appear to have been torn off. He is getting pretty big at this point, and I have no idea how old he is, but my big girl, my P. regalis, Athena, was estimated to be over a year old and she is at least 5-6 in DLS.

I wasn't able to get a decent picture of his fangs to show them, but I think they look fairly fine. I offered him a cricket, and he only seemed mildly interested in it. He turned towards it slightly, but nothing more.

I would also like to know about what the red globules are on the end of his pedipalps. From what I know, tarantula blood isn't red. So I have no idea...

Update: Weird red things are emboli. I did not know about mature males having them... I only knew about the hooks. Learn something new every day! Also, now that he is confirmed to be mature, what sort of timespan should one look at? Another also, I know the species is endangered. Is there anything I can do with this guy to help that?

Here are the pictures I uploaded to the site:

 
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boina

Lady of the mites
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Mar 25, 2015
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2,217
So you are an absolute beginner who didn't do a lot of research and is making a lot of beginner mistakes, but you do have two Poecilotheria... right.

First the really big mistake: Never, ever, as in: under no circumstances ever try to feed a tarantula that is still sluggish from a molt, especially not after a molt that didn't go too well and especially not a cricket. That's a good way to get your tarantula seriously injured. (Breaking his fangs, hurting his still soft exoskeleton trying to get away/defend against the cricket, even suffering a cricket bite. Crickets are aggressive.)

Second: You said there used to be a hide in there? A cork round, I assume? That's still not a lot of hide/climbing structure in a bare cage like yours. A Poecilotheria needs a good place to hide properly and preferably some stuff to perch and hang out on. Otherwise you have a perpetually stressed tarantula. Just sticking a cork round in a bare glass enclosure wouldn't be good enough for me.

Mature males wander a lot and eat little. They are in search of a female, eating comes second, and so does hiding. That's why he's always out now. The one crooked leg won't hinder him, so there's really nothing to worry about.

Another also, I know the species is endangered. Is there anything I can do with this guy to help that?
How would you like to do that? Fly to India and release him in the wild?
 

Theneil

Arachnoprince
Joined
Oct 18, 2017
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1,292
The bent legs are unlikely to be an issue if he is still bale to move around fine.

Lifespan is probably a year or so (thats just a guess, i have no experience to back it up)
 

Abyssmu

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 9, 2018
Messages
9
First the really big mistake: Never, ever, as in: under no circumstances ever try to feed a tarantula that is still sluggish from a molt, especially not after a molt that didn't go too well and especially not a cricket. That's a good way to get your tarantula seriously injured. (Breaking his fangs, hurting his still soft exoskeleton trying to get away/defend against the cricket, even suffering a cricket bite. Crickets are aggressive.)

Second: You said there used to be a hide in there? A cork round, I assume? That's still not a lot of hide/climbing structure in a bare cage like yours. A Poecilotheria needs a good place to hide properly and preferably some stuff to perch and hang out on. Otherwise you have a perpetually stressed tarantula. Just sticking a cork round in a bare glass enclosure wouldn't be good enough for me.
I apologize for the lack of information in my first post, but I did plenty of research in the days prior to picking him and the other two (regalis and b. vagans) he came with up.

First one, his sluggishness is a bit misrepresented in my original post. I was just worried about him. He is and was moving around a fair bit. He hadn’t just molted. I’m fairly certain it was well over a week ago. He was hidden for like 3 weeks and came out on Wednesday of last week.

Second, yes his old hide was a cork bark that I got him in. And no. It wasn’t a bare tank with just that. I had a couple small branches and green leaves in there for him to climb around on. The attached image is similar to what it looked like before I took everything out to try and examine him through bare glass and also get his old molt out that was deep in the hide. She is a beautiful girl who molted the day I got her and is doing very well. She will also need a much bigger hide soon, but she also hasn’t left her current one in ages, so that will be something for the next time I can coerce her out.

As for the effort, think a little bit harder. lol. As much as I’d love to go to India, I’d like to get in touch with somebody who breeds them and has a female for him and work with them as what needed to be done to get them together. I’d much rather work to keep them in the hobby than release them into the farms that hate them.

Either way. I'm glad to hear that this shouldn't bother him. I have since moved him to a 10G tank with more stuff in it and put a bonsai tree style hide in there for him. It has a huge bottom on it with plenty of room for anything he might want to do! He looks super cute in it. And yes, he has tons to climb around on. lol. I'll add an image of it when I get home tomorrow.
 

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boina

Lady of the mites
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I’m fairly certain it was well over a week ago.
Do some more research. One week isn't enough for an adult. Two weeks is minumum, I often wait a month.

She is a beautiful girl
??? If we are talking about the tarantula in the pic it's a boy, a mature boy.

She will also need a much bigger hide soon, but she also hasn’t left her current one in ages, so that will be something for the next time I can coerce her out.
??? Again, what are you talking about? This is a boy and if he still fits into his hide he doesn't need a bigger one because he most certainly isn't going to grow anymore. Leave him be and stop ripping his home apart any time you feel like looking at him.

As much as I’d love to go to India
My remark was sarcasm, but I guess it didn't transport. Breeding him will not help protect the species in the wild.

Really, all your posts unfortunately make it blindingly clear that the research you've done has been depressingly inadequate.
 

Abyssmu

Arachnopeon
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Feb 9, 2018
Messages
9
Do some more research. One week isn't enough for an adult. Two weeks is minumum, I often wait a month.

Really, all your posts unfortunately make it blindingly clear that the research you've done has been depressingly inadequate.
I'm not here to pick an argument with a stranger on the internet. I'm not that cool yet. lol. I have no idea the tone behind your statement, so beyond this, I shan't comment. I'm here to make tarantula friends. Not enemies. lol.

As for my husbandry, it may not look like it currently, but I try to take great care of my Ts (T's?). I get them setup as properly as I can. This, along with two others, came from somebody who needed to get rid of them asap and I decided to take them on. He gave me their tanks and all. Spent the whole week researching their needs. Based on what I researched, they didn't need much, but I did add more stuff to climb on and a couple plastic plant decorations to his and the regalis's to spruce it up a bit. The post that I actually used for most of my info was written on here. I saved it in case I needed it. Here is a link.

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/poecilotheria-care.291471/

If you look at the attached image, it's a totally different spider. I've sexed her and she is most definitely female. And I must reiterate, beautiful at that. I suppose I didn't specifically mention that before referencing her. Rip me. lol. And no, he most definitely did not fit into his hide, so I changed it and moved him out. As for tearing it up as I see fit, this is the first I've moved stuff around except to move a couple twigs to clean the feces/urine combo off the wall since I got him in July.

Everything I've ever researched said a minimum of 3-5 days would be enough before offering any spider food. Nobody has ever mentioned a week+ for matures. -- Would have at least guessed it would have been somewhere after spending a solid 10 or so hours cumulative researching molt when I first freaked out because my A. seemani went into premolt and wasn't eating. -- Granted this and my regalis are my first mature (unsure if she actually is, but she is about 6+ in). Is the rate of their exoskeleton hardening not environmentally dependent? I'll be honest there, I have never researched why it takes that long. My assumption would be that it is just an excess concentration of water + whatever evaporating and would therefore be dependent on the surroundings.

As for the conservation of the species, they are somewhat rarer in the hobby. I'm well aware that they are going to most likely go extinct in the wild. That stuff happens. Even without humans. I'm not looking to reintegrate them into the wild. Nevertheless, as an owner, I'd still like to help. I read a paper about some conservation effort by the government looking for species information. I tried to find it, but I couldn't. Even if there isn't a large effort to conserve them since they look almost identical to the fasciatas, I still think they are something to keep around. They are beautiful little guys.
 

boina

Lady of the mites
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Everything I've ever researched said a minimum of 3-5 days would be enough before offering any spider food.
That's for slings. The larger the spider is and most importantly, the thicker the exoskeleton is, the longer time it needs to harden. I'm surprised your research hasn't brought that up because it's an often repeated fact, found practically everywhere where there's talk about tarantulas.

Is the rate of their exoskeleton hardening not environmentally dependent? I'll be honest there, I have never researched why it takes that long. My assumption would be that it is just an excess concentration of water + whatever evaporating and would therefore be dependent on the surroundings.
Hardening has nothing whatsoever to do with water, moisture, evaporation or things like that. The hardening process is a polymerization of molecules in the exoskeleton. The moisture you see in the molt or on the tarantula after a molt is from fluids needed to separate the old exoskeleton from the new and help the tarantula slide out of the old molt. It is not part of the exoskeleton itself.
 

lostbrane

Arachnobaron
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Jul 8, 2018
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I read a paper about some conservation effort by the government looking for species information. I tried to find it, but I couldn't.
According to a USFWS rep I emailed there doesn’t appear to be any conservation effort in the works for the 5 Sri Lankan (and eventually the 6 Indian) species listed under the ESA. Considering that this is one of the Indian species, I find it hard pressed that USFWS would allocate resources to a species not even added to the ESA yet.

In addition I couldn’t find anything on local efforts to preserve these species but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some form of effort.
 

Abyssmu

Arachnopeon
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Feb 9, 2018
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That's for slings. The larger the spider is and most importantly, the thicker the exoskeleton is, the longer time it needs to harden. I'm surprised your research hasn't brought that up because it's an often repeated fact, found practically everywhere where there's talk about tarantulas.
Probably never found it because everything I had found was always something along the lines of "help! my first tarantula isn't eating!" I haven't done a ton of research into it since. Only in the past month or so have I looked into things since my seemani went on a 113 day hunger strike. Wasn't super concerned for the first couple months, but I was getting there these past 20 or so. lol. Either way. Appreciate the information!

Hardening has nothing whatsoever to do with water, moisture, evaporation or things like that. The hardening process is a polymerization of molecules in the exoskeleton. The moisture you see in the molt or on the tarantula after a molt is from fluids needed to separate the old exoskeleton from the new and help the tarantula slide out of the old molt. It is not part of the exoskeleton itself.
Now this is something to talk about! I am "familiar" with orgo-chem. Had an introduction to it many years ago. Anyway, I tried googling "tarantula exoskeleton composition" and came up with a few results. Bunch of nonsensical stuff and a few useful things. Couple posts from here. One article was from How Stuff Works. Page 3 was the motling info. Despite the cringe worthy amount of ads, I've found them to be fairly accurate in stuff that I study (physics and programming). So I assume this holds true for the rest. If you have the time, give it a gander through the whole 10 pages and see if anything seems glaringly wrong and let me know. If not, I'll work through it on my own, albeit over several days since fact checking isn't the fastest thing. lol. Also, during my search, I did find an interesting article in material science about spider fangs.

According to a USFWS rep I emailed there doesn’t appear to be any conservation effort in the works for the 5 Sri Lankan (and eventually the 6 Indian) species listed under the ESA. Considering that this is one of the Indian species, I find it hard pressed that USFWS would allocate resources to a species not even added to the ESA yet.

In addition I couldn’t find anything on local efforts to preserve these species but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some form of effort.
I really wish I could find it again. All it was was just a list of pokies and somebody was requesting information about them for conservation efforts. I don't know if it was for some zoo looking to get people aware or what. It could have also been something from like... 10 years ago. So there's that. lol.
 

Teal

Arachnoemperor
Old Timer
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Jan 11, 2009
Messages
4,096
Wow, boina is really on a rampage here...

Anyways - If you want to send him out on a breeding loan, post him in the Classifieds on here. If you are on Facebook, there are also several groups on there... ones specifically for mature males, and general arachnid classifieds.
 

Abyssmu

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 9, 2018
Messages
9
Wow, boina is really on a rampage here...

Anyways - If you want to send him out on a breeding loan, post him in the Classifieds on here. If you are on Facebook, there are also several groups on there... ones specifically for mature males, and general arachnid classifieds.
Lol. I mean, I get it. I helped a kid out with his ball python setup a month or so ago. He contacted me last week saying that the little guy was moving really funny and not eating. My assumption is that the snake had neurological damage from being overheated. He didn't put it the heating mat on a thermostat like I said he would need to. Ended up dying the next day. So like I said. I get it. It's why I try so hard to give my animals good home. I'm not disagreeing that I'm too ill experienced for this guy, but I'm working on that experience. lol. It's definitely been a very fun experience having the two pokies. They instantly became my favorites!

I appreciate the advice! I'll go make a post and also see if I can find any facebook group for it. Thanks!
 
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