So if a sling walls itself into its burrow...

[laservet]

should I open it up to feed it or just wait for it to come out and play?

My B boehmei 1" sling had made a nice little hide under its cork bark and was eating well, then about two weeks ago it decided to burrow and piled up the substrate outside the opening of the cork bark hide blocking it completely. Its abdomen wasn't huge so I'm not sure if it is in pre molt. I can see it inside the burrow through the side of the container episodically, sometimes visible, sometimes elsewhere in the burrow (or under the cork bark hide, can't tell). I'm keeping the substrate moist since it isn't coming out to drink.

 

[Hardus nameous]

Don't open the burrow, just wait. If the spider is hungry it will open the burrow on its own.

 

[MintyWood826]

should I open it up to feed it or just wait for it to come out and play?

Wait.

Closing the burrow is them saying "leave me alone." It's completely normal.

 

[Enrgy]

why would u open it... it closed it for a reason

 

[EtienneN]

Sounds like standard premoult behaviour.

 

[SonsofArachne]

The only burrows I've opened are KB's. In deep substrate they sometimes back-fill the entrance and trap themselves.

 

[Jokesonmeow]

My B. boehmei closed itself in a month or two ago, molted a couple of weeks ago, and just came out s couple days ago.

It will come out when it’s ready.

 

[BoyFromLA]

*knock knock*
“Do you want some food?”
“Go away.”
“Okay, bye.”

 

[Paul1126]

Sounds like standard premoult behaviour.

Nah, they will do this when stressed. New home etc... My pulchra does this often and comes out when wanting food.

 

[laservet]

It's still walled off in its burrow. I've opened up the wall at the front of the hide twice since I posted here last December and tossed a mortally wounded B lateralis pinhead down the burrow but both times the sling just closed it back up again so I'm leaving it alone. I took this photo a couple of days ago through the wall of its enclosure, sling doesn't seem to be any worse for the wear.

 

[cold blood]

A sling doing this could have differing causes.

1. pre molt

2. over sized enclosure....over size enclosures elicit this response almost every time.

3. There could be no real reason, sometimes they just burrow.

Yours is CLEARLY pre molt, stop opening the burrow, stop worrying about it and most importantly, stop offering food. It will emerge when its ready to eat again....after it molts...and it could be a while.

 

[laservet]

Thank you for the info. How can you tell it's pre molt? The enclosure is 4"x4"x5" tall -- too large an enclosure?

 

[Phia]

My own micro boehmi has gone and molted with half of that abdomen size ! I’m no expert myself on premolt but I usually look for dark spots on the abdomen, shine to the abdomen, and comparing the abdomen to the cephalothorax in terms of size.

Being a tiny shut in is a good indication that your tarantula is doing Tarantula Things. I would only mount a rescue if she stayed in there for an inordinate amount of time.

 

[cold blood]

Thank you for the info. How can you tell it's pre molt?

Its the stretched out, shiny look of the really plump abdomen. In the latest stages, the rump will blacken...different species darken to differing degrees...some just look like that, but the stretched out shiny look is a dead giveaway.

The enclosure is 4"x4"x5" tall -- too large an enclosure?

I would use a 16oz deli cup, but what you have shouldn't be too large...just taller than I like for terrestrials.

 

[Teal]

Why would you even try to feed a sling that is so obese?

Stop opening the burrow. Leave it alone.

 

[laservet]

So we're now at six months since it walled itself into its burrow. Still alive, still hasn't molted.

 

[SonsofArachne]

So we're now at six months since it walled itself into its burrow. Still alive, still hasn't molted.

Yes, they keep their own time table, and seem to have no concern about our feelings

 

[Arachnophoric]

Very slow growing species, and if you fattened it up very quickly after a recent molt they'll fast for very long times. If it's of any consolation, I had a G. pulchra sling go two years without molting. Keeping in mind that it never sealed itself away and was still eating towards the end of that 2 year molt cycle, slings can hold out for a long time before finally giving in and molting when it comes to the slow growers such as Brachypelma and Grammostola.

Just keep doing what you're doing with giving it access to water and let it be. You'll win the wait-out, I promise.

 

[laservet]

Update: molted within the last 24 hours. Skinny abdomen, still walled off in its burrow, fangs are pink. I’ll give it 5 or 6 days and then feed it.

 

[viper69]

No