Why is my tarantula doing this?

[KdeBruyn]

So I have a small juvenile Nhandu Coloratovillosus who's been what I would call a "problem spider." She's quite skinny because she is extremely fussy when it comes to food. I've tried multiple types of food over the last 4 months and she's becoming less inclined to eat them. She never eats mealworms. Started out that she was fine with them, but then magically formed a distaste and lets them walk around her freely now. I tried Waxworms too but she hates all types of worm it seems. So I then tried dubia roaches, which she grabbed straight away, but the next day I found 2/3 of the roach just neglected in the water dish. Same thing happened again and again, so I tried crickets. Again, she grabbed them straight away and ate them fine for a week or two. Now she just grabs them, kills them, then dumps them in her water dish. It's getting confusing and I'm considering just not feeding her at all until she molts. Any ideas or explanations?

 

[Arachnanoob95]

So I have a small juvenile Nhandu Coloratovillosus who's been what I would call a "problem spider." She's quite skinny because she is extremely fussy when it comes to food. I've tried multiple types of food over the last 4 months and she's becoming less inclined to eat them. She never eats mealworms. Started out that she was fine with them, but then magically formed a distaste and lets them walk around her freely now. I tried Waxworms too but she hates all types of worm it seems. So I then tried dubia roaches, which she grabbed straight away, but the next day I found 2/3 of the roach just neglected in the water dish. Same thing happened again and again, so I tried crickets. Again, she grabbed them straight away and ate them fine for a week or two. Now she just grabs them, kills them, then dumps them in her water dish. It's getting confusing and I'm considering just not feeding her at all until she molts. Any ideas or explanations?

Do you always give live food? Even the mealworms? Also, are the food items smaller than the sling or bigger?
I only give prekilled prey to my slings. I mostly use buffalo worm, crush the head and put them in. The worms still move a bit but won't burrow into the substrate. If your sling catches the prey, kills it but doesn't eat, it just isn't hungry or interested. Not giving it any food until it moults isn't something I'd recommend. Just put in prekilled food. The prey won't annoy the sling that way and it can scavenge and eat if it wants.
Just remove the food item the next day, eaten or not. And repeat this 1-2 times per week.

 

[Teal]

Has she molted at all in your care? That sounds really suspicious to me... maybe a sucking stomach problem? Has she consumed ANY prey item entirely?

Can you post a photo of her and her enclosure? How long have you had her?

 

[miarachnids]

Sounds like pre molt behavior to me. Although some spiders can be picky. I have had a few of those over the years.

 

[KdeBruyn]

Do you always give live food? Even the mealworms? Also, are the food items smaller than the sling or bigger?
I only give prekilled prey to my slings. I mostly use buffalo worm, crush the head and put them in. The worms still move a bit but won't burrow into the substrate. If your sling catches the prey, kills it but doesn't eat, it just isn't hungry or interested. Not giving it any food until it moults isn't something I'd recommend. Just put in prekilled food. The prey won't annoy the sling that way and it can scavenge and eat if it wants.
Just remove the food item the next day, eaten or not. And repeat this 1-2 times per week.

The tarantula is a juvenile not a sling. I have about 400 b.albo slings I feed by cutting up meal worms, but a juvenile T should be perfectly capable of eating live prey.

Has she molted at all in your care? That sounds really suspicious to me... maybe a sucking stomach problem? Has she consumed ANY prey item entirely?

Can you post a photo of her and her enclosure? How long have you had her?

I've had her since the 24th March this year. She hasn't molted in my care. She's quite skinny and definitely doesn't have an abdomen that's big or plump like my GBB adult female who is about to molt, or any of the other tarantulas I have who always had very plump abdomens before molting. I did ask what a large wrinkle across her abdomen was between the book lungs and was told dehydration, even though she has had a constant water supply and weekly feedings so there wasn't more I could do to "hydrate" her if that was the case. She has consumed prey items fully but months ago, she started the trent of eating only a little, and now she just kills the crickets and dumps them in her water dish. I tried feeding her a cricket this morning, she went for it and tried to bite but then let it go (twice). She actually grabbed it with her pedipalps and bit the cricket but then just let go. I'll send a picture of her enclosure.


@Teal Here she is in her enclosure today. She was sitting on top of the cork bark like she does most of the time.


@Teal She escaped the other day due to my carelessness of leaving the enclosure open. Luckily she didn't get too far. But here she is.

 

[Vanessa]

View attachment 315741

That is not a skinny spider - that is a fat spider. She has likely had enough food for now and might even be approaching a moult at this point.

 

[Teal]

She's quite skinny and definitely doesn't have an abdomen that's big or plump

If that is what you call a skinny spider, I am worried for your others as they must be morbidly obese

If the abdomen is at least as large as the carapace, the spider is not skinny. Twice as large as the carapace is about as fat as I let them get (if they don't refuse food before that).

 

[KdeBruyn]

If that is what you call a skinny spider, I am worried for your others as they must be morbidly obese

If the abdomen is at least as large as the carapace, the spider is not skinny. Twice as large as the carapace is about as fat as I let them get (if they don't refuse food before that).

I know what an obese tarantula looks like and my tarantulas never get fed if the abdomen is too chunky. None of my spiders have abdomens twice the size of the carapace. I think the picture doesn't do justice but her abdomen is actually very flat even though it looks wide. I know from keeping adult female brachypelmas and juveniles, as well as Grammastola clear signs when a molt is present, and how their abdomen change and naturally get bigger. This is my first Nhandu species so maybe I am just wrong here. If she molts I will post about it, but for now I get it. Thanks.

 

[Vanessa]

I know what an obese tarantula looks like and my tarantulas never get fed if the abdomen is too chunky. None of my spiders have abdomens twice the size of the carapace.

The shape of their abdomen can differ a bit between species/genera - some are rounder, some are more tear drop shaped, and some are more oval. However, if you're looking down on the dorsal view and the abdomen is larger than the carapace - they're not too skinny. Yes, the underside of their abdomens are somewhat flat compared to the rounded top, but that is just their normal body structure. If the abdomen is pointing down at the back, combined with the flat underside, it might make it look as if the underside is concave, but that is an illusion.
Judge their weight by the dorsal view. Since your individual is still growing, it isn't that big a deal if they're on the larger side - all that weight is going to go into a growth spurt. However, once they're full grown you will want to keep an eye on them and not let them get huge. They can get rubbing wounds on the underside of their abdomen that weaken their exoskeleton and can result in moulting issues.

 

[Teal]

I know what an obese tarantula looks like and my tarantulas never get fed if the abdomen is too chunky. None of my spiders have abdomens twice the size of the carapace. I think the picture doesn't do justice but her abdomen is actually very flat even though it looks wide. I know from keeping adult female brachypelmas and juveniles, as well as Grammastola clear signs when a molt is present, and how their abdomen change and naturally get bigger. This is my first Nhandu species so maybe I am just wrong here. If she molts I will post about it, but for now I get it. Thanks.

I don't know what you're looking at... That spider's abdomen is well past two times the size of her carapace...