# Tarantula secreting liquid from the mouth



## toast4nat (Nov 15, 2011)

Hello all. This morning I noticed my B. emilia sling was secreting a clear liquid from its mouth against the side of the KK. I vaguely remember reading something about this occurring and it not being anything to worry about, but I cannot seem to find any information on it via the search. Could someone explain this to me?

Also, is it water, venom? A google search suggested it could be either. What do you guys think it is and why does it occur?

Here's a pic, it's not very good but you can see the shiny droplet against the tank. The other white stuff you can see there is the remnants of where a price sticker once was, so ignore that.

Edit: I found the answer. It's just cleaning its fangs.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Tonys spiders (Nov 16, 2011)

This is your Ts way of drinking from its own little cup. They gather moisture into a droplet and will drink from it and you will notice if your T is startled it will just drop it. In your pic she has a pretty large droplet of water; she must have been thirsty

Reactions: Like 2


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## toast4nat (Nov 16, 2011)

Well if she'd just get out of her dang hole she'd find a plethora of water in her dish XD
But anyway, interesting, I've never heard this theory before. I would guess she'd gathered the water from the meal she had the previous day? Otherwise, I don't know where she'd have gotten it from, seeing as she stays in her hole 24/7.


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## grayzone (Nov 16, 2011)

maybe from condensation with the substrate? its DEFINITELY drinking


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## jbm150 (Nov 17, 2011)

I've seen drops of liquid in my enclosures, often near the Ts, even when I haven't added water or misted.  I've always attributed it to a grooming session and it's left over drool.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## Kungfujoe (Nov 17, 2011)

this is pretty interesting.. i learn something new everyday here..


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## High_Rolling_T (Nov 17, 2011)

Tonys spiders said:


> This is your Ts way of drinking from its own little cup. They gather moisture into a droplet and will drink from it and you will notice if your T is startled it will just drop it. In your pic she has a pretty large droplet of water; she must have been thirsty


I have never heard this... where did you get this info from?(Curious, not talking down to you!)

As far as it being water, I've had a _Grammostola rosea_ do this in an entirely bare enclosure(was in a Kritter Keeper while I cleaned out her enclosure), so I don't know how it could have gotten a water droplet from thin air.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## toast4nat (Nov 17, 2011)

My theory is that it is regurgitating liquid from its past meal to clean its mouth parts. I base this theory on the fact that this happened relatively soon after it ate and that the only place I could think that it could draw this moisture from is the meal itself. Just an idea though. However, it did drink the droplet back down after it was finished "cleaning". Interesting behavior.

Reactions: Like 1 | Award 1


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## Tonys spiders (Nov 18, 2011)

toast4nat said:


> My theory is that it is regurgitating liquid from its past meal to clean its mouth parts. I base this theory on the fact that this happened relatively soon after it ate and that the only place I could think that it could draw this moisture from is the meal itself. Just an idea though. However, it did drink the droplet back down after it was finished "cleaning". Interesting behavior.


This is correct it could have been from a meal previously(in regaurds to the comment above to me). I took an invertebrates class at my college in which we learned most animals can and often will store small amounts of water in order to hydrate during drier times.


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## Chris_Skeleton (Nov 18, 2011)

My H. lividum does this frequently.


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## High_Rolling_T (Nov 18, 2011)

toast4nat said:


> My theory is that it is regurgitating liquid from its past meal to clean its mouth parts. I base this theory on the fact that this happened relatively soon after it ate and that the only place I could think that it could draw this moisture from is the meal itself. Just an idea though. However, it did drink the droplet back down after it was finished "cleaning". Interesting behavior.


This is a good theory.  However, in my case, I feed my _G. rosea_ every two weeks and I was doing the cage maintenance on the week in between; so she had not had a meal for a week.

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Chris_Skeleton said:


> My H. lividum does this frequently.


Funny you mention this.  I just picked up my _H. lividum's_ enclosure to look at how much it had expanded its burrow due to a very large increase in the size of the dirt mound around it's hole.  Looking from the bottom, I could see it had the liquid sitting under it's mouth. This is the only other T of mine that I've seen do this.


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## JuliaGulia87 (Nov 22, 2011)

Oh my goodness I was wondering what the heck that was! Haha neat.


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## thruthetrees (Nov 22, 2011)

I have been making notes of when my Ts do this... it seems like it happens 2-3 weeks before they molt but that could be coincidence.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Formerphobe (Nov 23, 2011)

My GBB recently 'showed me' her tarantul-ized cricket:





Then several hours later did this:





She is a recent acquisition (July 2011) and is the only one of my spiders that I have ever observed doing this.  I think the key words here are: "that I have observed"...  She appears healthy in all other respects.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Kat Berg (Apr 25, 2016)

My L.Para did this too the day before it molted.  Based on my observations and previous post I have a theory the Ts could be secreting this liquid to make themselves smaller so they can wiggle out of their exoskeletons.  I believe that it could be more of a last resort type thing though because my T just drooled on the side of the enclosure and left it there.


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## Hunter Brown (Aug 6, 2019)

My B. smithi is doing the same. He is also sitting in his water dish, is that normal as well?


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## Tenandra (May 23, 2020)

I know this is an old thread but thankyou I noticed mine doing this after a move today. As it was after a move I thought I might have stressed her so came here to check.


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## Ilovethepp (Sep 4, 2020)

Tenandra said:


> I know this is an old thread but thankyou I noticed mine doing this after a move today. As it was after a move I thought I might have stressed her so came here to check.


Interestingly my T. vagans is doing the same thing and I too moved her into a new enclosure today. Also I doubt that it is remaining liquid from her last meal since that was a month ago.


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## mantidmum (Sep 13, 2020)

I love message boards, old topics are always new to the newbie. Just saw my G. pulchra (2cms) do this and was freaking out... okay, deep breath. I'll be fine.

Reactions: Like 1


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## SniffanyB (Dec 3, 2020)

I have a GBB sling and noticed clear liquid yesterday and tonight it has an orange tint to it. It is in premolt so maybe that’s the cause. It seems fine in all other aspects. Glad I found this thread. Like message above. Deep breaths...calm down.... 

Noticed 5 minutes ago, went to take a quick pic to show and it’s GONE!!! Ts are freaking amazing and weird all in the same way! I love them.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## aprildevi1 (Apr 28, 2021)

Ilovethepp said:


> Interestingly my T. vagans is doing the same thing and I too moved her into a new enclosure today. Also I doubt that it is remaining liquid from her last meal since that was a month ago.


scanning this thread because i was wondering the same. just moved my boehmei today and it’s doing it too! how weird


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## Andrea82 (Apr 28, 2021)

aprildevi1 said:


> scanning this thread because i was wondering the same. just moved my boehmei today and it’s doing it too! how weird


It's the equivalent of spit. They use it mainly to clean themselves by pulling the legs along their mouth parts.

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## JonnyTorch (Sep 24, 2021)

Old thread but I just wanted to say that tonight my pink-tinted G. porteri (or a washed out G. Rosea, I can't really tell) did this, and it just molted about 7 days ago (first molt in over a year; it's almost 5 years old now) so I don't think it happens "before a molt" I think it can happen anytime, but I'm leaning on the "storing water" or the "leftover water from grooming" as I saw it grooming for a good 3 hours earlier. Also if you have insight on which mine is, a porteri or a rosea, I'd be happy to hear. Leaning on porteri. 

J


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## Neonblizzard (Sep 24, 2021)

JonnyTorch said:


> Old thread but I just wanted to say that tonight my pink-tinted G. porteri (or a washed out G. Rosea, I can't really tell) did this, and it just molted about 7 days ago (first molt in over a year; it's almost 5 years old now) so I don't think it happens "before a molt" I think it can happen anytime, but I'm leaning on the "storing water" or the "leftover water from grooming" as I saw it grooming for a good 3 hours earlier. Also if you have insight on which mine is, a porteri or a rosea, I'd be happy to hear. Leaning on porteri.
> 
> J
> 
> ...


That G.Rosea / Porteri is 5 years old? Have you had them since a sling? 

I would have considered them to be much, much older that that


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## JonnyTorch (Sep 24, 2021)

Neonblizzard said:


> That G.Rosea / Porteri is 5 years old? Have you had them since a sling?
> 
> I would have considered them to be much, much older that that


Yep. I got it just about 4 years and 8 months ago years ago and then it was literally about 1/4 the size of a penny, so I factored in a few months of it hatching until I got it. Now its around 4.75 inches, maybe pushing 5" when its legs are fully stretched out.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Neonblizzard (Sep 24, 2021)

JonnyTorch said:


> Yep. I got it just about 4 years and 8 months ago years ago and then it was literally about 1/4 the size of a penny, so I factored in a few months of it hatching until I got it. Now its around 4.75 inches, maybe pushing 5" when its legs are fully stretched out.


Thanks for sharing! I'm very surprised, i thought they grew much slower

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## JonnyTorch (Sep 24, 2021)

Neonblizzard said:


> Thanks for sharing! I'm very surprised, i thought they grew much slower


That's what I've read.. I'm surprised myself that it's this large. I've read that if its around 4-5" its most likely a female.. and they "mature" in like 10 years or so or more, and apparently males are not as big but mature in 3-5 years.. but It's this size, and I raised it from a 1/3" sling. So either I have a F that matured early, or a big male that isn't mature.(No tibial hooks or boxing gloves on its pedipalps. So apparently if it's a male would/should be mature at this size. I checked the molt and saw a very small flap between it's book lungs. I'm leaning to F but I always second guess it. Should have kept the molt and double checked, but I got some bad U-hairs stuck to my fingers

Reactions: Funny 2


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## YungRasputin (Sep 24, 2021)

noticed this with my P. murinus the other day, didn’t know what it was - i found this thread really informative and conveniently timed - thank you!

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## darkness975 (Sep 25, 2021)

I see the same thing on the walls of my B. hamorii enclosure.

Reactions: Like 1


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## The Grym Reaper (Sep 25, 2021)

It's digestive fluid, they also use it to groom.



Neonblizzard said:


> Thanks for sharing! I'm very surprised, i thought they grew much slower


5 years is on the quick side but they can take up a lot longer to reach adult size.


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## Joe21 (Apr 19, 2022)

jbm150 said:


> I've seen drops of liquid in my enclosures, often near the Ts, even when I haven't added water or misted.  I've always attributed it to a grooming session and it's left over drool.


My A. Seemani was just doing it that’s not coming from it’s but it was literally just sitting there drooling from it’s mouth or fang’s and it not the first time and it was just fed on Saturday


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## Theraphosid Research Team (Apr 20, 2022)

toast4nat said:


> My theory is that it is regurgitating liquid from its past meal to clean its mouth parts. I base this theory on the fact that this happened relatively soon after it ate and that the only place I could think that it could draw this moisture from is the meal itself. Just an idea though. However, it did drink the droplet back down after it was finished "cleaning". Interesting behavior.


That is absolutely right. Tarantulas "clean" their trap or sieve in their mouths over and over again, through which they absorb liquid parts of their prey. When eating, however, solid components always get stuck in the sieve. To remove these, the spider occasionally vomits liquid to force these solids out of the sieve.[/QUOTE]


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## Shinn (Apr 20, 2022)

I have observed clear liquid secretion from the mouth by my scorpion as well post meal. Surprising how much they can smear over themselves when cleaning.


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