# Tarantula hanging upside down on her cage?



## MayhemMegz (Feb 10, 2018)

Hey Guys! 
I'm a first time spider momma, I've had my pink toed tarantula for only about 6 months. 
She's relatively calm, doesn't move around too much, she's an active spider but nothing out of the ordinary I suppose. Well I woke up this morning and she is quite literally hanging from the ceiling of her cage, her abdomen doesn't appear shriveled (not dehydration) but I would think it couldn't be comfortable for her to be in this position with her spider butt hanging down. Is this common? Is it normal for spiders to just chill out on the ceiling for extended periods of time? I've attached some pictures of my beautiful below. Please assist me if you can. Thanks!


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## MetalMan2004 (Feb 10, 2018)

Being an arboreal species, Avics love to climb.  Additionally, screens are hard for tarantulas to walk on.  Terestrials are known to lose legs from getting stuck on screen tops.  I’ve heard arboreals aren’t as prone to having this problem but can’t confirm.  If its in the same spot on the screen for a long time I’d probably try to coax it off to make sure its not stuck.

Some people replace the screen top with acrylic with holes drilled in it for ventilation.

Good luck!

Reactions: Like 1


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## MayhemMegz (Feb 10, 2018)

MetalMan2004 said:


> Being an arboreal species, Avics love to climb.  Additionally, screens are hard for tarantulas to walk on.  Terestrials are known to lose legs from getting stuck on screen tops.  I’ve heard arboreals aren’t as prone to having this problem but can’t confirm.  If its in the same spot on the screen for a long time I’d probably try to coax it off to make sure its not stuck.
> 
> Some people replace the screen top with acrylic with holes drilled in it for ventilation.
> 
> Good luck!


She was stuck!!! Thank you so much for your help, my poor baby just got stuck to the top, I was terrified she would be dehydrated when I put her back down but she is okay now. I'm going to buy acrylic inserts and drill holes in them TODAY! I never want that to happen again, I had no idea that could happen so thank you so much for the advice! You literally just saved her life.
Actually since putting her back down on the ground she's started to molt. (I've never seen her molt before so I'm very content to be at this stage where I can witness her molting) which explains why she was really difficult to try to get off of the ceiling. She seemed so limp I was terrified she was dehydrated and was going to die. I can't thank you enough! My only concern now is the position she's in now that she's began the molting process, only time will tell I suppose. Thank you Metal Man.

Reactions: Like 5 | Love 1 | Optimistic 1


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## MayhemMegz (Feb 10, 2018)




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## Sarkhan42 (Feb 10, 2018)

MayhemMegz said:


> View attachment 266013


Sending positive thoughts your way, hope she does fine molting upright.

Reactions: Agree 3


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## MayhemMegz (Feb 10, 2018)

Sarkhan42 said:


> Sending positive thoughts your way, hope she does fine molting upright.


Thank you! I hope so too, I had no idea she was molting until I looked over after putting her back in the cage and noticed some of the skin pushing back. I'm too scared to move her during this process. I'm nervous it will do more harm than good for her right now. Goodness, hell of a morning I just thought she was dehydrated from being on the ceiling all night then the second i get her off she starts to molt. Poor thing has had a rough day

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## Sarkhan42 (Feb 10, 2018)

MayhemMegz said:


> Thank you! I hope so too, I had no idea she was molting until I looked over after putting her back in the cage and noticed some of the skin pushing back. I'm too scared to move her during this process. I'm nervous it will do more harm than good for her right now. Goodness, hell of a morning I just thought she was dehydrated from being on the ceiling all night then the second i get her off she starts to molt. Poor thing has had a rough day


Definitely just leave her be, its out of your hands so to speak. While a little unusual, plenty of Ts have molted upright and been totally fine, so try not to worry!

Reactions: Agree 2 | Helpful 1


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## MayhemMegz (Feb 10, 2018)

Just an update for those who may be interested. Fingers crossed she does okay molting like this

Reactions: Like 4 | Love 2 | Optimistic 1


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## MayhemMegz (Feb 10, 2018)

Sarkhan42 said:


> Definitely just leave her be, its out of your hands so to speak. While a little unusual, plenty of Ts have molted upright and been totally fine, so try not to worry!


Thank you Sarkhan42, 
That definitely makes me feel a bit better!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Sarkhan42 (Feb 10, 2018)

MayhemMegz said:


> Thank you Sarkhan42,
> That definitely makes me feel a bit better!


Glad to hear it! Keep us updated, and if you have any other questions or concerns feel free to ask, plenty of good people are always around to help.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## MayhemMegz (Feb 10, 2018)

So far, so good

Reactions: Like 3 | Love 2


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## darkness975 (Feb 10, 2018)

@MayhemMegz When your Spider has completed the molt and been allowed sufficient time to harden up (around 2 weeks preferably) you should make some changes to the Enclosure.  Replace the screen lid with a pexi glass one with air holes drilled into it.  This will prevent further issues of getting stuck.

Additionally, there needs to be a lot more vegetation cover (preferably artificial) near the top so that it will feel secure and construct web tubes, which is the natural way they live (and molt).

I am not sure how humid it is in there, but this species needs a predominantly dry enclosure with ample ventilation.  Let the substrate dry out.

Add a water dish if you do not already have one in there.  You can add one on the ground but it's also good to have one suspended about half way up.  They make those ones that suction cup on the side.

If you have any kind of bright lighting or anything like that remove it. They don't like any kind of bright lighting like that.  The ambient room lighting is more than enough.  If you don't have any lights on the top or side then disregard this portion.

Don't try to feed it until it has hardened up.  At that size I'd say closer to two weeks than one.  But do ensure there is ample water available given how much energy molting takes out of them.  They need to hydrate afterwards. 

Best of luck with the upright molt.

Reactions: Agree 6 | Helpful 3 | Award 1


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## MayhemMegz (Feb 10, 2018)

darkness975 said:


> @MayhemMegz When your Spider has completed the molt and been allowed sufficient time to harden up (around 2 weeks preferably) you should make some changes to the Enclosure.  Replace the screen lid with a pexi glass one with air holes drilled into it.  This will prevent further issues of getting stuck.
> 
> Additionally, there needs to be a lot more vegetation cover (preferably artificial) near the top so that it will feel secure and construct web tubes, which is the natural way they live (and molt).
> 
> ...


Awesome information! Thank you. She's got a big fake tree she likes to climb on in here as well as quite a bit of moss and bamboo at the bottom but nothing really at the top. I will definitely be adding more of that to the top.
She has 3 different watering holes in her cage but I don't have one up towards the top, I'll look into getting one that I can suspend about half way up. Do you have any recommendations on brands or where to get one? 
Thank you for the tips!! She appears to have molted and shed the rest of her skin now. She's upright again and more importantly hanging out pretty close to her watering hole.  Thank you all so much for the advice, support, and answers! You guys are lifesavers!

Reactions: Like 4


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## darkness975 (Feb 10, 2018)

MayhemMegz said:


> Awesome information! Thank you. She's got a big fake tree she likes to climb on in here as well as quite a bit of moss and bamboo at the bottom but nothing really at the top. I will definitely be adding more of that to the top.
> She has 3 different watering holes in her cage but I don't have one up towards the top, I'll look into getting one that I can suspend about half way up. Do you have any recommendations on brands or where to get one?
> Thank you for the tips!! She appears to have molted and shed the rest of her skin now. She's upright again and more importantly hanging out pretty close to her watering hole.  Thank you all so much for the advice, support, and answers! You guys are lifesavers!
> View attachment 266033


My advice for you for now is to leave her be so long as the water dish is full.

Down the road you don't want to keep it anywhere near wet enough for moss to grow.

The bark decoration thing is probably fine (in terms of aesthetics) but it will truly thrive when given the plant cover to web into near the top.  Just make sure you get them from a pet friendly place.  Craft stores do have artificial plants but they are not usually specifically designed for being in pet Terrariums and they could contain harmful chemicals or dyes.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1 | Helpful 1


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## cold blood (Feb 10, 2018)

Water dish on the ground is just fine...I've never used an elevated water dish.

Reactions: Agree 2 | Helpful 1


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## MayhemMegz (Feb 10, 2018)

darkness975 said:


> My advice for you for now is to leave her be so long as the water dish is full.
> 
> Down the road you don't want to keep it anywhere near wet enough for moss to grow.
> 
> The bark decoration thing is probably fine (in terms of aesthetics) but it will truly thrive when given the plant cover to web into near the top.  Just make sure you get them from a pet friendly place.  Craft stores do have artificial plants but they are not usually specifically designed for being in pet Terrariums and they could contain harmful chemicals or dyes.


Okay! Awesome Thank you!



cold blood said:


> Water dish on the ground is just fine...I've never used an elevated water dish.


Oh Okay! Thanks! I read before I decided to get a tarantula that dehydration is one of the most common mistakes. So i made sure when I got Dahlia here to get a couple different water dishes for her but, yeah they are all on the ground of her house. Thank you for the input!


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## Ungoliant (Feb 11, 2018)

MayhemMegz said:


> She has 3 different watering holes in her cage but I don't have one up towards the top, I'll look into getting one that I can suspend about half way up. Do you have any recommendations on brands or where to get one?


For my Avics, I use these Command soap dishes from Walmart.  (You just need to plug the drain hole.)  Once mounted, you can slide the dish up and out to clean it.

I like that they have a gentle slope, allowing the Avic to drink from multiple angles.

 

 




cold blood said:


> Water dish on the ground is just fine...I've never used an elevated water dish.


I think in many cases they will find their water dish on the ground, but I had one that did not.  My elderly female Avic went into an exceptionally long pre-molt fast (13 months!).  Toward the end of this period, I honestly thought she was dying of old age, because she was skinny and lethargic.  I realized she wasn't going down to her water dish anymore, so when I saw her perched on the top of her cork log, I held the water dish up to her level, and she drank for a good five minutes until I could no longer hold that position.

Thinking it might make her more comfortable, I added an elevated water dish (like the one my second Avic has) so that she could reach it more easily, and I saw her drink from that as well.  She finally molted a week later.

She definitely preferred the high dish to the low dish.  In the two years that she had both water dishes, I saw her drink from the high dish several times but never from the low dish.  (She just liked to poop in it.)

Reactions: Like 2 | Helpful 2 | Useful 1


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## MayhemMegz (Feb 11, 2018)

Ungoliant said:


> For my Avics, I use these Command soap dishes from Walmart. (You just need to plug the drain hole.) Once mounted, you can slide the dish up and out to clean it.
> 
> I like that they have a gentle slope, allowing the Avic to drink from multiple angles.
> 
> ...


That is a wonderful idea, very clever! I'll add one at the very least to see what see she prefers.
Thank you for the advice and pictures!


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## Anoplogaster (Feb 11, 2018)

Yup! Those screen tops are bad news. Glad to see she’s ok

Reactions: Agree 1


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## basin79 (Feb 11, 2018)

Regarding the screen lids. I made this basic video on what I did after reading a thread on here. It was over a year ago and the lids are still fine.

Reactions: Like 2 | Helpful 1


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## MayhemMegz (Feb 11, 2018)

Anoplogaster said:


> Yup! Those screen tops are bad news. Glad to see she’s ok


I wish I would have known sooner!  It makes sense though, it just never crossed my mind she could get stuck. 
I'm so happy she's okay. Screens are replaced with plexiglass and she seems happier now that's she's molted.



basin79 said:


> Regarding the screen lids. I made this basic video on what I did after reading a thread on here. It was over a year ago and the lids are still fine.


Clever fix! I like that idea a lot, I may try this out in the future!

Reactions: Like 2


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## basin79 (Feb 11, 2018)

MayhemMegz said:


> Clever fix! I like that idea a lot, I may try this out in the future!


I get frustrated really easily with anything DIY so figured this would be the best way. Super easy to do. Literally the hardest part is finding a perspex supplier. 

Also forgot to type, sooooooooooo glad your lass moulted fine.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## MayhemMegz (Feb 11, 2018)

basin79 said:


> I get frustrated really easily with anything DIY so figured this would be the best way. Super easy to do. Literally the hardest part is finding a perspex supplier.
> 
> Also forgot to type, sooooooooooo glad your lass moulted fine.


Thank you sir! I'm happy to see it all worked out, I was so nervous with the way she was positioned but it worked out well. 
Thank you for the DIY advice!

Reactions: Like 1


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