# Tarantula Hair Loss on abdomen



## spacystacy86 (Mar 6, 2006)

Can anyone tell me why my Tarantulas are balding on the rear of their abdomens.  I'm new to this.  I have had them a couple of months.
One is a Striped Knee and the other is a Vietnamese Bird Eating Tarantula.

Thanx!
Stacy


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## YouLosePayUp (Mar 6, 2006)

are you itchy?? lol New World tarantulas aka North,Central and South America have what is called urticating hairs. They kick these off as a defense.  Now Veitnam ?? possibly labelled wrong and it is also a New World species or if that is not the case stress,bad packaging for shipping, some strange phenomenon.  

Have Fun with them and Good Luck

P.S. can you post pics?


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## Wish_mastera (Mar 6, 2006)

This is kind of defencive mechanisum. Many T got urticating hairs on the abdomen and scratch themselves with the rear legs to remove them. Then they could fall into the eyes of the animals, who desturb the Tarantula. Other T's doesnt have such hairs but they are more venomous and aggresive at all. Other "hair kickes" kick hairs at any threat they felt, like most Brachypelma spicies. If the abdomen is bald, that means the T maybe was disturbed frequently. Thats not a problem, but looks ugly. After the T molts, she will look normal

Reactions: Like 1


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## Windchaser (Mar 6, 2006)

New world tarantulas have a defense mechanism using urticating hairs. These hairs are spiny extensions of their exoskeleton that they can flick off to deter predators. These "hairs" are barb like structures that cause irritation, especially if they get into the nasal cavity or in the eyes. These hairs are not medically significant unless you get them your eye. Worst case scenario would result in blindness. This however is rare and is easy to avoid. Make sure you always wash your hands after handling your tarantulas or dong any type of cage maintenance. Some people are sensitive to the hairs when they get them on their skin. Usually this results in a rash and some discomfort.

Bald spots are quite normal on new world tarantulas. These spots will fill in again after it molts. Generally, when new world tarantulas aren't disturbed, they will not develop the bald spots. Some species will flick their hairs more readily than others and it is more common to see them with bald spots.

If your  "Vietnamese Bird Eating" tarantula is truly an Asian tarantula, then the bald spot is a sign of extreme stress. Old world tarantulas don't have urticating hairs, which is why they tend to be more defensive. Some would say aggressive. They can however under extreme stress develop bald spots. This is very rare and should be an indicator that something is not right. If your "Vietnamese Bird Eating" has a bald spot, it is possible that it is a new world tarantula that has been mislabeled.

It is important to find out the scientific names for your tarantulas because common names are highly inaccurate, especially when purchasing from most pet shops. Most pet shops have little to no knowledge of invertebrates and will simply make up names for their tarantulas.


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## spacystacy86 (Mar 6, 2006)

here's the pix


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## Keith Richard (Mar 6, 2006)

Both of your spiders are burrowing spiders (unless I'm mistaken). The wood chip substrate you have them on will not support burrowing. Swap out the chips for plain old peat or potting soil with no additives. Start a burrow by making an indentation with your finger and see if the spiders take to digging. It may take a while if the are extremely stressed....which by the looks of them, they could well be.


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## MissssSnape (Mar 6, 2006)

What actually happens when you breath those hairs in? My B.smithi kicks hair regulary at me and it doesn't seem to irretate my skin much. I was just wondering what happens when you breath them in


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## AfterTheAsylum (Mar 6, 2006)

*In addition*

There are other reasons why there is a bald spot. In addition to what has been posted thus far, my observations have been this.  If it is time to molt, they will line a silk mat with hairs so when they are helpless during a molt, the hairs will keep predators away.  Also, I have noticed than when a spider is powerfed or gravid, I have noticed with many T. blondi that hairs will fall off.  I have had many extremely fat T. blondi develop the bald spot simply from having an oversized abdomen.  But chances are, it is just due to stress.


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## Windchaser (Mar 6, 2006)

MissssSnape said:
			
		

> What actually happens when you breath those hairs in? My B.smithi kicks hair regulary at me and it doesn't seem to irretate my skin much. I was just wondering what happens when you breath them in


Your nose would itch, you would most likely start to sneeze and it would generally be uncomfortable. Think of something similar to breathing in a bunch of pepper. Your nasal cavity is much more sensitive than your skin. Also, reactions to urticating hairs vary person to person, but quite a few people have indicated that over time, they become more sensitive to them. In addition, the type of hair varies from species to species, so while some may not bother you, others will. I believe there are 5 basic types of urticating hairs. The types differ in their structure and the types of barbs they have.

Reactions: Helpful 1


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## Jmadson13 (Mar 6, 2006)

Perfectly natural for the A. seemanni, the Haplopelma sp. must have underwent terrible conditions during shipping to facilitate that kind of hair loss. It should all be back to stay after a fresh molt.


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## drunkinmaster (Mar 6, 2006)

It looks like the asian is a mature male?


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## MizM (Mar 6, 2006)

Keef said:
			
		

> Both of your spiders are burrowing spiders (unless I'm mistaken). The wood chip substrate you have them on will not support burrowing. Swap out the chips for plain old peat or potting soil with no additives. Start a burrow by making an indentation with your finger and see if the spiders take to digging. It may take a while if the are extremely stressed....which by the looks of them, they could well be.


The bark can also be extremely irritating to their undersides. In time, they will develop scrapes from constantly moving over the rough bark. I would definitely change it to a softer, deeper substrate.

Wild caught Ts often come in with bald opisthomas. The stress of capture, transport and sitting in a pet shop in poor conditions being jostled by would-be buyers is enough to drive a T insane.

Re-house them, put them in a dark, quiet place, and they should recover and look brand new after their next molt.


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## spacystacy86 (Mar 7, 2006)

i am chaning their mulch to dirt. now some people have said about  the shipping being stressfull, but when i had purchased them they were fine .it was only a month ore two after i had gotten both of them that  i noticed baldening. i use two handle them. when i noticed the bald patches i stopped bothering them  but it seemed like they still got a little bigger.do you think handeling them could also do that. 

   it was also said that when they're abdomens are fat from being fed all the time  the balding usually occurs. i've listened to the direcctions from the pet shop, and so far the pet shop is sounding more like they hadn't a clue on the spiders. how often do you recomend feeding them. i usually by crickets  and keep them in with the t's until they are gone then replace them again.Like i said i'm fairly knew at this. i love arachnids and i would like to get more but i would rather know moe about them first .

and one more question, they have never molted since i had them  how often do they molt.

Reactions: Dislike 1


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## MissssSnape (Mar 7, 2006)

The striped knee looks a little fat but the other doesn't. How many crickets do you throw in at a time? I only feed my T's 1 cricket every 2 days and it works fine. If you throw many in at the same time you have no control over them and if your T starts to molt the crickets will try to eat it. If you throw 1 in at a time then when the T doesn't eat it you can easely pick it out. 
You can keep crickets heathy in a small Critter keeper or a special cricket box. Give the crickets a piece of apple and you can keep them alive for 3 to 4 weeks

If they are adults they won't molt that much again. The striped knee is (I could be wrong) a slow grower so that's why it doesn't molt. I believe aroudn 3 to 4 months inbetween molts  and when they get older it becomes longer. Up to years of not molting


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## spacystacy86 (Mar 7, 2006)

well i usually get a dozen crickets and put six in each cage. the man at the pet shop said they fed theirs three or four a day. where do you buy your spiders from? i heard you can get them shipped to you from the internet but i didn't know if they would live threw it. i thought they would be to stressed,and that the cold weather would kill them. 

the veitnamese bird eating spider was the name on the aquarium at the pet shop. Thats not the actual name is it? i tried to find information on it butnothing comes up.

Reactions: Dislike 1


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## Windchaser (Mar 7, 2006)

spacystacy86 said:
			
		

> well i usually get a dozen crickets and put six in each cage. the man at the pet shop said they fed theirs three or four a day. where do you buy your spiders from? i heard you can get them shipped to you from the internet but i didn't know if they would live threw it. i thought they would be to stressed,and that the cold weather would kill them.
> 
> the veitnamese bird eating spider was the name on the aquarium at the pet shop. Thats not the actual name is it? i tried to find information on it butnothing comes up.


First, I would not listen too much to the advice the pet shop was giving you. They can't even properly identify a tarantula so why would you think their advice for their care would be useful. In general, a diet of 6 to 8 crickets a month is sufficient for all but a few species. The larger species (_Theraphosa_, _Lasiodora_, etc.) will require a few more crickets. A diet of about two crickets will be good.

If you have thrown in six crickets at a time, the number of crickets bouncing around could stress the tarantula and be part of the reason for the bald spot. Handling them will generally lead to bald spots as well. The bald spots themselves are not a problem provided you know why they are occurring. Once they molt they will regenerate the lost urticating hairs.

As far as buying tarantulas online and shipping them, it depends on where you live. Your profile doesn't indicate where you are at. However if you purchase from a reputable dealer, they will pack them well and they will survive the shipping. As a matter of fact, I just received a package of 10 tarantulas at home this morning. As long the seller packs them well, there are generally very few problems with shipping them.


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## spacystacy86 (Mar 7, 2006)

can you tell what species it really is by looking at the picture?


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## Lorgakor (Mar 7, 2006)

Spider number two looks like a mature male, which would explain the very small abdomen. If it is mature, it will likely not molt in your care, and will probably not live too long. Can you see if it has modified pedipalps or tibial spurs?


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## spacystacy86 (Mar 7, 2006)

i really don't even know what they are to look for them.i wish i knew how to tell the sex though i would have never bought a a male if they don't live very long.


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## Windchaser (Mar 7, 2006)

spacystacy86 said:
			
		

> i really don't even know what they are to look for them.i wish i knew how to tell the sex though i would have never bought a a male if they don't live very long.


On mature males, the ends of the pedipalps will be enlarge and it will almost look like it is wearing a pair of boxing gloves. It is quite easy to see the enlarged emboli. If tibial hooks are present (not all species have tibial hooks) there will be a small hook near the middle of the each leg on the front pair of legs. These usually are easy to see as well.


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## spacystacy86 (Mar 8, 2006)

well i definatley think he looks like it has a pair of boxing gloves it's first set of legs are short and stubby.if it is a male how long approx. will it live?


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## taorchard1987 (Mar 8, 2006)

drunkinmaster said:
			
		

> It looks like the asian is a mature male?


yeah, id probably say it was a matue male cobalt blue


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## taorchard1987 (Mar 8, 2006)

...or some other sp of haplopelma, sorry


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## spacystacy86 (Mar 8, 2006)

i have been doing research and i beleive it is a cyriopagopus paganus from the haplopelma family
:?


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## YouLosePayUp (Mar 8, 2006)

Mature H. lividum for reference


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## taorchard1987 (Mar 8, 2006)

spacystacy86 said:
			
		

> i have been doing research and i beleive it is a cyriopagopus paganus from the haplopelma family
> :?


lol, how does that one work? :?  lol


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## Windchaser (Mar 8, 2006)

spacystacy86 said:
			
		

> i have been doing research and i beleive it is a cyriopagopus paganus from the haplopelma family
> :?


These are two completely different genus. There may some questions as to whether a new, undescribed species belongs to one or the other and it is possible a species will be moved from one to the other, but they are completely different and separate genus.


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## spacystacy86 (Mar 9, 2006)

well i thought thats was what it said. oops. well like i said i don't know my stuff.well every one said that it looked like a cyriopagopus pagonus so i looked it up anf i thought  it was listed under heplopelma.i think it was called the thai tiger or something. well i guess my so called research didn't get me any where.:8o


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## MindUtopia (Mar 9, 2006)

I wouldn't leave any of the crickets in their enclosures with them for more than a day.  What I do is just buy enough crickets for one week of feeding - 1-2 crickets per spider.  Feed them those and watch for a day.  If they are not eaten within 24 hours, you should remove them, as they can cause stress (as others have pointed out) or attack a molting T.  The spider in the second of the two pics looks like a Halpopelma, possibly a Halpopelma sp. vietnam.  There seem to have been a lot of these imported in recent months.  It looks somewhat like the ones I have and that would make sense given that it was sold as a Vietnam Birdeater.  If it's not a mature male and thus molts in your care, you could likely send the shed skin off to someone to try to make an ID for you.  Oh, and you'll want to make sure you have at least 5 inches of substrate for this one and a hide of some sort.  They are very reclusive and deep burrowers.


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## spacystacy86 (Mar 17, 2006)

YouLosePayUp said:
			
		

> Mature H. lividum for reference


 i know you posted this picture a while ago, but what is the name of this spider. it looks the same as mine. almost exact.


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## spacystacy86 (Mar 18, 2006)

well what ever the species it was my bird eater just died this morning. i suppose it was a male and was ready to die cause he didn't eat at all and was slowing down quite a bit.


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## Windchaser (Mar 18, 2006)

spacystacy86 said:
			
		

> well what ever the species it was my bird eater just died this morning. i suppose it was a male and was ready to die cause he didn't eat at all and was slowing down quite a bit.


Sorry to hear that.

This illustrates why it is useful to know how to recognize mature males (or even immature males) when buying tarantulas from shops and swap meets. If you can develop the necessary skills such as ventral sexing, you can help to ensure you get what you are looking for.


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## AfrooDah (Oct 31, 2016)

so my brachypelma albopilosum has the bald spot too at its abdomen and it has been trying to isolate himself at his cave and i was trying to gave him a crick and he ate it (i could see him a bit) and now he is completely in his cave buried with the substrate what should i do? is he trying to molt? or is he got stressed? i cant take a pict of him bcs he is completely under his buried cave (sorry for bad english though)


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## Graves6661 (Oct 31, 2016)

This thread is a decade old....   make a new thread with a pic of the enclosure attached and some of the more experienced members will be able to help you out.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Andrea82 (Oct 31, 2016)

Afroost: 2546678 said:
			
		

> so my brachypelma albopilosum has the bald spot too at its abdomen and it has been trying to isolate himself at his cave and i was trying to gave him a crick and he ate it (i could see him a bit) and now he is completely in his cave buried with the substrate what should i do? is he trying to molt? or is he got stressed? i cant take a pict of him bcs he is completely under his buried cave (sorry for bad english though)


Sounds like pre-molt behaviour. Blocking off entrance always means 'do not disturb' . 
By the way, you're allowed making your own thread, instead of using one that is almost ten years old

Reactions: Agree 1


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## cold blood (Oct 31, 2016)

AfrooDah said:


> so my brachypelma albopilosum has the bald spot too at its abdomen and it has been trying to isolate himself at his cave and i was trying to gave him a crick and he ate it (i could see him a bit) and now he is completely in his cave buried with the substrate what should i do? is he trying to molt? or is he got stressed? i cant take a pict of him bcs he is completely under his buried cave (sorry for bad english though)


Do....*NOTHING*!

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Toxoderidae (Nov 2, 2016)

why

Reactions: Useful 1


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