Screamingreenmachine
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2016
- Messages
- 65
Back story! So over the past several months, my local pet store has had an absolutely gorgeous Smithi for sale but it was not in a good environment. The enclosure was designed more for an arboreal reptile/amphibian and not for an arachnid, especially a terrestrial one. No hide, shallow substrate. Today I was at the store and she was hanging onto the top screen with an 18 inch drop waiting for her. I asked if I could take her out and take a look at her and they let me. She's beautiful, fat as can be though, and about 3.5 inches. They had no clue on the sex but a look at the underbelly screamed female.
I don't fault this store at all and will continue to use them, but they are more reptile inclined and now and then they will get a tarantula in and they don't really care for them that well (wood chips in some, half an inch of coco fiber in others, lots of lighting). They don't abuse them by any means! In fact they seemed sad to see this one go
Now I noticed she has white flaky stuff on her carapace and abdomen, but besides that she seems healthy. Apparently eats like a machine, never kicks hairs, and even though I don't like handling them, she had zero issues being picked up, and just sort of hung out.
Now back to the white flaky stuff. She's had it on her for several months but it really hasn't changed at all... it's not gotten any worse. She has only become a good deal fatter from all the crickets, so she is clearly eating. Now I picked her up today for a steal and i also grabbed her because I just wanted her in a better home, but I have to ask, does she look unhealthy at all to any of you on here? She has nothing around her fangs or mouth, only a bit of the white on one joint, and the rest is as you can see in the picture (the white on the ground around her is actually just the light reflecting off of water). Is the white stuff just dusty fecal matter, or some old hairs, a mix of both, or something more sinister like a fungus or mites (which i don't believe it is because nothing has moved)? I tried to gently clean her carapace with a damp q-tip which she didn't object to at all. Some of the white appeared to have come off of her when I tried that for a few seconds.
Here she is:
I don't fault this store at all and will continue to use them, but they are more reptile inclined and now and then they will get a tarantula in and they don't really care for them that well (wood chips in some, half an inch of coco fiber in others, lots of lighting). They don't abuse them by any means! In fact they seemed sad to see this one go
Now I noticed she has white flaky stuff on her carapace and abdomen, but besides that she seems healthy. Apparently eats like a machine, never kicks hairs, and even though I don't like handling them, she had zero issues being picked up, and just sort of hung out.
Now back to the white flaky stuff. She's had it on her for several months but it really hasn't changed at all... it's not gotten any worse. She has only become a good deal fatter from all the crickets, so she is clearly eating. Now I picked her up today for a steal and i also grabbed her because I just wanted her in a better home, but I have to ask, does she look unhealthy at all to any of you on here? She has nothing around her fangs or mouth, only a bit of the white on one joint, and the rest is as you can see in the picture (the white on the ground around her is actually just the light reflecting off of water). Is the white stuff just dusty fecal matter, or some old hairs, a mix of both, or something more sinister like a fungus or mites (which i don't believe it is because nothing has moved)? I tried to gently clean her carapace with a damp q-tip which she didn't object to at all. Some of the white appeared to have come off of her when I tried that for a few seconds.
Here she is: