just under two days ago i acquired a juvenile honduran curly hair from a local reptile convention. this is my first tarantula, and i have some newbie questions.
1. is she in premolt, or just lazy? she is rather sluggish but may be a bit stressed out from recent events such as moving from place to place. she has also taken to standing/laying with her belly placed in her water dish. it also appears to me that she is developing the telltale dark spot on her abdomen, but i cannot tell whether or not this is her natural coloration. i do not know whether or not she is fasting; i have not yet fed her and will be waiting at least a week before i do. (i was told this was the best thing to do after rehoming a spider - correct me if i am wrong.)
2. is simple cardboard safe for her enclosure? the hide i have currently is simply a portion of a toilet paper tube that forms a sort of half-tunnel in which she likes to hide.
3. is it necessary for me to mist or include sphagnum moss or something similar in her enclosure? currently her substrate is about two inches of coconut fiber, with a wide, shallow water dish buried into the substrate for easy access. so far i have been following the instructions found on the calgary spider webtree.
thank you in advance for your replies. some pictures of constance are attached below. as you can see, she is quite small.
click through for full size
1. is she in premolt, or just lazy? she is rather sluggish but may be a bit stressed out from recent events such as moving from place to place. she has also taken to standing/laying with her belly placed in her water dish. it also appears to me that she is developing the telltale dark spot on her abdomen, but i cannot tell whether or not this is her natural coloration. i do not know whether or not she is fasting; i have not yet fed her and will be waiting at least a week before i do. (i was told this was the best thing to do after rehoming a spider - correct me if i am wrong.)
2. is simple cardboard safe for her enclosure? the hide i have currently is simply a portion of a toilet paper tube that forms a sort of half-tunnel in which she likes to hide.
3. is it necessary for me to mist or include sphagnum moss or something similar in her enclosure? currently her substrate is about two inches of coconut fiber, with a wide, shallow water dish buried into the substrate for easy access. so far i have been following the instructions found on the calgary spider webtree.
thank you in advance for your replies. some pictures of constance are attached below. as you can see, she is quite small.
click through for full size