Does your pokie do this ??

[Cerbera]

Hey everyone...

Why, in a tank filled with what you'd think might be a massive variety of natural and apposite surfaces on which to bask, not mention rather a lot of glass that affords the space to truly stretch your legs, would my Pokie (fasciata) spend the majority of her time sitting here...

She has just moulted (to 7th instar) and has been weird ever since, sometimes hangin' on glass by as little as 1 foot, with the rest curled under her, not involved, as far as I can see, with any sort of cleaning activity. And yet at night, she wanders and basks normally, in typical pokie pose, and is eating well...

So - anyone else's do this, and any idea why ?

And while I'm at it, what do we think the humidity should be in there? Care sheets and the internet at large seem to suggest upper 70%'s, but I'm thinking Sri Lanka has got to be drier than that.

The reason I ask because is because just before she moulted, there was a slightly warm, sickly smell coming out of the tank despite a lack of visible prey remains, so I did a tank clean-out recently to try and shift it. It hasn't gone completely, much to my consternation, so I am now trying to keep the tank on the dry side so that nothing adverse can be growing in there, and I rather want to know how dry I can let it get without the spider being uncomfortable. Or is what she's doing now a sign that she's uncomfortable in itself, or that it is already too dry, for example ?

Cheers

Jay

 

[chris 71]

i don,t know if this has anything to do with your problem or not but i thought it was interesting somthing in a nother post

Looks like nematodes. I lost an adult smithi to that last summer........ Here is a question that will help confirm that, did you notice a sweet smell coming from her when she was still alive? Not sweet like sugar but sweet kinda bitter, its hard to describe but you would know what I was talking about if the smell was there.

Also if you have other Ts make sure dead or alive that T goes nowhere near your other Ts. Not the room, and would be best if not in the house.

 

[Cerbera]

That had occurred to me too, but no other symptoms so far would support this...

 

[Talkenlate04]

Hey can you get some closer pictures?
I dont think its anything bad, My Poecilotheria pederseni have done something similar to what you are decribing, legs folded in while hanging by three legs and that sort of thing. I dont think here is anything weird going on, but I dont have the smell you are trying to describe.

Plus normally if it just molted it shed most parasites it might have had so I dont see that being the issue. And it was acting normal till it molted right?

 

[Midnightrdr456]

i've kep most of my pokies with just a waterdish that Ill overflow a little when i fill it.

Once in a while ill mist but very rarely, other than that nothing added in terms of humidity. And they all have done fine.

 

[DeTwan]

Yeah I've noticed that my Rufilata and Metallica do that all the time too, just sit with half their body on the dirt half on the glass... and I would ask them why they do that when there is so much room for play... they never reply???:wall:

 

[mcy]

i have a fasciata and it does the same thing but wedged between bark and soil

 

[duente]

Hey can you get some closer pictures?
I dont think its anything bad, My Poecilotheria pederseni have done something similar to what you are decribing, legs folded in while hanging by three legs and that sort of thing. I dont think here is anything weird going on, but I dont have the smell you are trying to describe.

Plus normally if it just molted it shed most parasites it might have had so I dont see that being the issue. And it was acting normal till it molted right?

what became of that tarantula?is it still alive?a few months ago i lost a P.regalis http://atshq.org/forum/showthread.php?p=40502 and had similar behaviour..

 

[Cerbera]

Update

Sorry you lost your regalis, duente... did you ever find out why ?

Mine is very much still alive and still eating well I am thankful to be able to say... I have better photos now there has been a spider diary edition out...

Today, she is back in her bamboo tube burrow, but has been sitting for the past few days like this (apart from at night, when she wanders the glass and hangs in standard pokie pose somewhere thereon as normal...

​

For those of you who may be thinking that she is simply trying to be as close to the heat pad as possible, well - I WOULD go with that if I didn't know that whole room was 80F anyway, and surely she shouldn't want to be much warmer than that constantly, should she ? I might be more tempted to think she was choosing here because it is also the darkest place in the tank (aside from in one of the tubes I assume).

I am now beginning to think that her bamboo hide is perhaps too small for her, and she'd rather be where it is less protected but less cramped. I may have to organise her a new burrow...

Incidentally, the smell has all but gone following the tank clean-out of last week.

Thanks for the suggestions all...

 

[Sunar]

I wish...my P. striata built a shelter of web and dirt at the bottom of the jar where the cork bark meets the substrae and just lives in there. The best I get to see usually is fuzzy legs. -_-

~Fred

 

[duente]

perhaps there's something wrong with the bamboo that isnt visible with a first glance and the T wants to avoid it?..like mold or something?..if i remember well bamboo grows mold quite easily..that sweet smell could be an indicator..

as for my regalis..i never found out..i suspect a bacterial cause or something similar..it interests me though because i've seen quite a few reports with arboreal specimens that ended with the same symptoms...(unable to climb,walking funny,not eating,some legs curled under at the final stage etc..)

 

[Moltar]

I have a B. smithi that does that but with her front legs in the air like she was praying to mecca. The one thing i noticed is that my computers are near the side that she 'basks' on. Perhaps there is a radiant heat source there too faint for us to detect but the T can pick up on. Like by only a degree or two the wall is warmer than the floor?

 

[common spider]

Mine likes to do something like that also.The sitting on the bottom of the tank deal.