GBB possibly dying?

[SoulSpiegel12]

For the past couple days I have noticed my GBB moving rather slow with his legs curled in. He kicked hairs at any food that would come near him. He has a full water dish and I have even put some droplets on his web in case he is dehydrating. Nothing has worked. Seriously afraid he might be dying! He has been moving around ever so often but always very lethargic. Some light climbing every now and then.

 

[Dorifto]

If you believe that the curled legs are a sign of dehydration, raise the substrate's moisture a bit. GBBs are a humid species, so providing a moist spot it's a good idea, specially with enclosures with ample of ventilation.

Rather than dropping some water in the web full of carcass (disolving possible bacterias), try placing a water dropplet between the fangs.

In what kind of conditions it's kept? Temp, humidity, ventilation etc

 

[tarantulas118]

If you believe that the curled legs are a sign of dehydration, raise the substrate's moisture a bit. GBBs are a humid species, so providing a moist spot it's a good idea, specially with enclosures with ample of ventilation.

Rather than dropping some water in the web full of carcass (disolving possible bacterias), try placing a water dropplet between the fangs.

In what kind of conditions it's kept? Temp, humidity, ventilation etc

I thought GBB’s were a very very dry species

 

[darkness975]

It's hard to tell from the images but is it a MM ?

 

[SoulSpiegel12]

It's hard to tell from the images but is it a MM ?

He's not a MM just yet. He's around 3 inches.

 

[Dorifto]

I thought GBB’s were a very very dry species

Nope.

Their soil it's very very dry (xeric) but the climate it's very humid and warm.

A desertic climate simply means that the amount of precipitations are very low or almost non existant, but it has nothing to do with the air's humidity level. The climate can be very humid (like GBBs and balfouris), but at the same time don't have any kind of precipitations (xeric soils). In both cases, they are surrounded by a great warm water mass, which provides plenty of humid air, one being a peninsula (Paraguaná) and the other an island (Socotra). If that very humid and warm air does not have anything that makes that air to cool down, like really big mountains, or cool air drafts, it simply won't condense forming rain, and will keep traveling without droping a single drop of water, even if that air it's completely full of moisture.

Using the same principle, that's why people should not believe blindly that because an enclosure has a dry substrate, the enclosure itself it's dry. You can have a dry substrate, but the enclosure could be quite humid (air), due to climatic factors or simply because of the moisture provided to the air by a water mass (waterdish).

 

[jbooth]

Air humidity for "dry" things should still be ~50% and it's a pita with an ambient 15% here. Fighting dehydration with one hand and mold with the other... If it's as bad for you, all enclosures should probably have some moisture in the bottom layer of substrate. But if you can't have any, you can use the size of the water dish and amount of ventilation to regulate it. Larger surface areas of water will evaporate faster for example. I have little meters I will drop in temporarily if I want to get a ballpark on what an enclosure is at.

 

[Dorifto]

@cold blood here you have more jokes...




Seriously, I don't see the funny in my post. Explaining that both humidity and soil moisture levels not always go hand in hand it's funny or laughable?

Imho it's something that could create dangerous situations to our Ts if the keeper it's not aware of, and imho it's something we should focus on.

Too many people believe that some species are dry, while in fact are quite humid species, and a great example of this are GBBs. They simply live in a xeric environment (almost no rain), but they are protected by a very humid climate, so they don't loose moisture so easily like under our care. Never thought why GBBs have so many molting issues or dehydration cases in the hobby?

 

[yabaidesuyone]

@cold blood here you have more jokes...
View attachment 433897

View attachment 433898

Seriously, I don't see the funny in my post. Explaining that both humidity and soil moisture levels not always go hand in hand it's funny or laughable?

Imho it's something that could create dangerous situations to our Ts if the keeper it's not aware of, and imho it's something we should focus on.

Too many people believe that some species are dry, while in fact are quite humid species, and a great example of this are GBBs. They simply live in a xeric environment (almost no rain), but they are protected by a very humid climate, so they don't loose moisture so easily like under our care. Never thought why GBBs have so many molting issues or dehydration cases in the hobby?

So what are you saying is the solution, should I water the enclosure or should I not?
IME I kinda felt like it never went for the wetter/humid/moist part of the enclosure anyway, never even touched the part of the enclosure with the huge water dish

 

[ladyratri]

So what are you saying is the solution, should I water the enclosure or should I not?
IME I kinda felt like it never went for the wetter/humid/moist part of the enclosure anyway, never even touched the part of the enclosure with the huge water dish

Short version: They're saying if the sub is dry, water it in one corner.

There are basically three types of moisture in your enclosure: damp substrate, standing water in a dish, and humidity in the air.

The vast majority of advice on here is about managing the first two (sub and water dish) and leaving the third (ambient humidity in the air) to the whims of physics. This works fine as long as your enclosure has appropriate ventilation. Too little, and stagnant air will kill your T. Too much ventilation means everything dries up faster. Since you have a critter keeper with a ton of ventilation in the lid, you may have to water more often. It may not spend time in the areas with the wet sub (or you might just not see it when it does) but the wet sub still helps the T overall not need to drink as much water.

 

[Dorifto]

So what are you saying is the solution, should I water the enclosure or should I not?
IME I kinda felt like it never went for the wetter/humid/moist part of the enclosure anyway, never even touched the part of the enclosure with the huge water dish

Just keep a small portion damp to raise it, eg around the water dish. I personally wouldn't worry to much about it, unless your climatic conditions are specially dry or if you are using devices that decrease RH levels like ACs or space heaters. Being from indonesia, I believe that you don't need to worry too much about it, unless you use such devices intensively.

It'd be normal to not to touch damp substrates, as they barely see rain, so any damp area could mean a "flood" for them. And this happens with other Ts too.

 

[arthurliuyz]

So are we just all agreeing this is caused by dehydration? Could be just in heavy premolt IMO.

 

[Dorifto]

So are we just all agreeing this is caused by dehydration? Could be just in heavy premolt IMO.

It could be both. But personally the curled legs and "lethargic" movements worries me a bit.

 

[Andrea82]

He's not a MM just yet. He's around 3 inches.

I have no idea of your experience level so this might sound a bit dumb if you've been keeping spiders for ages but; size doesn't say much about maturity. Hooks and palpal bulbs do, but the pictures are at the wrong angle for me to tell.

As for the moisture/humidity discussion. I've been a bit out of the hobby or at least out of the online community but I wasn't aware there's a problem with this species in terms of failed moults and dehydration?

 

[Dorifto]

I wasn't aware there's a problem with this species in terms of failed moults and dehydration?

Just take a look to dehydration and molting issue threads, not only here, but on FB... etc and always there are two species that stand out from the rest and with a common denominator, kept in big enclosures and dry conditions.

 

[yabaidesuyone]

Just keep a small portion damp to raise it, eg around the water dish. I personally wouldn't worry to much about it, unless your climatic conditions are specially dry or if you are using devices that decrease RH levels like ACs or space heaters. Being from indonesia, I believe that you don't need to worry too much about it, unless you use such devices intensively.

It'd be normal to not to touch damp substrates, as they barely see rain, so any damp area could mean a "flood" for them. And this happens with other Ts too.

Yeah, probably not an issue with me since its pretty warm even without any heating devices.
Just kinda baffles me the fact that they need humidity even tho they seems to just dislike any sort of moisture in their enclosure.

 

[Dorifto]

Yeah, probably not an issue with me since its pretty warm even without any heating devices.
Just kinda baffles me the fact that they need humidity even tho they seems to just dislike any sort of moisture in their enclosure.

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about it unless your room it's quite dry and the enclosure has "too much" ventilation.

By overflowing the water dish from time to time should be enough in most cases to prevent issues.

 

[campj]

So are we just all agreeing this is caused by dehydration? Could be just in heavy premolt IMO.

Could also be the unsanitary conditions of the tank. Seriously, what is all that crap on the webbing? Looks filthy and gross.

 

[SoulSpiegel12]

Could also be the unsanitary conditions of the tank. Seriously, what is all that crap on the webbing? Looks filthy and gross.

He's very messy with his super worms, I didn't know if I was allowed to remove his webbing.

 

[tarantulas118]

any updates how is he