Help!!Disappearing Butt!!!

[Hawklady]

I bought a rosehair Tatantula at petco. We made him a really cool turairium with plant and a little pond>>>> He ate one cricket and I haven't seen him eat anything else. His butt is shrinking. I tried to get in on the rosehaired chat but it was closed. This spider is really pink. His whole body,he is fabulous. I don't want to lose him. What should I do? !!!

 

[WayneT]

How long have you had it? And how much shrinkage are we talking about?

 

[Randy]

I bought a rosehair Tatantula at petco. We made him a really cool turairium with plant and a little pond>>>> He ate one cricket and I haven't seen him eat anything else. His butt is shrinking. I tried to get in on the rosehaired chat but it was closed. This spider is really pink. His whole body,he is fabulous. I don't want to lose him. What should I do? !!!

My obt is also doing the same, it isnt eating and its butt has shrunk, for more than a week by now..

 

[xBurntBytheSunx]

maybe a mature male?

 

[sansoucie]

My pink toe ( avic avic) does the same thing... wont eat for a while and gets all skinny buttish. Then she'll start eating again after a while. Could be a normal fast like that or that he/she is still getting used to its new surroundings. How long have you had it?

 

[luther]

Not eating for a while is quite normal for a G.rosea of any sex. Butt shrinkage isn't so normal for a female. Since you've provided a water dish (pond?) the tarantula shouldn't be dehydrated. This suggests that you've maybe got a mature male. If that's so then it may never eat again.

How big is the tarantula? Can you provide a picture? A picture or description of it's tank setup would help too. Does the tarantula have a small spur on the underside of the first joint of the big front legs? Do it's pedipalps look swollen at the ends?

Is his tank bone dry except for the water dish? That's probably the most important tip for a G.rosea that I can think of.

 

[Hawklady]

Help Harry

His tarraium is a gentil sloping hill with a plastic flower pot sunk in it just like the directions. I covered the dirt with moss and planted a small fern and some ground cover. I sunk a plastic food container and put some gravel in the bottom, and a natural sea sponge so he wouldn't drown. I used the bark chips that where in the container I bought him in for his bedding material so he wouldn't lose it so bad in a totally new place. He climbed on top of the hill that night and made a web. We put a cricket in there the next day and when I came back he was eating it. He is a full blown male in red phase. I can see his hooks on his front legs but I can't tell if their swollen because these are the only ones I've seen before!!!! His carapace is a beautiful rose pink, almost metallic looking. I know hes an adult male, so what does that mean??? Is he just going to dry up and die?? He hasn't eaten in at least a week. The stratus is damp, there is condensation on the walls when i look in on him in the morning, Then it disapates when I turn on the light. Do you think some other type of food will intice him? We've only had him a little over a week. My son thinks he rocks. I do have 3 crickets in there. Do you think I should remove them??

 

[Greg Wolfe]

Males...

Adult males don't eat a real lot. If he doesn't consume any more crix then yes, I would take them out. Since he is mature he has maybe a year or so left. Enjoy him now while you can! Do you have any pix we could see?

 

[Mike H.]

If there is condensation on the glass then it is too wet...they like it BONE dry, as far as a mature male goes they "generally" dont live that long, I would suggest putting him on pure peatmoss that is bone dry and perhaps try and find him a mate and let him go out with a "bang"....

Regards, Mike

 

[conway]

remove the "sea sponge" its terrible it attracts germs and godknows what else and the T will not drown, also remove the bark chips

 

[Elizabeth]

There's a sticky at the top of this tarantula board called "how to really care for your rosehair" which you might want to look at. Sounds like you are going to great lengths to make him happy.

The sponge could come out. He won't drown and it is only a breeding ground for bacteria.

You may be keeping his set-up a little moist, too.

After a male molts into his sexually mature self, that is when the countdown begins of his final days. So, if you got him just recently, he wouldn't necessarily live that last 6 months or year of his life with you. Some of his last days (months) may have been already spent at the petstore.

A younger T will provide more excitement, as they will be more interested in eating, and the molts are very interesting, too.

 

[luther]

Yes, he may not eat much, if at all. He will need access to fresh water though. He certainly has a limited lifespan, perhaps a year to a year and a half at most from when he molted into his tibial spurs I think.

I definately would set him up a tank with a dry, peat substrate, a cork bark shelter and a shallow water dish (no sponge!). You really don't want condensation on the tank walls.

Look out for him making and using a sperm web. That's a cool thing to see a tarantula do.

 

[Hawklady]

He looks just like Jeremys female

But he has the hooks on his legs so I know he's a male. I will get pics, but I use a 35mm so it will be a few days until I can post them.

 

[pitbulllady]

The thing is, since you know it's a mature male(the immature males don't have the tell-tale tibial hooks yet), you know that the males have a limited lifespan. What you DON'T know is how long ago he matured. His ultimate moult could have been months ago, and he could indeed be at the final stage of his life. I know when my first tarantula, a Brachypelma smithi male, underwent his final moult, he only lived a few months after that, and he did indeed stop eating altogether in those final weeks before he died. He just literally wasted away to nothing. I guess that they are so "hard-wired' to find a female and pass along their genes that it takes precidence over everything else, including eating. Back then, B. smithis were a dime a dozen, like Rosehairs are now, so nobody thought to breed them in captivity, and my male never got the chance to reproduce before he died.

pitbulllady