Help!!!!!!!! Therphosa blondi problems

[Morganlumer]

I awake this morning to find my girl on her back, spinning a silk mat in the air, the mat being supported by the glass of her tank and her rear legs. Every few minutes she gnashes her chelicerae and thickens the mat by adding silk. Its as odd as it sounds. I have never heard of this behavior before. She molted only a month ago so i know it cant be that, and i can clearly see shes a female as the epigastric furrow is obvious on her previous molt. Shes not dying is she????? HELLPPPP!

 

[B8709]

Calm down...Don't touch her. I'm sure she's fine.
Wait and let someone more experienced with T. Blondis or this behavior answer first.

 

[spiderworld]

I awake this morning to find my girl on her back, spinning a silk mat in the air, the mat being supported by the glass of her tank and her rear legs. Every few minutes she gnashes her chelicerae and thickens the mat by adding silk. Its as odd as it sounds. I have never heard of this behavior before. She molted only a month ago so i know it cant be that, and i can clearly see shes a female as the epigastric furrow is obvious on her previous molt. Shes not dying is she????? HELLPPPP!

Pics please! before we even start!

 

[Hobo]

Her "epigastric furrow is obvious"? :?
Did you by any chance check for spermathecae instead?
This sounds an awful lot like a sperm web. We need pictures of the spider, where we can see the palps. Preferably of it doing what you're describing.

Failing that I don't know what to make of it! It definitely sounds odd if it is indeed female.

 

[Morganlumer]

from what I'm told and my own research, by looking a a ts molt one can deduece the sex because the genital openings are displayed. On this ts molt there is clearly a dark brown oval that matches pics I've seen of female
molts. I understand the females genital opening is known as the "epigastric furrow". She does have bulbous ended pedipalps but I thought theraphosa blondi males were the exception and didn't have these. I'll try to get a pic up but you'll have to bear with me as I'm
at work ATM.

 

[moose35]

sounds like a sperm web to me also.
seems like you have a mature male.



moose

 

[WARPIG]

". She does have bulbous ended pedipalps but I thought theraphosa blondi males were the exception and didn't have these.

You have a MM

PIG-

 

[Blayde]

"Boxing gloves" MM, I have myself a T. sp "burgundy". He did his sperm web a few weeks ago, but I didnt get to watch.

 

[robc]

I awake this morning to find my girl on her back, spinning a silk mat in the air, the mat being supported by the glass of her tank and her rear legs. Every few minutes she gnashes her chelicerae and thickens the mat by adding silk. Its as odd as it sounds. I have never heard of this behavior before. She molted only a month ago so i know it cant be that, and i can clearly see shes a female as the epigastric furrow is obvious on her previous molt. Shes not dying is she????? HELLPPPP!

Here is a older vid of My L. parahybana making a sper web, he does a flip to get back over LOL!!! pretty cool.

[YOUTUBE]QjvSewJ1BG8[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Versi*JP*Color]

T.blondi's don't have hooks but have bulbous pedipalps from what I understand.

 

[robc]

T.blondi's don't have hooks but have bulbous pedipalps from what I understand.

No tibial hooks for blondi.

 

[Hobo]

from what I'm told and my own research, by looking a a ts molt one can deduece the sex because the genital openings are displayed. On this ts molt there is clearly a dark brown oval that matches pics I've seen of female
molts. I understand the females genital opening is known as the "epigastric furrow". She does have bulbous ended pedipalps but I thought theraphosa blondi males were the exception and didn't have these. I'll try to get a pic up but you'll have to bear with me as I'm
at work ATM.

Yup, you have a mature male. In a sense, he is dying, but it's nothing you can do anything about (except try and find him a girlfriend). MM don't have very long, usually in the vicinity of a year or so (I don't know specifically how long blondi males live after maturing).

Anyway, you've got a few things mixed up.
First, BOTH sexes will have an epigastric furrow. You can sex Ts by looking how it's shaped, but you typically do so on the actual spider, not from a molt.

When looking at a molt, you look at the inside part, opposite to the epigastric furrow and look for spermathecae. In females, there will be an obvious flap, where males will have nothing, except perhaps small "accessory organs" In both male and females, you will still be able to see the epigastric furrow openings.

Second, MM T. blondis will have bulbous palps, like all mature males. It is the tibial hooks that they lack, which are hooks found on the front legs of most mature male tarantulas.

The best thing you can do at this time (after supplying a picture of course to confirm) is to find him a girlfriend. But first, you have to make sure your T. blondi is really a T. blondi, which is a whole 'nother matter entirely