L. parahybana finally eats after more than 14 months

c'est ma

Arachnobaron
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Sep 17, 2006
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Wow, it's been years since I've posted here! Please forgive me if I'm ignorant about any new rules or customs.

For some time now I've been down to just one T, a parahybana that I bought as a little pink sling in June, 2008. She's been full grown for several years, now, but after her last molt, she had not been eating. Sadly, I didn't note the date of said molt--it seemed to have proceeded quite normally at the time. But I do know it was sometime before 12/9/19, because that's the last day a construction crew was here, and I remember telling them about the molt at some time during the weeks that they were working on my house.

Anyway, after that molt, she never resumed eating. Eventually I began to worry that she'd not completely molted her "sucking stomach"...I kept her water dish full and sprayed parts of her substrate and a wall of the tank once a week or so, but I expected the worse. Well, I've been expecting the worse for over a year now! I went from offering her food every few days to once a week to once a month. She became very lethargic but somehow still hung in there...

Today I was at the pet store for dog & cat supplies and decided to try food one more time, so I picked up some meal worms and, lo & behold, she ate them!

I know this sounds incredibly far-fetched, but to the best of my knowledge she's gone more than 14 moths w/o eating. Somehow she managed to stay hydrated, and she now is looking not only perkier but more rotund. Is this even possible? Perhaps the fact that she was so large to begin with helped, that and the fact that she was expending so little energy?

At any rate, my mind is now officially blown!
 

JPG

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The longest one i had was about 6 months, 14 months would put me in an uncomfortable position.
 
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ShadowLink

Arachnopeon
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Feb 17, 2018
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I have a Hamorii that molted 8 months and 11 days ago and hasn't eaten since.
I know they can go a long time without food but I am starting to get a little concerned about it's sucking stomach.

All you can really do is make sure they're hydrated, hope they either start eating before they starve to death, or molt to fix any issues.
 

c'est ma

Arachnobaron
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Sep 17, 2006
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I have a Hamorii that molted 8 months and 11 days ago and hasn't eaten since.
I know they can go a long time without food but I am starting to get a little concerned about it's sucking stomach.

All you can really do is make sure they're hydrated, hope they either start eating before they starve to death, or molt to fix any issues.
Thanks. That's essentially what I ended up doing, for lack of any other info on how to proceed. I'd never read of a spider undergoing such a long fast, however! I wonder if the sheer size of her body to begin with (by virtue of being not only a parahybana but also a large female) helped. I'm not sure we're out of the woods yet, but she's suddenly looking and acting far more normal.

Would it be reasonable to assume that something indeed went wrong with her last molt, and it's taken this long for her to regenerate the tissue or otherwise recover from the malfunction, do you think?

The longest one i had was about a month, 14 months would put me in an uncomfortable position.
No kidding! :D (I can smile, now.)

Edit--naturally, only now do I notice the typos in my original post, sigh. Well, I guess writing "moths" instead of "months" is a rather appropriate slip given the subject...As to "worse" instead of "worst"--arrgh!

The longest one i had was about a month, 14 months would put me in an uncomfortable position.
I think maybe once they reach full size they molt less frequently?
 
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Storm76

Arachnoemperor
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Jan 30, 2012
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3,797
I think maybe once they reach full size they molt less frequently?
Time between molts for adult T's is longer and less frequent, yes. There's also the males that already had their ultimate molt trying to molt again and usually die trying getting stuck because of hooks and/or palps.
 

ShadowLink

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
4
Would it be reasonable to assume that something indeed went wrong with her last molt, and it's taken this long for her to regenerate the tissue or otherwise recover from the malfunction, do you think?
Couldn't say for sure as I am still fairly new to the hobby, having only 6 spiders for a little under 2 years.
However, it's my understanding that if a failed sucking stomach occurs there is 2 possible outcomes. Either your spider molts again after a time and fixes the problem or it starves to death.
If it's plump still it should make it to another molt I would think.
 

Envoirment

Arachnosquire
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Feb 3, 2016
Messages
93
I've never had any of my tarantulas fast for so long right after a moult. However, my G. rosea female did fast for almost 2 years once. Her last moult was 5 years ago and her abodomen looked a little small afterwards so I fed her a bit more than I should've. She plumped up a little too much and then refused food for the next 20 months. I can't tell you how happy I was when she finally took a cricket. :bigtears:
 
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