Megaphobema mesomelas

[Abdul]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice regarding my Megaphobema mesomelas. Over the past few days, she’s been unusually lethargic and lying flat on her belly instead of standing on her legs as she normally would. She’s also been hiding behind her legs quite a bit.

Here are the key details:

She molted a few months ago and appeared to recover well.

She hasn’t eaten for a few weeks, but this is typical for her during winter.

She’s been drinking water recently, and her abdomen doesn’t look shriveled, so dehydration doesn’t seem to be the issue.

However, there’s a noticeable presence of fungus gnats (Trauermücken) in her enclosure, and I suspect they might be stressing her.


I’ve already started removing decaying organic matter and improving ventilation to address the gnats, but I’m concerned her behavior might indicate a deeper issue.

My questions are:

1. Could the fungus gnats be causing her lethargy, or should I be worried about something else like parasites or illness?


2. Should I try offering food now, even though she typically doesn’t eat in winter?


3. Is there anything else I can do to improve her condition or make her more comfortable?



Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated. I want to ensure she’s okay and address this promptly if it’s more serious.

Thank you

 

[Cmac2111]

Its not abdomegaphobema mesomelas, it's brachypelma hamorii. There's no way to make it eat, you can only try to offer. Enclosure looks way too tall for a terrestrial T, an injury from falling could have happened here.

 

[fcat]

Can we see a picture of the entire enclosure?

Are you sure they are fungus gnats and not phorid flies?

Can you get a good picture of her, like textbook quality, you are looking for specks so make it a very clear, zoomed in picture.

There is a bit of a chase sequence leading up to the capture at around 18:00 but watch the first part of the video until he starts to chase her.

Whatever species of fly...it's thriving and reproducing in the moist soil from you watering the plant. Get rid of that when you do redo the enclosure.

 

[Wolfram1]

yep, thats a Brachypelma

she looks pretty banged up

 

[A guy]

If you paid money for a mesomelas and got that..... Oh boy...

 

[Abdul]

If you paid money for a mesomelas and got that..... Oh boy...

Sorry, that's my fault. I may have misidentified her. Embarrassing after having her for 4 years now haha

Can we see a picture of the entire enclosure?

Are you sure they are fungus gnats and not phorid flies?

Can you get a good picture of her, like textbook quality, you are looking for specks so make it a very clear, zoomed in picture.

There is a bit of a chase sequence leading up to the capture at around 18:00 but watch the first part of the video until he starts to chase her.

Whatever species of fly...it's thriving and reproducing in the moist soil from you watering the plant. Get rid of that when you do redo the enclosure.

Thanks for the tip and the video. I'm almost definitely sure that those are gnats

yep, thats a Brachypelma

she looks pretty banged up

Can you expand on how she looks banged up? And yeah sorry I probably misidentified her

Can we see a picture of the entire enclosure?

Are you sure they are fungus gnats and not phorid flies?

Can you get a good picture of her, like textbook quality, you are looking for specks so make it a very clear, zoomed in picture.

There is a bit of a chase sequence leading up to the capture at around 18:00 but watch the first part of the video until he starts to chase her.

Whatever species of fly...it's thriving and reproducing in the moist soil from you watering the plant. Get rid of that when you do redo the enclosure.

And here's the entire inclosure

 

[Wolfram1]

look at the carapax in the first picture, on both sides of the eye-mound it looks like the outer cuticle is visible, like it has either been burrowing through some dense soil, or scraped past a hard object, or possibly from a fall, and yes that enclosure is much too tall

maybe its just the lighting, but thats what it looks like to me

also the positioning of the legs isnt really typical, even for a scrunched up spider trying to hide, how does it move?

 

[Abdul]

look at the carapax in the first picture, on both sides of the eye-mound it looks like the outer cuticle is visible, like it has either been burrowing through some dense soil, or scraped past a hard object, or possibly from a fall, and yes that enclosure is much too tall

maybe its just the lighting, but thats what it looks like to me

also the positioning of the legs isnt really typical, even for a scrunched up spider trying to hide, how does it move?

She's moving very slowly, almsot shaking while moving. I've moved her now to a smaller enclosure and I will replace the big enclosure.

 

[Wolfram1]

well that doesn't look good at all, the abdomen looks uneven to me, so possibly dehydration, that would fit with the partial deathcurl too

you had and have a water dish though, ...
so perhaps it did get injured in a fall and is/was leaking haemolympth, that would cause loss of hydration just the same

lets hope the rehousing works

keep the water-dish clean and full, hopefully you will see it drink and make sure ventilation is good

you can try giving it something jucy to eat, a prekilled Zophobas morio larvae, or a prekilled B. dubia, would work.

nothing too lively though, it wont be able to hunt properly and it should drink first if possible

when did you add the plant?

 

[Abdul]

well that doesn't look good at all, the abdomen looks uneven to me, so possibly dehydration, that would fit with the partial deathcurl too

you had and have a water dish though, ...
so perhaps it did get injured in a fall and is/was leaking haemolympth, that would cause loss of hydration just the same

lets hope the rehousing works

keep the water-dish clean and full, hopefully you will see it drink and make sure ventilation is good

you can try giving it something jucy to eat, a prekilled Zophobas morio larvae, or a prekilled B. dubia, would work.

nothing too lively though, it wont be able to hunt properly and it should drink first if possible

when did you add the plant?

Thank you very much for your replies and tips, I really appreciate that. The plant was already there in the enclosure when I got it as a gift 4 years ago. I often cut the plant as it gets very long. I'm on my way now to get it something juicy to eat and I'll keep an eye on it

 

[Wolfram1]

alright, then it has nothing to do with the plant, we have had people wo poisoned their spiders with pesticides on the plants they introduced

PS: also it has too little substrate again, i dont think it will climb in its current condition, but thats still pretty high, i would have filled that half way at least

 

[TheraMygale]

Just to make sure, you always knew it was a brachypelma and just used the wrong name?

because if you kept it as a Mega, thats whats harming it.

gnats are a sign of decay and moisture. Moisture should not be abundant in this type of enclosure.

the larvae of gnats are nematodes and live in the soil. If you had many flies, then you have even more larvae in the soil. EDIT: to avoid confusion, i used the term nematode but it is not anatomicaly a nematode. Its just larvae.

phorid flies are not the same as fungus gnats.

 

[Brewser]

Have installed a Wall Sconce Fly Trap.
U.V. Light attracts and Sticky Board ensnares.

 

[Abdul]

Just to make sure, you always knew it was a brachypelma and just used the wrong name?

because if you kept it as a Mega, thats whats harming it.

gnats are a sign of decay and moisture. Moisture should not be abundant in this type of enclosure.

the larvae of gnats are nematodes and live in the soil. If you had many flies, then you have even more larvae in the soil.

phorid flies are not the same as fungus gnats.

View attachment 488997

I was not aware that it was a Brachypelma. I think it was probably too moist inside the enclosure and probably the ventilation was not optimal. I'm pretty sure that the flies are gnats. I got them when buying soil for the plants

 

[angelarachnid]

the larvae of gnats are nematodes and live in the soil.

OK Lets get this straight RIGHT NOW nematodes ARE NOT THE LARVAE of Sicarids (fungus gnats/flies).

Sicarids have larvae called (as all Dipterous larvae are) maggots and feed on whatever, and these turn into a pupae and then into a fly.

Nematodes are a completely different order of invertibrate and nothing to do with Diptera or any other order of the Insecta unless they are a food source for the Nematodes.

R

 

[TheraMygale]

OK Lets get this straight RIGHT NOW nematodes ARE NOT THE LARVAE of Sicarids (fungus gnats/flies).

Sicarids have larvae called (as all Dipterous larvae are) maggots and feed on whatever, and these turn into a pupae and then into a fly.

Nematodes are a completely different order of invertibrate and nothing to do with Diptera or any other order of the Insecta unless they are a food source for the Nematodes.

R

they are not nematodes as in parasitic nematodes. And this his is how we refer to them in the horticulture world in my local. This is what we are taught in school: they are flies. We use the word nematode very well knowingly that they are sciaride. Not nematodes, anatomicaly.

I get what youre trying to say but i never said they were parasitic nematodes.

perhaps the language barrier has something to do with it in my case. But fungus gnats lay eggs, and they have wormy looking larvae. They can be seen in indoor plants.

there are also beneficial nematodes that we use to control soil larvae.

they are definitely not from the same order.

for the record, we dont have the word maggot in french. Larva being to broad a word, that is why we use nematode. I can i understand why it can be confusing.

when we talk to customers and say sciaride, it just mixes them up. We have to vulgarize things.

I was not aware that it was a Brachypelma. I think it was probably too moist inside the enclosure and probably the ventilation was not optimal. I'm pretty sure that the flies are gnats. I got them when buying soil for the plants

Now that you know what it is, you will be able to adjust the settings to its needs.