My A.avic has yet to molt or build a web.

[Atlanta Native]

I have had him/her for about 9 months now and she has yet to molt or build a web. She is a WC at about 4" and very healthy. She eats well but has shown no interest in building a web. Could it be the enclosure is too small? I have her in a 1 gallon enclosure with a good sized piece of cork bark and vermiculite as substrate. I have seen others at pet stores in smaller enclosures that have built elaborate webs. Has anyone encountered this before? Thanks in advance.
AN

 

[phoenixxavierre]

Originally posted by Atlanta Native
I have had him/her for about 9 months now and she has yet to molt or build a web. She is a WC at about 4" and very healthy. She eats well but has shown no interest in building a web. Could it be the enclosure is too small? I have her in a 1 gallon enclosure with a good sized piece of cork bark and vermiculite as substrate. I have seen others at pet stores in smaller enclosures that have built elaborate webs. Has anyone encountered this before? Thanks in advance.
AN

Hi An,

You could try moving her to a bigger enclosure when you are able to.

I have a similar sized avic (perhaps a bit larger) in a similar sized setup and it is, IMHO, too small. So I'm in the process of moving her to a larger container myself (she is prime for breeding by the way, in case anyone out there has a mature male). Some avics don't web alot for whatever reason. Usually, though, if you add enough things for them to attach webbing to and/or to manipulate, such as a plant, sticks, leaf litter, they will begin to web.

One other helpful thing I found was placing a toilet paper tube or paper towel tube into the enclosure as well, as they will take up hiding in it and then will begin webbing. The more room they have the better webbing results you get as well (IME).

I prefer to keep my adults in larger enclosure normally (10 gallon for a single adult specimen, 20 gallon for a breeding pair), however, my apartment is slam pack full of inverts so I really don't have the space right now (I need an extra room just for the critters). These are the conlusions I have reached after keeping, breeding and raising the species from spiderlings.

One other thing about avics unwilling to web is that sometimes they are more willing to do so if left undisturbed for several days (more than a few days but less than a week).

Hopefully these observations are helpful for you.

Paul