She was eating once a week or two for a couple months after I got her, now she’s on a hunger strike. I’ve tried offering small crickets at night, leaving her alone too. The cricket crawls around the enclosure for a couple days and she avoids it so I end up taking it out. I wet the substrate so humidity shouldn’t be a problem. My apartment is not cold. All my inverts are in a room that I’m not normally in that long during the week because it’s my spider/game room so it’s not loud or heavily used. I have cork bark standing up, coco fiber substrate, moss, and a water dish that stays full. What else can I do?? I don’t want her to starve to death ):
My D Medius won’t eat. It’s been 93 days, help!!
- Thread starter barrre
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Sarkhan42
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My biggest questions here would be 1. What’s the size of the animal 2. What’s the temperature of the room exactly? Room temp? 3. How thin is her abdomen? 4. Has she previously molted with you? 5. Are you CERTAIN she’s female?
These animals are long lived and molt incredibly infrequently as adults. I’d expect an adult female Damon at room temp to molt once every 2-3 years if left unmated. On top of this, males feed even less frequently, so between premolt, male appetite reduction, and cooler temps 93 days doesn’t seem infeasible imo.
The other option is your animal needs different conditions to thrive, or is badly damaged from WC travel. In that case I’d maybe even recommend hand feeding to jumpstart its appetite when the changes are made.
These animals are long lived and molt incredibly infrequently as adults. I’d expect an adult female Damon at room temp to molt once every 2-3 years if left unmated. On top of this, males feed even less frequently, so between premolt, male appetite reduction, and cooler temps 93 days doesn’t seem infeasible imo.
The other option is your animal needs different conditions to thrive, or is badly damaged from WC travel. In that case I’d maybe even recommend hand feeding to jumpstart its appetite when the changes are made.
Pretty sure female based on pedipalp size. She has molted once since I got her less than a year ago, and that went smoothly. She had a good appetite and wasn’t shy about it, hell she would eat in front of us too. As far as moisture, I overflowed her water dish a bit, and it isn’t bone dry or saturated. The room is kept at 75 and her enclosure is kept in dim lighting behind my tarantulas so she has privacy. I’ll have a picture of her and the enclosure attached. Please be nice I’m trying and everything seemed to go smoothly. If it’s normal for them to go without food for that long then I won’t sweat it. If there’s anything I can do differently please let me know. Her abdomen isn’t crazy small though but she never touches her food. I have to take it out a day later.
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I posted a pic of her and her enclosure in my other reply. Thank you!! She’s my first one and I just want to make sure she’s okay
I’ve also tried hand feeding her and she’s very skittish and has no interest. But I don’t leave a cricket in there for more than a day either bc I’ve tried feeding her at night and just leaving the room nice, dark, and quiet and that didn’t make a difference either.
Sarkhan42
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So firstly, this isn’t a Damon medius at all. It’s actually not even Damon at all- this is Phrynus whitei, a much smaller species that’s commonly getting brought in right now from Nicaragua. These cannot be sexed by pedipalp size.
This being said, I would still definitely change up your enclosure. More space, especially space to be able to molt from, would be highly beneficial to both safety of the next molt and likely comfort of your animal.
You’re right in that it isn’t *too* skinny, but still much skinnier than a fully fed whitei generally should be. It’s not imperative that it eats in that case, as they can go a while without food as long as they’re not paper thin, but I’m still a little concerned it’s not eaten whatsoever at those temps.
I’d try rehousing, and if it still doesn’t eat after a few weeks revisit hand feeding. It takes a lot more persistence than you might think, but it can definitely help a struggling animal.
I posted on Facebook and got the same answer, I had no idea this wasn’t Damon, just went by what the guy that sold it to me said. I’ve already got a larger enclosure on order with more cork bark and hiding places. They told me to mist more as well, are springtails a good idea bc moisture and don’t want mold or anything popping up? They also suggested bumping up the temp a bit. I feel like a heating lamp would cook the poor thing but would a heating pad underneath be okay?
Sarkhan42
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I also spray/mist my enclosures to provide droplets to drink, so I’d suggest that as well. Springtails are a great addition but not necessary, I use them in some enclosures but not all. As for temp I really don’t think you need to bump it at all, I keep all of my species at 74-75 just fine.