My deformed smithi has not eaten in 8 months

[Jsav209]

Hella sad

Reminds me of that move "The Fly II" poor dog.
Hopefully she does better.

 

[esotericman]

Try crickets just to see if it increases your Ts "confidence". I would powerfeed her so she molts sooner and fixes those legs. But she will do fine with or without food for a long while. If she was starving she woulnt be picky. A few of my picky eaters (wouldnt take dubia) were put in there place with a month or 2 without food.

OK, you are 100% correct that the animal is fine without food.

The error is assuming invertebrates have "confidence". They feed or they do not based on various environmental and internal cues.

Secondly, molting takes the storage of many things, not just fat. For a nice strong exoskeleton, you need to sequester lots of metals and build up the proteins and enzymes required to build something solid. It is sort of like cement, you need rebar to make it stronger, and time. Trying to force a tarantula to "power feed" and molt will only make for runny and weak cement. Furthermore, since the last molt was messed up, give the animal time to digest some of the old exoskeleton and lay down the new slowly. Rushing will only make the entire healing process take more molts.

OP, do yourself a favor, relax, and raise the humidity a bit and watch for premolt. When you see the process coming, increase the humidity more, to ease the molting process, regenerating tarsi and tarsal claws and pulling them out of the old exoskeleton will require some fluids internally. And be ready to possibly loosen the exoskeleton with the usual warm water or weak glycerin mixture.

Lastly, the first picture shows a leg which would probably be removed by a healthy animal, and I have seen tarantulas remove and eat their own legs if damaged. It is quite possible the chelicerae, while present are not functioning. I had an Aphonopelma which had locked fangs, and could not drink for nearly a year. It also could not eat, and did "head stands" in the water dish. I just waited and waited, and then one day the fangs worked, and a month later it molted.

Since you see no dehydration, I'd just suggest relaxing and getting back to this thread if anything changes.

 

[Unravel]

well something has changed, she finallyyyy molted, with 5 little white stumpy legs, im very happy! She was my first tarantula and looks like she made it!

 

[Motorkar]

The premolt starts long before the abdomen turns black

This. My B. smithi had darkened abdomen for more than a month before she molted 2 weeks ago.

yes ive had couple spiders molt on me already. It is just somewhat difficult to tell because she is still fresh after a molt and has not kicked a hair off her abdomen, you can only see the dark when she is in the hide, there is a contrast between the top of her abdomen and the rest of it. Hopefully by tomorrow it turns all black and then she molts within couple of days. Smithis are slow at everything haha

It doesen't need to throw away its hair at all before the molt. Mine kept all the hair this last molt. Also she is probably forcing her molt to fix the damage. But since she is that small she molts a bit faster still.

well something has changed, she finallyyyy molted, with 5 little white stumpy legs, im very happy! She was my first tarantula and looks like she made it!

Thats really good news!!! Congrats man and I hope all goes well with her!!

 

[malevolentrobot]

well something has changed, she finallyyyy molted, with 5 little white stumpy legs, im very happy! She was my first tarantula and looks like she made it!

i'm glad to hear she pulled through, hopefully no more moulting problems!

 

[Formerphobe]

So glad she made it through the molt and that her legs are back.

 

[Jerm357]

Takes some pic's, It would be cool to see the recovery she has made.

 

[webbedone]

yea pix plox! Glad to hear she made it!

 

[gladmar]

Takes some pic's, It would be cool to see the recovery she has made.

yeah! we all love to see ur beautiful B. Smithi! Gratz!

 

[Motorkar]

One more thing, try to keep her at 55-60% humidity from now on, 30-40 is too low what you had.

 

[Unravel]

One more thing, try to keep her at 55-60% humidity from now on, 30-40 is too low what you had.

hm why is that too low? Its a smithi

i will take some pics guys! 80hr work week haha

 

[Falk]

hm why is that too low? Its a smithi

i will take some pics guys! 80hr work week haha

Because in the wild they have about 50-60% in the dry season (Winter)

 

[Musicwolf]

well something has changed, she finallyyyy molted, with 5 little white stumpy legs, im very happy! She was my first tarantula and looks like she made it!

Awesome news! Like the others - I anxiously await pictures

 

[Motorkar]

hm why is that too low? Its a smithi

i will take some pics guys! 80hr work week haha

Brachypelma smithi is native to the western faces of the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre del Sur mountain ranges in Mexico. Their natural habitat is in deciduous tropical forests and shrubs not desert.