My T. is acting wierd...

mr_jacob7

Arachnoknight
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Jan 20, 2007
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I have a male aphonopelma pallidum. He's mature, and around 4". I got lucky with this spider, because he loves to be held, and is usually very gentle around me. However, within the last 4 days, he's been extremely skittish, and tears under his rock when i try to hold him. He usually climbs the cage, even tho he's terrestrial, but recetly he's been hudled around the sides, and corners. Is he getting ready to molt, because, that's my guess. Another thing is that i used to be feeding him a cric a night, but then i heard that was overfeeding. I stopped the Once-A-Night crix, and that's when i noticed this. What's going ON!?!?! :confused: Thx in advance, guys!
 

pitbulllady

Arachnoking
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May 1, 2004
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2,290
I have a male aphonopelma pallidum. He's mature, and around 4". I got lucky with this spider, because he loves to be held, and is usually very gentle around me. However, within the last 4 days, he's been extremely skittish, and tears under his rock when i try to hold him. He usually climbs the cage, even tho he's terrestrial, but recetly he's been hudled around the sides, and corners. Is he getting ready to molt, because, that's my guess. Another thing is that i used to be feeding him a cric a night, but then i heard that was overfeeding. I stopped the Once-A-Night crix, and that's when i noticed this. What's going ON!?!?! :confused: Thx in advance, guys!

If this is indeed a mature male, it's unlilkely that he's going to moult again. Male tarantulas usually reach maturity with their "ultimate", or final, moult, though occasionally one will experience a moult after reaching maturity. That's not very common, though. How long ago did he reach maturity? If it's been months, or even several weeks, he's probably nearing the end of his life. You DO know that male tarantulas usually don't live very long after their ultimate moult, right? Once they moult out with tibial hooks, their sole purpose is to mate, and their lifespans are winding down. Some males might make it a year or so after that ultimate moult, and male Grammostola roseas are known to hang on especially long after the ultimate moult, but male Aphonopelmas, in my experience, anyway, tend to go downhil rather quickly.

pitbulllady
 

mr_jacob7

Arachnoknight
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I'm not 100% sure if he's mature or not, but he has the "boxing gloves". I don't know what tibial hooks are, so please inform me. :) I got him from a store about a month ago, and he has never molted. AK!
 

Mushroom Spore

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Oct 14, 2005
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I'm not 100% sure if he's mature or not, but he has the "boxing gloves". I don't know what tibial hooks are, so please inform me. :) I got him from a store about a month ago, and he has never molted. AK!
If he has the boxing gloves, he's mature, and he's about to keel over.
 

cheetah13mo

Arachnoking
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Oct 10, 2006
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I'm not 100% sure if he's mature or not, but he has the "boxing gloves". I don't know what tibial hooks are, so please inform me. :) I got him from a store about a month ago, and he has never molted. AK!
There is a good pic of what tibial spurs look like here. They are hooks on the under side of the front legs to latch on to the females fangs.

http://www.atshq.org/articles/found.html
 

Alice

Arachnoangel
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it sounds like he is nearing the end of his life, sorry for you. btw: some tarantulas may TOLERATE handling, but they never love it. the females and non-mature males are very territorial, and any handling you do stresses such a t to a certain extent. so any handling you do is for your benefit alone, not for the t's.
 

mr_jacob7

Arachnoknight
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Great... I've had 'em a month, and he croaks... *sigh*. What about mating? I'm a first timer, and i know nothing about it. Do you think i should get a gal for 'em, or just buy a new T? well, not to rush 'em along, or anything...
 

cheetah13mo

Arachnoking
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Advertise him in the inversonals section and you might be able to get half of his slings and sell most of them to buy more T's. You should probably try to find an experienced person to breed this time so you run the best chance of getting something back.
 

C_Strike

Arachnobaron
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Jun 8, 2005
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He should breed if he is still making his sperm webs, or it hasnt been too long since, if he looks visibly unwell, on off its food, its a good chance hes nearing his end, and if so, hes probably infertile. depends how you feel, but you could always send him off. if he does croak he croaks doin what hes been pacing around for. althoug sounds quite barbaric, its saves him deteriorating slowly... dying doing his thing, femaes happy, hes passing on his genetics.. and you could get back many lil A pallidums.
 

kitty_b

Arachnoprince
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my mature male greenbottle blue became extremely spastic toward "then end." ..to the point that he would flail in response to a breeze.

it sounds like he's winding down. :(
 

mr_jacob7

Arachnoknight
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okay, i think I am very... um... stupid, shall we say. After checking again, I'm not exactly sure if he has the boxing gloves. I do see a little bumpy thing at the end of the pedipalps, but I... I don't know... I wish they would just have obvious genitals like dogs, so you could tell... :) anyways, could somebody post a pic of adult pedipalps, both male and female, so an idiot like me can tell? thx! Ps:sorry for being dumb! :cool:
 

GailC

Arachnoprince
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Sep 19, 2005
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mature male, see the round ends on the peds? those are the boxing gloves.

and another male


on a female the ends of the pedipalps will look exactly like the ends of her legs. See how this female has thin, slightly pointed peds?


If you need better pictures let me know and I can try to get some of my mature male rosie.
 

mr_jacob7

Arachnoknight
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Jan 20, 2007
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:8o wow, then. I guess I messed up, because my T doesn't have that... It must be a girl, ofr immature. thanks, Waldo! :wall:
 

GailC

Arachnoprince
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Sep 19, 2005
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1,402
since its not a mature male then its possible a molt is coming. Don't try to halndle it for awhile.
Another possibility is that when you bought her, she was so stressed that she appered calm when really she wasn't. Could be her true nature is just now starting to show. My first T, a wild caught rosea was very gentle at first, once she settled into her home she became evil incarnate.
 
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