Mystery T losing weight?

[LeilaNami]

Well I had been worried about my reclusive Haplo (assuming it is a Haplo). Her rear looks smaller than I want it to be but I feed her well. She gets three large crickets every two weeks. Her butt isn't wrinkled but just looks...small...It was only a little larger when I first got her but not nearly as large as all the other Haplo pics I've seen posted.

 

[Fran]

Well I had been worried about my reclusive Haplo (assuming it is a Haplo). Her rear looks smaller than I want it to be but I feed her well. She gets three large crickets every two weeks. Her butt isn't wrinkled but just looks...small...It was only a little larger when I first got her but not nearly as large as all the other Haplo pics I've seen posted.

Feed her more often.

 

[LeilaNami]

Already started doing that once I got a glimpse of that booty. I was just wondering why all of a sudden would she lose the weight. I've had her for a couple years now.

 

[bholmes]

Maybe she molted in her hole?

 

[esotericman]

You said "assuming it's a Haplo". I am NOT trying to insult you're knowledge, but you're sure it's a "she"?

Also, temperatures, depth of substrate, stresses, all effect feeding in the obligate burrowers. You might take a second to look at those details to explain why it's not growing.

Lastly, have you tried other feeders? Roaches are far more "meat" than crickets, and Zophobas larvae are great too. Are the crickets actually being eaten?

 

[SNAFU]

You said "assuming it's a Haplo". I am NOT trying to insult you're knowledge, but you're sure it's a "she"?

Also, temperatures, depth of substrate, stresses, all effect feeding in the obligate burrowers. You might take a second to look at those details to explain why it's not growing.

Lastly, have you tried other feeders? Roaches are far more "meat" than crickets, and Zophobas larvae are great too. Are the crickets actually being eaten?

Ditto. If your Haplopelma is indeed a male it will have a noticeably smaller, thinner abdomen. My H.longipes & first H.lividum were pretty poor eaters, but they also both proved later to be male after a few molts. They'll never have the big balloon abdomen of a female no matter what the feeders or how much you feed.
Check the exuvium on the next molt if your not 100% sure.

 

[kenzie]

I agree that a good reason for the abdomen to get smaller is that it really is a male. But now way to tell without good pictures. With H. Lividum the male looks totally different than the female once he matures.

 

[LeilaNami]

I don't know for sure if it is female, esotericman. I just say "she" or "he" as default instead of "it" (yet I call babies "it" :?). Heck I'm not even sure it is a Haplo but it looks the same as every other T in a mystery T thread that everyone shouts Haplo though I'm aware of other genera that look very similar.

It is not a mature male if it is one. I've had her for nearly two years and has yet to molt in my care (to my knowledge anyway. Haven't seen a molt but "she" may be shredding it in her burrow) She's got a pretty deep burrow. I made sure to give her plenty of substrate. The condition I received her in wasn't great. The guy had her in a shallow tupperware with hardly any substrate. What substrate there was, was practically mud. I had guessed female due to the abdomen size when I first got the T from this guy but considering how shady and irresponsible this guy was, he might have been overfeeding.

I have a hisser colony but the immature individuals are already too large for me to comfortably feed to a T that size.

 

[Mack&Cass]

We have a 5" female Selenocosmia arndsti that is super thin even though she gets fed regularly - and large sized meals too. We've had her for several months and she just does not gain any weight. She's doing well - has the typical Selenocosmia attitude and webs like crazy, she just doesn't seem to gain much weight.

My suggestion is to just keep feeding her like you are and make sure she's got plenty of water so she doesn't dehydrate...that's all we're really doing.

Good luck with her

Cass