Orange mark on abdomen: Brachypelma Albopolisum

Emilia Sage

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Hello guys, I'm pretty new to all this and about 4 days ago I got my first tarantula and he's a curly haired. The past 2 days I've noticed he has an orange mark on his abdomen and I'm not sure what it is. He molted about 10 days ago, like I said I'm new to this and keeping tarantulas so would be grateful if you help me out. Thanks, Emilia.
 

Trenor

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Hey, It'd be really helpful if you can get us a photo of the orange spot. It'll be easier to see what is going on.

B.albopilosum (curly hairs) are great 1st Ts. :)
 

Emilia Sage

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Hey, It'd be really helpful if you can get us a photo of the orange spot. It'll be easier to see what is going on.

B.albopilosum (curly hairs) are great 1st Ts. :)
Thanks for the reply! I haven't had the chance to take a photo because he's always under his burrow! Yeah my dad told me that as he used to keep other's.
 

Emilia Sage

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This is probably the best photo I'll get without disturbing him. Hope you can see what I'm talking about and see it clearly enough.
 

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Venom1080

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looks like the start of a perfectly normal bald spot. they get those quite often by kicking their urticating hairs off with their back legs.
 

Emilia Sage

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looks like the start of a perfectly normal bald spot. they get those quite often by kicking their urticating hairs off with their back legs.
Thank you. I thought that but because I haven't seen him do that it looked a little odd. As I haven't owned him whilst he molted what signs should I be looking for and how often would he normally molt? I tried to find out but it's a generic answer I keep getting and don't fell like I'm getting anywhere. Thanks.
 

Venom1080

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Thank you. I thought that but because I haven't seen him do that it looked a little odd. As I haven't owned him whilst he molted what signs should I be looking for and how often would he normally molt? I tried to find out but it's a generic answer I keep getting and don't fell like I'm getting anywhere. Thanks.
generally, he should block off his hide and hide away for a few months. his abdomen should be quite large and have a bluish black bald spot. it really depends on his size, if shes adult, she should molt once a year to once every few years. younger spiders molt more often, but it depends highly on how much shes fed and temps. and mature males dont molt again, they may attempt it but they usually die in the process.
 

Emilia Sage

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generally, he should block off his hide and hide away for a few months. his abdomen should be quite large and have a bluish black bald spot. it really depends on his size, if shes adult, she should molt once a year to once every few years. younger spiders molt more often, but it depends highly on how much shes fed and temps. and mature males dont molt again, they may attempt it but they usually die in the process.
Okay thank you very much, I'm new to this so it's sort of hard for me to understand what is relevant to the curly hairs and what isn't. Hopefully my little buddy will make it through as it's male. Thanks again.
 

Emilia Sage

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mature male? if so, dont get your hopes up, its rare for them to even attempt a molt and even rarer for them to survive.
No he's only young. I'm not sure how old he is but he's a little smaller than my palm so I'd say he's a couple months old. How many more times can I expect him to molt? Even a guess would be great.
 

Venom1080

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No he's only young. I'm not sure how old he is but he's a little smaller than my palm so I'd say he's a couple months old. How many more times can I expect him to molt? Even a guess would be great.
Brachypelma albopilosum grow very slowly. i got a 1/4" sling back in mid 2013 and now its only about 3.5". your spider s a lot older than a few months. theres no way to know for sure, but my guess would be maybe between 15 and 40. it heavily depends on the temperature and feeding frequency.
 

Emilia Sage

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Brachypelma albopilosum grow very slowly. i got a 1/4" sling back in mid 2013 and now its only about 3.5". your spider s a lot older than a few months. theres no way to know for sure, but my guess would be maybe between 15 and 40. it heavily depends on the temperature and feeding frequency.
Oh right I see. I now know I know completely nothing lol. I was told to feed him every 4 to 5 days but I don't think they were keeping tabs on if he was actually eating them. Is there a way of establishing a feeding pattern? Or do I just dive in? I'd prefer to ask you guys on here because you're more specific the guy can only give me a few tips as he is more focused on snakes.
 

Venom1080

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Oh right I see. I now know I know completely nothing lol. I was told to feed him every 4 to 5 days but I don't think they were keeping tabs on if he was actually eating them. Is there a way of establishing a feeding pattern? Or do I just dive in? I'd prefer to ask you guys on here because you're more specific the guy can only give me a few tips as he is more focused on snakes.
i tend to feed spiders that size once a week. make sure to remove the prey if not taken in 24 hours. and if you use superworms or mealworms, make sure to crush their head first as they can injure and even kill your spider if left in the cage. if too fat theres a greater chance of fall injuries.
 

Emilia Sage

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i tend to feed spiders that size once a week. make sure to remove the prey if not taken in 24 hours. and if you use superworms or mealworms, make sure to crush their head first as they can injure and even kill your spider if left in the cage. if too fat theres a greater chance of fall injuries.
Brilliant, thank you. When you measure them, how and what are you measuring? I just want to make sure I can give him the best care that I can even if that means knowing every tiny detail. He eats standard silent crickets I haven't tried anything else yet so thanks for the tip. He's not too fat yet so will bare that in mind for the future. I know the temperature it has to be but I have not gage for anything and no heat mat as I was advised I didon't need one. I wasn't clued up on a lot as was told they're easy to look after. But after researching I realise they need a lot more.
 

Venom1080

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Brilliant, thank you. When you measure them, how and what are you measuring? I just want to make sure I can give him the best care that I can even if that means knowing every tiny detail. He eats standard silent crickets I haven't tried anything else yet so thanks for the tip. He's not too fat yet so will bare that in mind for the future. I know the temperature it has to be but I have not gauge for anything and no heat mat as I was advised I didn't need one. I wasn't clued up on a lot as was told they're easy to look after. But after researching I realize they need a lot more.
i measure DLS, which is the length of the legspan from the tip of the first leg on the left or right side to the tip of the last leg on the opposite side.
yeah, from the pic i saw of his abdomen he looks pretty skinny. lots of fattening to go. :)
good choice on the gauges and heat mats, they suck and are useless for tarantulas. they dont need much at all. i have a collection of 36 tarantulas and 16 scorpions and spend maybe 20min on maintenance a night.
 

Venom1080

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Here's a pic of my B albo set up for comparison. IMG_20170106_165424415.jpg (Ignore the holes in the sides)
IMG_20170106_165503900.jpg
 

viper69

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Is there a way of establishing a feeding pattern?
Yes keep a feeding journal. Ts eat based on their metabolism, like you do, but unlike you, theirs is determined by their outside temperature, they are not warm-blooded as we are.

The size of abdomen is a good gauge for determining if they may be hungry. Gets thinner as they need water and food. Also, keep a water dish in there. Even a FAT B. albo will need to drink even if it doesn't eat for a year.

There is no regular pattern to feed one. I feed mine as much and as often as they will eat. They tend to eat a lot once their fangs turn black after molting (feed when fangs are black ONLY, white>red>black fangs) at some point, not always right away. They slow down as they are getting ready to molt.
 

Emilia Sage

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i measure DLS, which is the length of the legspan from the tip of the first leg on the left or right side to the tip of the last leg on the opposite side.
yeah, from the pic i saw of his abdomen he looks pretty skinny. lots of fattening to go. :)
good choice on the gauges and heat mats, they suck and are useless for tarantulas. they dont need much at all. i have a collection of 36 tarantulas and 16 scorpions and spend maybe 20min on maintenance a night.
Ah I see, I'll try to measure him tomorrow when he's in a more social mood. Thanks for the tip. Are there any other ways? Well for the temperature, he''s on my bearded dragon's vivarium one hot and one cold area, but at night its off. Should he be somewhere else to avoid sudden temperature changes or is he doing fine? Yeah he certainly has, he will probably need a bigger vivarium though to accommodate him when he does grow. I just want to be clued up on things so I know I'm doing it right. Oh wow that's a lot! Where do you keep them all?
 

Emilia Sage

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Yes keep a feeding journal. Ts eat based on their metabolism, like you do, but unlike you, theirs is determined by their outside temperature, they are not warm-blooded as we are.

The size of abdomen is a good gauge for determining if they may be hungry. Gets thinner as they need water and food. Also, keep a water dish in there. Even a FAT B. albo will need to drink even if it doesn't eat for a year.

There is no regular pattern to feed one. I feed mine as much and as often as they will eat. They tend to eat a lot once their fangs turn black after molting (feed when fangs are black ONLY, white>red>black fangs) at some point, not always right away. They slow down as they are getting ready to molt.
It's a good job you mentioned about their fangs, my B.Albopolisum has red fangs right now like they're ready to go black. Should I not be feeding him? He had a cricket 4 days ago so I'm wondering if that's too early. His abdomen is quite small at the moment but I'm wondering if that's just because he's small right now anyway? Just need general information about curly hairs really.
 
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