P. Regius Not Eating

[avocadoug]

Hello, I have had a P. Regius for a few months, I believe she is in her 4th or 5th instar now. When she was younger, she was fairly active and would eat once a day or every other day, but she hasn't eaten anything for the past 6-8 weeks. I've tried giving her flightless fruit flies, green bottle flies, hornworms, and now green bottle spikes, all with no luck. She will sometimes watch the prey, but never moves towards it, and will even run away if the food moves towards her.

In the past few days she has also stopped moving to drink water, though if I bring some to her on a damp paintbrush she seems excited and will drink for some time. Other than that (and moving away from food) she moves very slowly.

Some notes on her enclosure if it is helpful: she's in a dual vent BigFATPhids enclosure. The base has about an inch of coconut fiber and a couple of small stones. There are some fake flowers extending from the bottom nearly all the way to the top. I mist the side once a day and she is kept around 66°F with 12-ish hours of light from an LED lamp.

I read somewhere that spiders slow down in the winter, so maybe this should be expected, but any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Nicole C G]

Unless your house temperature actually drops with the seasons, their behavior shouldn’t change. Also, that is an incredible amount of time not eating. Did you mean 6-8 DAYS? If it is days, she is probably in pre-molt. Are you sure she’s only 4th or 5th instar? Regardless, there is nothing you can do besides keeping on feeding her.

 

[CRX]

I think any spider would die after 6-8 weeks of not feeding, right? Although, some species are known to overwinter. Hmm.

 

[Nicole C G]

I think any spider would die after 6-8 weeks of not feeding, right? Although, some species are known to overwinter. Hmm.

No, some spiders can go almost a year. But not Jumpers