P. undatus female has not eaten in 53 days ...

[regalpaws]

Well, my P. undatus female Elu is definitely a geriatric, and will not take food. I offer water regularly, and she will not take honey water or a q tip. She has tried to take down prey several times but can't seem to do it anymore. I've had her 1 yr and 10 months and she has never molted with me so she was an adult. So I know she's getting older but why is she unable to eat? Thanks a bunch!

 

[Stylopidae]

Do you have a picture of the spider? Specifically, the pedipalps?

 

[regalpaws]

Do you have a picture of the spider? Specifically, the pedipalps?

Hopefully this one is ok, I can try to get some more shots too

 

[Stylopidae]

You'll have to forgive me, I thought this was one of the tarantula forums and I didn't recognize the scientific name.

I haven't kept many jumpers besides mature P. audax, so I don't feel like I have enough experience to weigh in productively.

 

[slocoj91]

She certainly looks to be a she, though epigynum is always handy (shot from below with light usually shows). She may be aging out, but do you have good lighting on her? I found LED lights on my jumpers made a huge difference in their interest in food - they spotted it much better and the movement enticed them.

Another thing is you can spray a Web or the side of the enclosure, or drop some droplets on a web- if they drink you should see them 'hoover' the droplets from a misting.

Just some ideas.

 

[regalpaws]

She certainly looks to be a she, though epigynum is always handy (shot from below with light usually shows). She may be aging out, but do you have good lighting on her? I found LED lights on my jumpers made a huge difference in their interest in food - they spotted it much better and the movement enticed them.

Another thing is you can spray a Web or the side of the enclosure, or drop some droplets on a web- if they drink you should see them 'hoover' the droplets from a misting.

Just some ideas.

Yes she is definitely female, she's laid three phantom egg sacs since I've had her. I kept her near my east window sill and recently got my spider shelf all rigged up with LED lights. Still no change I heard somewhere that eventually as they age, they aren't able to use their fangs but I didn't know if that was true or not. Poor Elu

 

[slocoj91]

Yes she is definitely female, she's laid three phantom egg sacs since I've had her. I kept her near my east window sill and recently got my spider shelf all rigged up with LED lights. Still no change I heard somewhere that eventually as they age, they aren't able to use their fangs but I didn't know if that was true or not. Poor Elu

Fair enough - I think the question about the palps above was intended for checking the sex so I thought I'd continue that train of thought.

I haven't heard anything about not being able to use their fangs. It may be that as they're not molting they don't have a big burst of energy consumption. So once they're well fed, they don't need to eat as often? Hard to see her abdomen, if she looks full I wouldn't worry and just mist the side of the enclosure for water. If she starts wandering, or you notice her abdomen shrinking, then offer some food. I would need to look into the impacts of old age on jumpers, as I wonder about their eyesight and such.

 

[regalpaws]

Fair enough - I think the question about the palps above was intended for checking the sex so I thought I'd continue that train of thought.

I haven't heard anything about not being able to use their fangs. It may be that as they're not molting they don't have a big burst of energy consumption. So once they're well fed, they don't need to eat as often? Hard to see her abdomen, if she looks full I wouldn't worry and just mist the side of the enclosure for water. If she starts wandering, or you notice her abdomen shrinking, then offer some food. I would need to look into the impacts of old age on jumpers, as I wonder about their eyesight and such.

Yes she is very skinny. She for some reason can't latch onto food, maybe it is her eye sight. She acts like she is scared of everything I try to feed her. She wasn't like that before.

 

[slocoj91]

Thinking about it I'd move her into a smaller enclosure with lots to grab onto. Some people feed in a small space as well. In old age they will scavenge, so leaving some prekilled things around, beheaded mealworms in her webbing, might help.

I'm sorry, its so stressful when we can't tell quite what's up and can only guess. We just want to do our best, sometimes would be nice if they'd work with us!

 

[regalpaws]

Thinking about it I'd move her into a smaller enclosure with lots to grab onto. Some people feed in a small space as well. In old age they will scavenge, so leaving some prekilled things around, beheaded mealworms in her webbing, might help.

I'm sorry, its so stressful when we can't tell quite what's up and can only guess. We just want to do our best, sometimes would be nice if they'd work with us!

Thank you for all of your help and kind words! You've been super helpful
I am going to pick up some moss webbed ribbon or something for her. She's in a little 2x4 ish enclosure right now that I use for my juvies.
Let's hope she feasts on some drumsticks soon.