Pink Toed Tarantula Won't Eat

RedChillHouse

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Nov 10, 2019
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15
This pink toed Tarantula is my very first big spider. I have a lot of small ones like wolf spiders and such, I don't know how much experience that grants me lol. I've had Evan (The pink toed tarantula) for a couple of months now and I am loving her. The problem is she has stopped eating. She molted about 6 weeks ago. And usually she is curled in a tiny ball, with her legs underneath her and I thought she was dead several times. Evan built a web and I don't think I've ever seen her outside of it. She is still a juvenile(not sure if I spelled that right) and she is still rather small. I don't know exactly how old she is. I usually feed her crickets. Any advice would be very helpful. Thank you!
 

ParahybanaLasiodora

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Jun 3, 2018
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It is very normal for tarantulas to go long stretches without eating, in fact I've heard some people say their spider has fasted for almost a year. However, the fact that he hasn't eaten combined with the information that he is usually curled into a tiny ball leads me to think he/she is stressed out. I think you should do more research on your spider's species and make sure he/she is properly accommodated.
 

RedChillHouse

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Nov 10, 2019
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It is very normal for tarantulas to go long stretches without eating, in fact I've heard some people say their spider has fasted for almost a year. However, the fact that he hasn't eaten combined with the information that he is usually curled into a tiny ball leads me to think he/she is stressed out. I think you should do more research on your spider's species and make sure he/she is properly accommodated.
Thank you! I will definitely look into it more and try to help her!
 

Thekla

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Oct 13, 2017
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Please post a picture of the whole enclosure and the T itself. It helps immensely. ;)

You say it's a juvenile, but how big is it exactly (or as exactly as you can guess)? Diagonal leg span. Age doesn't matter, size does. ;)

Also, I suppose we're talking about an Avicularia avicularia, right? It's best to use scientific names as common names can be confusing/misleading. There're in fact Avicularia species that don't grow very big, e.g. A. minatrix.
 

RedChillHouse

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Please post a picture of the whole enclosure and the T itself. It helps immensely. ;)

You say it's a juvenile, but how big is it exactly (or as exactly as you can guess)? Diagonal leg span. Age doesn't matter, size does. ;)

Also, I suppose we're talking about an Avicularia avicularia, right? It's best to use scientific names as common names can be confusing/misleading. There're in fact Avicularia species that don't grow very big, e.g. A. minatrix.
I'd say she is about 3in and yes her scientific name is Avicularia avicularia. Thank you for the tip about using their scientific name as well! I will get my camera and get those pictures ASAP! Any advice on what I'm doing wrong is largely appreciated!
 

RedChillHouse

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Nov 10, 2019
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DSC_0039.JPG DSC_0042.JPG DSC_0043.JPG DSC_0046.JPG DSC_0042.JPG DSC_0043.JPG DSC_0046.JPG DSC_0039.JPG Here are the pictures @Thekla! I also took a picture of Evan to show how she sits in her web. Sorry the picture of the T is so bad, it's hard to get a good one without disturbing her
 
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Thekla

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Oh, that doesn't look good. It seems she is in a death curl. :( Is she still alive?

Okay, first of all, that enclosure isn't suitable for an arboreal, it would be better suited for a terrestrial T. Furthermore, it looks as if there's no cross ventilation if any ventilation at all.
Avics need excellent cross ventilation. You need to get her out of there asap! Do you have any taller than wide plastic container you can her rehouse into? But you need to ventilate it first, meaning loads of holes on at least two opposite sides. Keep the substrate dry and put a well-sized water dish in there. She will also need a cork bark slab extending from bottom to top and loads of foliage around the top.

But right now, I'd just get her out of there and put her in a very well ventilated tub with dry substrate and a water dish.

And read these threads, they will help you how to care for an Avic properly:
I'm not really sure what else you can do... :( @cold blood @Venom1080 @viper69 Help!
 

RedChillHouse

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Nov 10, 2019
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Oh, that doesn't look good. It seems she is in a death curl. :( Is she still alive?

Okay, first of all, that enclosure isn't suitable for an arboreal, it would be better suited for a terrestrial T. Furthermore, it looks as if there's no cross ventilation if any ventilation at all.
Avics need excellent cross ventilation. You need to get her out of there asap! Do you have any taller than wide plastic container you can her rehouse into? But you need to ventilate it first, meaning loads of holes on at least two opposite sides. Keep the substrate dry and put a well-sized water dish in there. She will also need a cork bark slab extending from bottom to top and loads of foliage around the top.

But right now, I'd just get her out of there and put her in a very well ventilated tub with dry substrate and a water dish.

And read these threads, they will help you how to care for an Avic properly:
I'm not really sure what else you can do... :( @cold blood @Venom1080 @viper69 Help!
Thank you so much! I have a rather large tube that I use for crickets but I can move the crickets and drill holes into the sides, I will move her into there and yes she is still alive, she moved around while I was taking pictures. Thank you so much for your help!
 

Thekla

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Good luck! I hope others will chime in as I have to go to bed now. ;) Keep us posted how she's doing.

Also, put her near the water dish when you get her into the other container or maybe even place her mouthparts directly into the water. She might be dehydrated and therefore not able to feed.
Just don't try to raise the humidity or such. Keep everything else dry and well ventilated. Fingers crossed. :)
 

RedChillHouse

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Good luck! I hope others will chime in as I have to go to bed now. ;) Keep us posted how she's doing.

Also, put her near the water dish when you get her into the other container or maybe even place her mouthparts directly into the water. She might be dehydrated and therefore not able to feed.
Just don't try to raise the humidity or such. Keep everything else dry and well ventilated. Fingers crossed. :)
Thank you so much for all your help!
 

Venom1080

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Thank you so much for all your help!
Fellow Monster Hunter fan?

Cage looks nice and dry. Avicularia require ventilation relative to the amount of moisture in the cage. If it's bone dry, the ventilation required is fairly low. However, that's an art best perfected with experience. It's best for beginners (and generally easier for advanced keepers) to just put a ton of ventilation and keep it dry. They do need water still, and a dish is easy to use and maintain. Keep it full.

I don't know why it's not doing well. The only thing I could think of is it's dehydrated.
 

RedChillHouse

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Nov 10, 2019
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Fellow Monster Hunter fan?

Cage looks nice and dry. Avicularia require ventilation relative to the amount of moisture in the cage. If it's bone dry, the ventilation required is fairly low. However, that's an art best perfected with experience. It's best for beginners (and generally easier for advanced keepers) to just put a ton of ventilation and keep it dry. They do need water still, and a dish is easy to use and maintain. Keep it full.

I don't know why it's not doing well. The only thing I could think of is it's dehydrated.
I flipping love Monster Hunter, and Naragacuga is the greatest but so is Lagiacrus! Anyway back to spiders: I read your thread on Avics and it was VERY useful! I moved her into a larger tub and she instantly went for the water. So I think it was a matter of dehydration. She is being much more active now too so there is some great improvement. Though I would like to get an exo terra for her and I was wondering if you had any suggestions on brand or anything like that. Thank you so much!
 

Eukio

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I flipping love Monster Hunter, and Naragacuga is the greatest but so is Lagiacrus! Anyway back to spiders: I read your thread on Avics and it was VERY useful! I moved her into a larger tub and she instantly went for the water. So I think it was a matter of dehydration. She is being much more active now too so there is some great improvement. Though I would like to get an exo terra for her and I was wondering if you had any suggestions on brand or anything like that. Thank you so much!
0990b5a5-ed14-4c0b-a760-5e41e1bf14ab_1.57fdbd44cea7e2cdcb9399fdfd5141c2.jpeg

I have seen people use these for their Avic avics. You can find this at Walmart. Eat the cheese balls, and you have a cheap Avic avic enclosure. Just add holes.
 

TwiztedNinja

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One of my Avic setups

Another one of my Avics was like this for several days when I brought it home from a reptile show. I sprayed water near her and she slowly started to drink it from the sides of the enclosure. She's been well since then
 

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RedChillHouse

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Nov 10, 2019
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One of my Avic setups

Another one of my Avics was like this for several days when I brought it home from a reptile show. I sprayed water near her and she slowly started to drink it from the sides of the enclosure. She's been well since then
That is a very nice setup! My T is improving now, she's not sitting weird anymore and is a little more spread out. Thank you for the picture as well it helps give me an idea for my own! I am going to buy a better place for her as soon as I can but at the moment she is in a large plastic tub with a lot of holes.
 

Thekla

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As soon as she sits and behaves normal again, I'd rehouse her into a proper enclosure. You already got a few nice ideas, here's another one:
20181031_rehoused.jpg
This was my C. versicolor's juvie enclosure, when I just rehoused her. She was about 2,5" back then. She moulted quite a few times in there, before I rehoused her into her final enclosure (an Exo Terra nano tall):
20190914_123529.jpg
 

RedChillHouse

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Nov 10, 2019
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As soon as she sits and behaves normal again, I'd rehouse her into a proper enclosure. You already got a few nice ideas, here's another one:
View attachment 325323
This was my C. versicolor's juvie enclosure, when I just rehoused her. She was about 2,5" back then. She moulted quite a few times in there, before I rehoused her into her final enclosure (an Exo Terra nano tall):
View attachment 325324
Thank you so much! I very much like how you have the plants in there!
 

Venom1080

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Sep 24, 2015
Messages
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I flipping love Monster Hunter, and Naragacuga is the greatest but so is Lagiacrus! Anyway back to spiders: I read your thread on Avics and it was VERY useful! I moved her into a larger tub and she instantly went for the water. So I think it was a matter of dehydration. She is being much more active now too so there is some great improvement. Though I would like to get an exo terra for her and I was wondering if you had any suggestions on brand or anything like that. Thank you so much!
Ah, nice! Glad to see more fans on here. :)

That's great. She should continue to improve.

I love exo teras. I use them alot for Avicularia. Some people report issues of spiders getting stuck hanging in the screen lid, but I've never had issues and I've used them for 6 years now. A 8x8x12 would suit it nicely. Think they're about 40 usd. Otherwise I use plastic tubs and various food containers with holes poked in.
 

RedChillHouse

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Joined
Nov 10, 2019
Messages
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Thank you for
Ah, nice! Glad to see more fans on here. :)

That's great. She should continue to improve.

I love exo teras. I use them alot for Avicularia. Some people report issues of spiders getting stuck hanging in the screen lid, but I've never had issues and I've used them for 6 years now. A 8x8x12 would suit it nicely. Think they're about 40 usd. Otherwise I use plastic tubs and various food containers with holes poked in.
Thanks for the advice! She is doing well and has been climbing around for the past hour! I don't know what I would have done without all this great help!
 
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