Hello! This is my first post, but I've been a lurker for years, these boards have taught me pretty much everything I know about T care. I'm out of ideas for what to do about my avic avic. Her behavior worries me. It has for months. I'm going to give a complete rundown of how she's acting and my husbandry, and if anyone has any suggestions about what I can do to help her, please fire away. BTW I keep two other tarantulas, a Desert Blonde and a Mexican Red Rump, and they're both normal-acting and healthy.
I got this avic from a pet store because I felt sorry for her. I call her a female but she is unsexed. I've had her for 13 months and she has never molted in my care. She has about a 3.5" leg span. When she eats, she eats 1-2 crickets a week. Her abdomen has always been round and full, but now it looks to be shrinking a bit, and balding. I do not regularly handle her. She is not in a place where cats or anything else can bother her/stress her out. I keep her in a 5 gal tank turned on its end, with a screen lid, and shrink wrap covering about half the lid to help with humidity. I also have a black cloth I loosely drape over the screen to block out some light for her (there's a window nearby) and further help maintain the humidity. She's got a couple inches of peat substrate and a little sphagnum moss on the floor, some various sticks, fake plant, and a corkbark log half turned on its side in one corner (this is where she spends most of her time, especially recently). She's got a water dish on the ground which I clean and refill regularly. For daily hydration, I don't mist, but rather use a large syringe to squirt water near the top corner of her cage, and it drips down the leaves and glass, and she will sometimes come out and get a drink from the droplets. Her temperature is always room temperature. I try to keep her humidity around 75%. It's never really higher than that for very long. If it drops below 70% that's when I moisten her substrate a little (it's never soaked but I keep the moss damp). About once a week I will open her screen for about an hour and stir her substrate around just to let everything air out.
I am concerned with her for a number of reasons:
1. She hasn't molted in at least 13 months, yet seems awfully small/not done growing.
2. She's gone off food on and off since I got her. She's currently not eating, hasn't for 4 weeks. Every time she does this I think it's because she's finally going to molt but she never does.
3. She seems to be getting smaller. Her abdomen looks smaller and she's always scrunched up in a little ball. She just looks so tiny all the time. I have read that this is a sign of dehydration. But I don't see any reason why she would be dehydrated.
4. She's become very inactive. She used to be out and about pretty regularly, now she is just always a little black mass inside her log.
5. I suspect that she is needing to molt, but can't/won't because the conditions aren't right. But I don't know what I can do to make her more comfortable.
Another thing that may or may not be important: She's not much of a webber. She never has been. I've never been able to figure out why. She's got the inner surface of her corkbark where she hangs out covered in web, but she's never made herself a little enclosure like I've seen other avics do.
Also, she used to always leave her log to defecate or throw out her cricket remains. For the last few months, she hardly ever leaves that space, and there's quite a bit of poop spray and cricket spit balls built up in that little corner. I'd like to clean it out, but I haven't because I don't want to disturb her/stress her.
Alright I think that's everything I could possibly say about this particular tarantula! Thanks to anyone who can provide some insights, suggestions, reassurance, etc.
I got this avic from a pet store because I felt sorry for her. I call her a female but she is unsexed. I've had her for 13 months and she has never molted in my care. She has about a 3.5" leg span. When she eats, she eats 1-2 crickets a week. Her abdomen has always been round and full, but now it looks to be shrinking a bit, and balding. I do not regularly handle her. She is not in a place where cats or anything else can bother her/stress her out. I keep her in a 5 gal tank turned on its end, with a screen lid, and shrink wrap covering about half the lid to help with humidity. I also have a black cloth I loosely drape over the screen to block out some light for her (there's a window nearby) and further help maintain the humidity. She's got a couple inches of peat substrate and a little sphagnum moss on the floor, some various sticks, fake plant, and a corkbark log half turned on its side in one corner (this is where she spends most of her time, especially recently). She's got a water dish on the ground which I clean and refill regularly. For daily hydration, I don't mist, but rather use a large syringe to squirt water near the top corner of her cage, and it drips down the leaves and glass, and she will sometimes come out and get a drink from the droplets. Her temperature is always room temperature. I try to keep her humidity around 75%. It's never really higher than that for very long. If it drops below 70% that's when I moisten her substrate a little (it's never soaked but I keep the moss damp). About once a week I will open her screen for about an hour and stir her substrate around just to let everything air out.
I am concerned with her for a number of reasons:
1. She hasn't molted in at least 13 months, yet seems awfully small/not done growing.
2. She's gone off food on and off since I got her. She's currently not eating, hasn't for 4 weeks. Every time she does this I think it's because she's finally going to molt but she never does.
3. She seems to be getting smaller. Her abdomen looks smaller and she's always scrunched up in a little ball. She just looks so tiny all the time. I have read that this is a sign of dehydration. But I don't see any reason why she would be dehydrated.
4. She's become very inactive. She used to be out and about pretty regularly, now she is just always a little black mass inside her log.
5. I suspect that she is needing to molt, but can't/won't because the conditions aren't right. But I don't know what I can do to make her more comfortable.
Another thing that may or may not be important: She's not much of a webber. She never has been. I've never been able to figure out why. She's got the inner surface of her corkbark where she hangs out covered in web, but she's never made herself a little enclosure like I've seen other avics do.
Also, she used to always leave her log to defecate or throw out her cricket remains. For the last few months, she hardly ever leaves that space, and there's quite a bit of poop spray and cricket spit balls built up in that little corner. I'd like to clean it out, but I haven't because I don't want to disturb her/stress her.
Alright I think that's everything I could possibly say about this particular tarantula! Thanks to anyone who can provide some insights, suggestions, reassurance, etc.