Question about bald spot
- Thread starter StevenZ
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Kicking hairs , it looks like a mature male .
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Bald spots are common on new world tarantulas because they kick off their urticating setae as a means of defense. This is usually rectified after a molt - the bald spot will have hairs again after molting, until they are kicked off again over time. If your son's spider looked like this immediately following a molt, then there was obviously some kind of issue with the way the new exoskeleton formed. That's not unheard of - we've seen examples of similar things happening before. It doesn't seem like it's a problem for them, and it will likely be rectified next time it molts - if it molts again, that is. I can't tell but is this a mature male?
fq314
Arachnosquire
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Probably from kicking hairs, and looks like a mature male as others have said. Get a picture of its pedipalps to check
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Most mature males will end up bald near the end of their life in my experience
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NW T's kick their UrS, (urticating setae) for a few reasons. They kick it to lay down on their silk web and substrate, (several theories on why) and for defense if they feel threaten.
That is what the abdomen appears as from your photos. That T looks very male. Since we can only see the back do the 2 longest front legs have a tibial hook? Do the pedipalps look like boxing gloves?
All my mature male T's never had a bald abdomen. I'm sure some members did have MM T's that did. Not all T's behave the same way.
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its just a matter of time with adult males
2 years in my T. vagans looks even worse than this, more like a wrinkled raisin, but he had a surprisingly nice abdomen for a bit under a year
pretty sure he never kicked them off, but lost them eventually, when building sperm webs and falling from climbing his less than 1x LS in hight.
@OP, yours looks almost certainly like a mature male, and yes it is normal, and no the bald spot itself is not a concern, though he might not have all that many years left to live.
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@Wolfram1
Had a mm A. chalcodes that made it 2 years and never had a bald abdomen. Only when he decided to molt again was his ending as he got completely stuck in his old exoskeleton.
Both my mm T. albopilosus do not have bald abdomens. The Honduran one even molted again and is now a whoping 7 inches. He lost his left pedipalp though.
As I stated could be different for different T's just not the ones I've had and currently do.
Had a mm A. chalcodes that made it 2 years and never had a bald abdomen. Only when he decided to molt again was his ending as he got completely stuck in his old exoskeleton.
Both my mm T. albopilosus do not have bald abdomens. The Honduran one even molted again and is now a whoping 7 inches. He lost his left pedipalp though.
As I stated could be different for different T's just not the ones I've had and currently do.
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It doesn't seem like anyone is reading the OP.
It may very well be a mature male, but they don't molt out as mature with bald spots normally. I believe that is what the OP is concerned about...
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Good point
OP needs to clarify if they witnessed the T after it completed it's molt if the bald spot was there. When actually did they notice?
If it is directly after the molt then it had an issue molting. If that's the case then the enclosure could be too dry.
If it is a mature male there is a chance that it might attempt to molt again even though uncommon. I had 2 mm's that did that with not the best results.
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Yeah tibeal hooks and bulbous pedipalps don’t molt out very often I’ve never had a mm survive a molt.
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yes and no, i have seen the opposite happen quite a bit were an OP was taken too literally when the pictures clearly refute the statements
in this case i am fairly certain he/she simply was't as precice with the information as we would like, if not i appologize but until the OP clarifies his statement i will assume this bald spot "popped up" sometime after a molt.
why assume the improbably when there is an easy explanation
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bald out of molt- something happened during growth or during the molt
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Looking at the photos that were attached, this doesn't look like a bald spot left after kicking hairs or shedding by an MM. 2/3 of the abdomen is completely devoid of setae of any type, even on the sides and between the spinnerets. In this case I think the pics support the statement rather than refute it, and I'm not inclined to assume someone doesn't know what they're talking about until given reason to do so.
Hopefully @StevenZ will log back on and provide more information, but if he read the responses and assumed it was a waste of time because nobody actually read his original post, I wouldn't blame him...
Thanks to all that have responded. He is approximately 5-6 years of age. Recently moved into a newer abode. More info: I did in fact lose grip on the metal top of cage which caused a loud noise. He scampered pretty good and perhaps that caused him a bit of distress. There is a pane of glass between him and my 23 year old Rose Hair, but it’s covered with foliage. Again. Thanks to all who have responded. It helps
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Did he look like that immediately after a molt, or is it something that happened gradually?
He had a small spot there after the molt, but the picture you see now is obviously more wide spread
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How long after molting did it take for him to look the way he does now? Are you able to determine if he's a mature male? If not, post a couple pics of it from the front and we can help you figure that out.
Your statement that this "Happened after a molting" is kind of confusing if this isn't what it looked like immediately following the molt. We have seen examples of T's that molt with large bald areas, which is essentially a defect that happened during the process of developing the new exoskeleton prior to molting. If yours had setae after molting but lost it gradually, that's normal. Either way, there's nothing to be done about it. If it's a mature male, it'll look like this until it dies. If it's not mature, then it might get hair again next time it molts.
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This is the bald opisthosoma of my old MM T. vagans.
It looks remarkably similar, except a little thinner because mine very rarely eats now.
I am very interested in how yours developed the bald spot and if it is indeed a mature male. I think i spotted a glint of chitin in the picture so i am pretty sure it is.
And again if i have been barking at the wrong tree i am sorry, but occam's razor is quite useful, even if its not always right.
It looks remarkably similar, except a little thinner because mine very rarely eats now.
I am very interested in how yours developed the bald spot and if it is indeed a mature male. I think i spotted a glint of chitin in the picture so i am pretty sure it is.
And again if i have been barking at the wrong tree i am sorry, but occam's razor is quite useful, even if its not always right.