scrubbing abdomen with back legs

mozkaynak

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I caught my 2'" B. vagan lying on its side and scrubbing its abdomen with the back legs. is this a way of grooming? Or a signal of something?
Thank you very much
 

Ictinike

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Grooming..

You'll see them release some "slobber" around their fangs and drag their legs through it not only grooming their legs but they will sometimes, as yours has, use them to clean their other parts.

They are quite clean pets! :D
 

curiousme

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Are you sure its not just kicking urticating hairs? That would be my first guess.
 

Salamanderhead

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^Thats what I was thinking.
Is it doing this gently or is it doing it quickly and making a scratching type sound?
 

bryanon

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I vote for the urticating hair idea... are the hairs coming off her abdomen?
My B. vagans is very sensitive and will flick hairs if I touch her.
 

mozkaynak

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well, it does not seem like kicking hair. at least there is no boldness at the abdomen. And when I saw it scrubbing its abdomen it was alone there was no obvious reason to stress out. But you might not know when they get stressed. But again I assume there should be some baldness after kicking hairs right?
 

Salamanderhead

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I scared my G. Rosea a couple times and she tried to kick some hairs. There's no balding though. I think maybe it depends how serious they are about doing so. Maybe they just give a warning with it first and then unleash the fury.
 

curiousme

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Our B. smithi consistently kicks hairs where she intends to molt, so just because it makes no sense to you, doesn't mean it doesn't to them.

The bald spot can take a bit to develop, but prolonged hair kicking will cause one.(which is nothing to worry about)
 

Ictinike

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How "fast" was the kicking?

If it was a burst then most likely as others have now pointed it it's kicking hairs but if it was a slow, almost caressing stroke, I still go for grooming ;)
 

Mattyb

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How "fast" was the kicking?

If it was a burst then most likely as others have now pointed it it's kicking hairs but if it was a slow, almost caressing stroke, I still go for grooming ;)
Yep yep i agree
 

Moltar

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Sometimes T's will put gummy webbing on their feet and use it to clean themselves, kind of like a lint roller or something. That could be what you saw...
 

sinder

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I caught my 2'" B. vagan lying on its side and scrubbing its abdomen with the back legs. is this a way of grooming? Or a signal of something?
Thank you very much
i saw my G rosea do the same, i though first she had falled down and broken something, she was like laying on the side rubbing with the legs like she was in pain, but i didnt disturb her because i was unsure if she was trying to maybe Molt or something, and she was normal 30min later.
Dont know why they do it, but maybe shes pulling out hairs?

does Tarantula clean themself like cats and dogs do? maybe its what it did?

Didnt see that this thread was from 2009, sorry. it was under Similar Threads so i though it was a recently made thread.
 
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BobGrill

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Yes they do groom themselves.

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2
 

ArachnidSentinl

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Tarantulas groom themselves all the time. My personal favorite is when they "chew" on their feet!

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 4
 

Poec54

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Tarantulas groom themselves all the time. My personal favorite is when they "chew" on their feet!
They have to keep their scopulae clean in order to function properly. Their grooming is similar to the way cats do it. Both are very clean animals.
 

jsteadm1

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Sep 22, 2013
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More than likely your T was putting its urticating in its web. My G. Rosea does this sometimes. They can put their hairs in their web to deter visitors from coming near and to let other T's know that this spot is occupied.
 
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