T. albo acting strange after shipping

[MariaLewisia]

UPDATE #5:

Some very exciting improvements these past weeks! First and foremost: she ATE! Twice! And did a little happy dance afterwards. I felt like a proud mother. She has been doing some major home improvements, burying the designated burrow and establishing herself in the worst possible corner with zero privacy (lower right on the image, behind the webbing) but she seems content there. Also, she is no longer running away to hide as soon as I enter, and I've caught her out and about on strolls every now and then. I actually managed to snap a pic of her (albeit a bad one) but you can finally see her in a semi-normal stance.



There is, however, still some things that concerns me. She is still more stressed out that she should be and she's still "twitchy" when she walks and a "shake" when she goes into a stress pose. Like I said before it's not a DKS type of twitching/shaking. I haven't managed to capture it on video yet but I'll keep trying because it's very strange and I've never seen anything like it before.

That's all for now! See you again in the next update!

 

[MariaLewisia]

UPDATE #6:

Hello again! A little update for you on the T. albo. Since she seems to improve more and more I've officially named her Hillevi (I give all my T's old people names because that's my kind of humor), which means "luck in battle". I found that very fitting since she has fought and won a battle of sorts herself!

Since the last update she has gotten a lot more used to my presence and spends most of her days sitting out in the open. She eats and drinks and poops and does a bit of home renovation from time to time. She still freaks out over some things, like me opening the lid on the enclosure or moving it, but those are things any normal tarantula would also freak out over so no worries there. She does still walk a bit funny, almost scrunched up and on her tip toes, and she does the "stanky leg" thing I've talked about before, but overall she is acting more and more like a normal, healthy and happy tarantula by the day. I even captured a video of her grooming herself while I was watching her and she didn't even stop when I shoved the camera in her face. Hillevi is doing good, all things considered! I'm still trying to capture the shaking on tape but it's very difficult as she mostly does it after bolting to her burrow where you can't really see it. Anyway, here's the video of her grooming herself! It was so nice to see her relaxed like this. See you guys in another couple of weeks!

 

[MariaLewisia]

FINAL UPDATE (probably):

Hey, hi, hello! Long time no see. I have good news, and bad news. Let's start with the bad news: I haven't been able to capture her shaking on video. Why not, you ask? Well, it's because of the good news: she's acting like a normal tarantula! She's still a bit skittish, but that might just be who she is. Hillevi is doing great, eating and drinking and doing all sorts of normal tarantula stuff. She's no longer afraid of me, of light, of her food, of every little vibration. She's taking quick and "stressful" feeders like red runners without being afraid of them. She's even being a menace, throwing dirt in her waterdish. A normal, happy tarantula!

So, that's most likely the end of this story. Thank you all for reading, giving advice and helping out and following this dramatic little tale of Hillevi's recovery from whatever happened during that shipping. We'll end with this picture that I took of her yesterday when I fed her a roach and she did a happy dance in front of me. Hillevi says thank you and bye for now!

 

[MariaLewisia]

Anniversary update:

Just a happy little update since it's been just over a year since my first post about Hillevi and I thought I'd share what has happened since the "final" update.

Hillevi has only been doing better and better each day and she is back to a completely normal life, eating and drinking and most recently moulted for the first time in my care. You couldn't even tell there was anything wrong with her to begin with. Since receiving her I've scoured the interwebs for cases/behaviours similar to what Hillevi experienced but have yet to find anything exactly like it. I regret not capturing any of her symptoms on video, especially the severe ones in the beginning when she had just arrived and ran straight into objects and acted extremely off, but I'm insanely grateful she recovered.

Here's a pic I snapped of her the other day when I gave her her second post moult roach. She's such a beautiful girl and I can't wait to spend many more years with her. That's all for the foreseeable future, and thank you for reading.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Anniversary update:

Just a happy little update since it's been just over a year since my first post about Hillevi and I thought I'd share what has happened since the "final" update.

Hillevi has only been doing better and better each day and she is back to a completely normal life, eating and drinking and most recently moulted for the first time in my care. You couldn't even tell there was anything wrong with her to begin with. Since receiving her I've scoured the interwebs for cases/behaviours similar to what Hillevi experienced but have yet to find anything exactly like it. I regret not capturing any of her symptoms on video, especially the severe ones in the beginning when she had just arrived and ran straight into objects and acted extremely off, but I'm insanely grateful she recovered.

Here's a pic I snapped of her the other day when I gave her her second post moult roach. She's such a beautiful girl and I can't wait to spend many more years with her. That's all for the foreseeable future, and thank you for reading.

View attachment 456068

I got one of these wc most likely and it sits in the same spot all the time. Seems most my Ts do this .

 

[MariaLewisia]

I got one of these wc most likely and it sits in the same spot all the time. Seems most my Ts do this .

Lol yup, mine does as well. She moves back and forth between her burrow, sometimes she stops by the water dish for a drink, but that's about it. Not very exciting Ts but I really like them!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Lol yup, mine does as well. She moves back and forth between her burrow, sometimes she stops by the water dish for a drink, but that's about it. Not very exciting Ts but I really like them!

yeah there one if my top5 favorites. I have 4 of them.
Pet store had 2 curlys I cleaned them out , the little one might be a cb sling. Small ones too little to sex and I can’t find my magnifying glass . Any idea if amazon has good ones? I see they carry some. Or hunt mine down…I already looked everywhere for it .

 

[MariaLewisia]

yeah there one if my top5 favorites. I have 4 of them.
Pet store had 2 curlys I cleaned them out , the little one might be a cb sling. Small ones too little to sex and I can’t find my magnifying glass . Any idea if amazon has good ones? I see they carry some. Or hunt mine down…I already looked everywhere for it .

I have five of them! All 'Nicaragua' variety. Hillevi and her subadult future husband, a small juvenile female that took forever to grow to her 2 inches DLS, and two tiny tiny slings. I've gotten so spoiled since I got my microscope I don't even try to sex by anything else unless the T is huge.