Tarantula Body Condition Scoring Sheet/assessing healthy weight in tarantulas - assistance needed

[lowbridges]

I work at a Zoo, and I am looking to create body condition scoring sheets for the invertebrates in my department, which include Chilean Rose Hair (Grammostola rosea) and Curlyhair tarantulas (Tliltocatl albopilosus). If you have any recommended methods of assessing body condition in inverts, or any other materials that could assist in this project (such as reference images of underweight, healthy, and overweight specimens), I would highly appreciate receiving them! I'm also curious to hear what you normally do if a tarantula is too skinny or too fat-- for example, how you adjust feeding, if you adjust feeding at all.

We also have Vinegaroons (believed to be Mastigoproctus sp.; just got them in, so we aren't sure yet), Asian Forest Scorpions (Heterometrus sp.), and Blue Death Feigning Beetles (Asbolus verrucosus), if anyone has materials that could help me create body scoring sheets for them as well.

Thank you!

 

[Charliemum]

I keep both of these t sp. I go by abdomen size you want it to be nice and round aiming to keep the abdomen slightly bigger then the carapace.
When it comes to skinny t's I feed little meals often till they plump up fat t's I will skip till the abdomen looses size or they moult its not very scientific lol sorry but its what I do.
I don't have any skinny pics as mine are only skinny after a moult sometimes although the sp you ask about hold weight well so they never look skinny but
Female rosea 4.5 inch dls named Alicia.

Male Tliltocatl albopilosus ometepe island form 4.5 inches dls named Cupcake With Extra Frosting


I feed every 2 weeks atm because both are a good size and due to moult.

As I said not super scientific but I hope it helps

 

[Mustafa67]

I work at a Zoo, and I am looking to create body condition scoring sheets for the invertebrates in my department, which include Chilean Rose Hair (Grammostola rosea) and Curlyhair tarantulas (Tliltocatl albopilosus). If you have any recommended methods of assessing body condition in inverts, or any other materials that could assist in this project (such as reference images of underweight, healthy, and overweight specimens), I would highly appreciate receiving them! I'm also curious to hear what you normally do if a tarantula is too skinny or too fat-- for example, how you adjust feeding, if you adjust feeding at all.

We also have Vinegaroons (believed to be Mastigoproctus sp.; just got them in, so we aren't sure yet), Asian Forest Scorpions (Heterometrus sp.), and Blue Death Feigning Beetles (Asbolus verrucosus), if anyone has materials that could help me create body scoring sheets for them as well.

Thank you!

Use size of abdomen to judge if it needs feeding. Also some of your inverts (like T Albo) will require feeding more often than your G Rosea or your scorps. But USE ABDOMEN SIZE if a T is fat it isn’t safe to feed it or it won’t eat

You have to use visual judgement to judge

If a T is skinny feed it, if its very fat don’t (but always provide water). Its as simple as that

 

[Brewser]

Size varies between species.

Bigger isn't always Better
lol

 

[viper69]

I work at a Zoo, and I am looking to create body condition scoring sheets for the invertebrates in my department, which include Chilean Rose Hair (Grammostola rosea) and Curlyhair tarantulas (Tliltocatl albopilosus). If you have any recommended methods of assessing body condition in inverts, or any other materials that could assist in this project (such as reference images of underweight, healthy, and overweight specimens), I would highly appreciate receiving them! I'm also curious to hear what you normally do if a tarantula is too skinny or too fat-- for example, how you adjust feeding, if you adjust feeding at all.

We also have Vinegaroons (believed to be Mastigoproctus sp.; just got them in, so we aren't sure yet), Asian Forest Scorpions (Heterometrus sp.), and Blue Death Feigning Beetles (Asbolus verrucosus), if anyone has materials that could help me create body scoring sheets for them as well.

Thank you!

There are no official standards, it’s HIGHLY subjective. What is considered fat or thin is like asking for a chocolate milk recipe.

To my knowledge there remains only one peer-reviewed paper, using one model species, which looked at how many calories were required for a T to maintain or gain mass. If you google you’ll find it.

There are many images posted on AB of healthy looking Ts. But sometimes despite looks they die overnight in captivity. Unfortunately there is very little $ for physiological research. In captivity it’s a lot of guesswork when things go not as planned health-wise.

I can direct you to 2 macro photographers who have the best images of Ts I’ve seen ever since before you were on the planet. They are both on Flickr.

If you find my post from a few weeks ago in the photography forum you will have both their info. They both worked with National Geographic due to their excellent photography of captive species.

 

[cold blood]

I am looking to create body condition scoring sheets for the invertebrates in my department, which include Chilean Rose Hair (Grammostola rosea) and Curlyhair tarantulas (Tliltocatl albopilosus).

If you understand how ts grow, you will realize why there is no such standard. A thin t isnt generally healthier than a fat t or visa versa.

I'm also curious to hear what you normally do if a tarantula is too skinny or too fat-

Here is why I said the above.

Both situations you describe could have each of those two tarantulas in perfect health...fat or thin.

Its as simple as fat ts dont need food, thin ts do.....do nothing to a fat t and it will eventually molt and become thinner....have a "skinny" t and all you need to do is feed it

Both of these situations are natural parts of every single ts healthy life. There is ZERO truth in the belief that either one of these situations mean a t is any more or less healthy.

Every single t is going to naturally be thin, actually at their thinnest, just after molting, this is perfectly normal.....ts naturally fatten throughout their molt cycle, and that cycle ends with the t being plump, again, perfectly normal and both of these instances are to be expected....while how plump a t gets may vary, its really dictated by when the t has reached its nutritional needs to be able to next molt.

Some ts, yes, will eat and eat, or can be fed monumental size meals that make them exceedingly fat.....while this isn't the best in terms of fall risk and to a lesser degree a dragging abdomen issue, there is zero evidence that this makes a t inherently unhealthy....in fact, being super fat like I described can actually have HUGE lifesaving benefits.....such as when a molt goes bad and the t loses its fangs, or its sucking stomach doesn't molt properly.....in these dire situations, its actually that obese t that is in the best position to make it through the next cycle and save its life.

Those super fat ts become more famine resistant and can safely go an entire molt cycle without food....in the wild, these ts are the survivors in the most dire years where conditions are bad or food is less, or completely unavailable.

The observable thing that would show "unhealthiness" wouldn't be thin or fat, rather it would be a t with a sunken or caved in abdomen, which could show either a lack of sufficient water, or starvation, generally this is a t that molts and subsequently doesn't receive the food it needs....for a looooong time......it could also indicate that something is wrong (as I mentioned earlier) that is preventing the intake of nutrition.....in many of these cases, like a failed sucking stomach molt, there is nothing that can be done....however if that t manages to make it through a molt, it will then be able to eat again and simply feeding such a t can quickly bring the t back into good health.

 

[Gevo]

Yes to all of the above about tarantulas naturally having different body sizes through the molt cycle and one not necessarily being better than the other.

But, if the purpose of the body condition assessment is to see if the tarantula needs to be fed or not so that keepers can assess whether the tarantula is being fed appropriately or is possibly coming up on a molt, then 1-1.5 times the size of the carapace is the range of abdomen size you’re *usually* looking for to signal that the tarantula can be offered a meal but also doesn’t need any fattening up. That confused me at first because I was overthinking it, but think of “1-1.5 times the size” in terms of abdomen to carapace width.

Once the abdomen starts getting bigger than that, it could mean that a molt is coming or that you can space out your feeding a bit more, either of which scenario means that you wait and give things some time.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Example of a skinny t that can’t seem to gain weight.

Skinny Aphonopelma chalcodes?

Why is it so skinny even after three roaches? New pic Shop refused to give a receipt . So I can’t return it or have to argue to do so. Maybe it can survive to nest molt ? Most likely last non sling I buy from here .

arachnoboards.com

 

[Spifdar]

I did just happen to come across a condition scoring chart for jumping spiders. Figured I'd link that in case you haven't seen it, just in case it's tangentially helpful somehow lol:

http://imgur.com/MX6s1m1

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

General rule of thumb I use for new world adults is abdomen around the size of or slightly larger than the carapace. More food right after their fangs have fully hardened after a molt and then slowed down as they get nearer that balance. Don’t plump them up too fast or you’ll have long fast periods.