Tarantula laying flat

[Silvi]

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I find my G. Rosea laying completely flat with it's legs stretched out completely flat, as if something smooshed him.
Then after he eventually picks up his legs as if nothing happened.
Does anyone know why it does this? Is he sick, is he too weak, is he too hot? Anything?

Thanks.:?

 

[jrmrbcax]

HA I'm looking at the one at work doing the same exact thing

 

[clearlysaid]

Completely normal behavior for a lot of tarantulas. They're just stretching out or something. A lot of them do this the days after molting but I've seen my spiders do it all at random times.

 

[Silvi]

Thank you!

 

[PsychoSpider]

Just stretching

 

[jrmrbcax]

I have yet to see this tarantula molt and it's stretching lol

 

[ensldspaez]

When we finally got everything right in our rosie's tank that was the first thing he did was lay flat I just means he's happy and comfortable!!!

 

[Tarantula_man94]

just stretching if u ask me

 

[jnfenrir]

Haha, just wait until you see it do the opposite and stand straight up on its tiptoes like a table.

 

[GForce14063]

I notice this behaviour when they are hungry I think more surface area for detecting prey.

 

[Kamikaze]

My L. klugi does this all the time even when he's full

 

[Kid Dragon]

My 6"+ B. smithi does this for a few weeks after molting. She is phat! kd

 

[hairmetalspider]

Yoga.

After a day of staring at our ugly human mugs, they need some way to unwind.

 

[Cocoa-Jin]

I always assumed they did that for any surface that was of a desirable temprature, exposing as body much surface area to the surface to speed temperature transfer.

 

[Robert Jordan]

Your T is a good for nothing stoner and needs to start pulling some weight around the house. Tell it to get a job and a hair cut.

 

[phyrphreek]

Mine does it every morning. I feel the same way in the mornings. Try adding a little black coffee to his water.

(No, really..please don't)

 

[Sooner]

My rose likes to dig a slight depression in the medium then stretch out in the hollow.

Of course, it sounds very relaxing. Nice soft peat moss bed that's warm, what spider wouldn't want to relax there?

 

[Shrike]

I see my Grammostoloa rosea exhibit this behavior every once in a while. I guess its no coincidence that afterwards, she pounds down a dozen crickets, a few cans of pringles, and a package of oreos.

 

[Odinp13]

I have yet to see this tarantula molt and it's stretching lol

Maybe they also do this to gauge wether it's getting time to get a larger suit. Or stretch to make the old skin fit better 'til nature brings the new one.

 

[tigasuku]

Our G. rosea had my son concerned enough today that he called me at to tell me that it was laying flattened out - I had noticed this behavior the day before. Just now I noticed it again (the enclosure is on my desk) and thought that she (not verified) was preparing to molt. Upon further inspection we saw her shed exoskeleton at the entrance of her hide. She's cuddling with her heat rock, which she has been doing lately, outside of the hide.

Since we really don't know when the molt actually occurred we plan to just leave her alone for several days. However, she did lay down a lot of silk a couple of days ago so I think the molt only happened recently. This is our first molt and it looks like it went well since we didn't even notice until it was over.

So, laying down new carpeting around the hide entrance, not eating for awhile (she's usually voracious), and laying flattened out and close to a heat source spells molted for our G. rosea. I'll try for photos tomorrow as long as she doesn't seem stressed by the attention.

We're just happy she came out o.k.