What might be wrong with Shadow?

[Vys]

Hello.

My Avicularia Avicularia molted about 6 months ago, and since, she has been in the care of my brother. The first three months after this molt, everything seemed like 'normal' , i.e she was out of her web every now and then, and ate like 4- 5 crickets a week. The pace slowly subsided, and now she hasn't eaten for almost 2 months. Also, with her loss of appetite came a loss of activity, and nowadays she spends virtually all(?) of her time in her web. My brother hasn't seen her outside of her web for ..perhaps a month, but 3 weeks ago feces could be seen in her water bowl (she usually does that ).
She shifts position within her web, which she hasn't sealed or anything.
She reacts when the cage is misted, i.e moves a little.
Now..temperature has remained constant, so has humidity ( well, almost, winter has set in of course, but with a big bowl of water and a weekly misting she has enough moisture I'd say). Temperature has remained between 20 and 30C.
Funny thing is, she stopped eating right about when we tried giving her locusts Maybe she has a long memory ?
Seriously, is this normal? Since I've been gone for half a year, I haven't gotten any other T's, and I haven't been able to study her any, thus, I don't have much first hand knowledge about feeding-habits. Although, I did think avics ate regularly.

 

[MrDeranged]

Not necessarily. Mine have gone off feed for long periods of time without anyone molting. If they eat one cricket every month, that might be alot. Seems that once they get a certain amount of food into them, they rarely eat after that. At least that's been my experience. I wouldn't worry about it. Just make sure that there's a source of water in the tank and it should be fine.

Scott

 

[MrT]

I've had my A.avic for 4 mo. now and its eaten a grand total of 2 crics., Its never made anything even close to a web. Its the strangest spider I own. But after worrying about it for months its still alive, so I guess it knows what its doing. :?

Ernie

 

[Kenny]

A. Avic behavior

Hi

My A. Avic, about 1,5+ inch, stop eating like a couple of weeks before molt. Then S/he molts and then s/he goes outside her web and just really wait for food to come.
Then on the other hand s/he has stopped eating for some time without any real reason and then it's back to food-time after awhile.

In the beginning she behaved like a "burrower", s/he made a web-hut on the ground and her first molt a matter of fact was inside this web-hut.

Just keep a good ventilation and a waterdish inside there all the time with some misting on cage walls, that's what I've done and it seem to work fine IME.

I have had my A.avic. since late June this year and s/he was a 1/2 inch s'ling and now s'he is a 1,5+ inch with "pinktoe" showing on her legs.

Kenny

 

[Joy]

Originally posted by Vys
Hello.

My Avicularia Avicularia molted about 6 months ago, and since, she has been in the care of my brother. The first three months after this molt, everything seemed like 'normal' , i.e she was out of her web every now and then, and ate like 4- 5 crickets a week. The pace slowly subsided, and now she hasn't eaten for almost 2 months. Also, with her loss of appetite came a loss of activity, and nowadays she spends virtually all(?) of her time in her web. My brother hasn't seen her outside of her web for ..perhaps a month, but 3 weeks ago feces could be seen in her water bowl (she usually does that ).
She shifts position within her web, which she hasn't sealed or anything.

I did think avics ate regularly.

No, the pattern you describe is quite consistent with my own experience. I have both a female A. avic and A. urticans who haven't eaten in a couple of months. Seems like they usually go through a period of fasting and reclusiveness this time of year. I've wondered if it might be related to day length, as they are kept at a fairly steady temp year round.

Joy

 

[Vys]

Thanks for your replies!
I guess I shouldn't worry needlessly then

 

[dilleo]

My big chilobrachy's burmensis ate like a horse, a horse, for a couple of months, over 5 crickets a week. After that she molted, didn't eat for about 2 months, came out, eat a couple crickets a week for about a month, took a huge roach, and webbed up again. She's getting big, and still eat seldom.

-Jeremy