White stuff around mouth. Is this normal?

[James Mullally]

So I was tryna feed my gbb and spotted white stuff all around her mouth is this normal or should I be worried? She hasn’t eaten in about 6 or so months I always try and wait a few weeks then try again

 

[darkness975]

So I was tryna feed my gbb and spotted white stuff all around her mouth is this normal or should I be worried? She hasn’t eaten in about 6 or so months I always try and wait a few weeks then try again

Need clearer pictures, can't really see much in those.

Is that a sperm web?

 

[sasker]

Could be anything from poop to mites. Indeed, please make a better picture. Sharper and close-up.

How is the tarantula behaving otherwise? Does it walk around much? Does web a lot? Does it seem lethargic?

 

[James Mullally]

Need clearer pictures, can't really see much in those.

Is that a sperm web?

Sorry these are the best pictures I can get I can’t get her to threat pose again to show her underside and my tank has a lot of water marks so it’s very hard to see I’ll add them anyway the best way I can describe it is a white crust around her mouth and I’ll also put in video of her I took a couple hours ago, as for the sperm web no she’s still a juvenile only 7cm

Could be anything from poop to mites. Indeed, please make a better picture. Sharper and close-up.

How is the tarantula behaving otherwise? Does it walk around much? Does web a lot? Does it seem lethargic?

Sorry I can’t get a better picture atm I’ve been trying to get her to threat pose again with no luck but it looks like a white crust around her mouth , as for behaviour she hasn’t really been acting strange besides not eating in 6 months and she’s gone through periods of inactivity where she’ll stay in her lil web castle and then times where she’ll go exploring for a week drink loads of water from her dish and then she back to her web castle she hasn’t seemed lethargic and she’s webbed a lot and then stopped for a few months then webbed a lot again a few weeks ago but hasn’t really since

 

[sasker]

6 months without food is not unusual for a spider in premoult. However, I think her abdomen are quite skinny so I doubt she is going to moult soon. The pictures are still not clear enough to say for sure what is the problem (please don't try to get threat postures from her, it will just stress her out). I don't see a ton of webbing, at least not as much as a happy GBB would lay down, so maybe she is just not feeling well in her enclosure.

Could you make a picture of the entire enclosure? Maybe you need to restyle her terrarium. Perhaps more anchor points are needed. While in the catch cup, you could then also have a closer look at the fangs and the white stuff that's on it.

Just to give you an idea of how much a GBB should web, I attached a picture of my girl.

 

[James Mullally]

6 months without food is not unusual for a spider in premoult. However, I think her abdomen are quite skinny so I doubt she is going to moult soon. The pictures are still not clear enough to say for sure what is the problem (please don't try to get threat postures from her, it will just stress her out). I don't see a ton of webbing, at least not as much as a happy GBB would lay down, so maybe she is just not feeling well in her enclosure.

Could you make a picture of the entire enclosure? Maybe you need to restyle her terrarium. Perhaps more anchor points are needed. While in the catch cup, you could then also have a closer look at the fangs and the white stuff that's on it.

Just to give you an idea of how much a GBB should web, I attached a picture of my girl. View attachment 385763

Every time I got a picture it came out blurry so I took a short ten second video let me know if you can see it my camera quality is kinda low sorry :/, I think her enclosure has enough anchor points I’ll attach a photo of that too, as for her eating she ate a few times when I got her since then she stopped for the six months I assumed premolt at the time but I’ve never had any of my other juveniles around that size be in premolt that long and also just found out when moving her she can’t climb the plastic she just slides down it

 

[James Mullally]

6 months without food is not unusual for a spider in premoult. However, I think her abdomen are quite skinny so I doubt she is going to moult soon. The pictures are still not clear enough to say for sure what is the problem (please don't try to get threat postures from her, it will just stress her out). I don't see a ton of webbing, at least not as much as a happy GBB would lay down, so maybe she is just not feeling well in her enclosure.

Could you make a picture of the entire enclosure? Maybe you need to restyle her terrarium. Perhaps more anchor points are needed. While in the catch cup, you could then also have a closer look at the fangs and the white stuff that's on it.

Just to give you an idea of how much a GBB should web, I attached a picture of my girl. View attachment 385763

here’s a few more photos

 

[sasker]

Hm. I still don't know what the white stuff is. Could it be mites? What does it look like to you? In one of the pictures, it seems that there are a few on the plastic container. Mites could become plenty if there is enough moist and leftover food in the terrarium. Do you ever see them floating around on the water surface of the waterdish?

As for the terrarium, about a quarter of the surface seems rather dark. Are you moistening the substrate? If so, stop doing that! This species must be kept bone-dry with only a water dish for hydration purposes. There is absolutely not need to overflow the water dish. If you have a mite problem, this should quickly be over when the enclosure dries out.

Also, there are not enough anchor points. You see that there are a few spots where your tarantula webs, but these spots do not connect because of the big open space in the middle. You could put a few dry branches in the terrarium from one corner to the other, diagonally (as in my terrarium). No need to worry that the wood will rot, because you keep the terrarium dry.

Edit: to make it easier for your tarantula to web up the place, it needs to have anchor points higher up in the terrarium and not only on the floor (as you have now). Just to clarify things

 

[James Mullally]

Hm. I still don't know what the white stuff is. Could it be mites? What does it look like to you? In one of the pictures, it seems that there are a few on the plastic container. Mites could become plenty if there is enough moist and leftover food in the terrarium. Do you ever see them floating around on the water surface of the waterdish?

As for the terrarium, about a quarter of the surface seems rather dark. Are you moistening the substrate? If so, stop doing that! This species must be kept bone-dry with only a water dish for hydration purposes. There is absolutely not need to overflow the water dish. If you have a mite problem, this should quickly be over when the enclosure dries out.

Also, there are not enough anchor points. You see that there are a few spots where your tarantula webs, but these spots do not connect because of the big open space in the middle. You could put a few dry branches in the terrarium from one corner to the other, diagonally (as in my terrarium). No need to worry that the wood will rot, because you keep the terrarium dry.

Edit: to make it easier for your tarantula to web up the place, it needs to have anchor points higher up in the terrarium and not only on the floor (as you have now). Just to clarify things

I don’t know if it’s mites the white stuff doesn’t look like individual dots it looks like a crust or paste like substance so for all we know it could be poop but why would she eat her poop but not food that I offer her? I never see any in the water dish or in the substrate but I’ll keep an eye out for them. I also googled it and it’s telling me nematodes but none of the symptoms of nematodes line up besides the white stuff around her mouth but the pictures of nematodes don’t look the same as the white around hers so i don’t think it’s that. She might just be eating her poop and I just started panicking because I’ve never seen that before.

I don’t mist her enclosure I just have a water dish I’ve misted it lightly about 3 times since I got her like a little spray on her web so she can get an easy drink but besides that never misted her enclosure or anything just always make sure her waters full.
Also thank you for the advice I’ll add more diagonal twigs and branches for her to web up better.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Most likely no cause for concern, if it was nematodes then by the time they were spilling out of the mouth there would be other obvious symptoms (dyskinesia/etc.), and mites would also be fairly obvious.

why would she eat her poop but not food that I offer her?

Tarantulas are weird.

 

[James Mullally]

Hey guys if any of you are still interested thought I’d make a sad update I found her dead beside her water dish a hour ago I’m not sure what caused her death if it was some sort of parasite or she just didn’t make it for some strange reason either way just in case it was a parasite I’m gonna dump everything into the bin and bleach the enclosure. Thanks for all your suggestions and feedback and for trying to help it’s still very appreciated.

 

[sasker]

I am sorry to hear that. It was a weird situation. I have not seen this before. Indeed, it would probably best to give everything a good clean.