Why has my Tarantula stopped eating????

[Montanagoddard]

I got a 4 year old Rose hair about two months ago and she used to eat the crickets i threw in right a way twice a week but it has now been two weeks and she hasn't eaten any of the ones ive thrown in and they've been directly under her but she just lifts her leg like shes grossed out by it... I dont want to throw to many in cause they're hard to catch, i put it in and i have to take pretty much everything out of her tank and annoy her to get it.. i think theres still one in there right now but it hiding so im not to sure what to do.. any suggestions? The girl I got it from said she molted about three months ago but im not to sure how often there supposed to..shes been very active as well just walking around her tank but again im not to sure whats going on since im new to owing one. thanks for any of the help i receive

 

[Greasylake]

Probably just full, these have the lowest food requirements of any T, and have a reputation for spending months (and I've heard of reports of even over a year!) without eating. Pictures of the spider and enclosure are always helpful, but I'm willing to bet it's full.

 

[Montanagoddard]

Oh jeez okay it was so weird cause she was eating great for awhile and has recently just stopped but thanks for the reply and information!!! And this is my girl and her enclosure if it helps!!

 

[Teal]

That enclosure is really inappropriate. You need WAY more substrate, so that the space between the sub and lid is no more than 1.5-2x the leg span of the spider (a 4" spider should have no more than 6" of space from sub to lid). If your spider climbs the walls as it is, a fall would be deadly.

The water dish doesn't need anything in it except water.

Ditch the red light, *especially* if it is a heat lamp. Room temperatures (65F and up) are perfectly fine.

Don't leave live crickets in. Offer one cricket every few weeks/once a month... if she takes it, you can try offering another. But remove anything immediately that she doesn't eat.

Tarantulas are known for gorging and fasting. As long as the abdomen is the same size or bigger than the carapace and not wrinkled, and there is water always available you don't need to worry.

 

[chanda]

That is not a suitable enclosure for your girl! There is WAY too much vertical space there. If she were to climb the walls, she could easily fall and rupture her abdomen - particularly if she landed on one of those hard cage ornaments! You should either get her a shorter cage - or add a LOT of substrate to this one. There should be no more than 1.5 times her diagonal leg span between the top of the cage and the top of the substrate.

Also, if that lamp is a heat lamp, get rid of it. Tarantulas do just fine at room temperature. A heat lamp may cook your tarantula - or at least dry out your water dish far too quickly and contribute to dehydration in your spider. (A red light bulb is ok for occasional night-time viewing. I do that with some of my critters when I bring them in to the classroom - I turn off the room lights, then switch on a portable red light so the kids can see the nocturnal spiders, scorpions, and centipedes going about their normal behavior. The red light is not left on for extended periods, though - maybe 10 to 15 minutes at a time, tops.)

 

[Montanagoddard]

That enclosure is really inappropriate. You need WAY more substrate, so that the space between the sub and lid is no more than 1.5-2x the leg span of the spider (a 4" spider should have no more than 6" of space from sub to lid). If your spider climbs the walls as it is, a fall would be deadly.

The water dish doesn't need anything in it except water.

Ditch the red light, *especially* if it is a heat lamp. Room temperatures (65F and up) are perfectly fine.

Don't leave live crickets in. Offer one cricket every few weeks/once a month... if she takes it, you can try offering another. But remove anything immediately that she doesn't eat.

Tarantulas are known for gorging and fasting. As long as the abdomen is the same size or bigger than the carapace and not wrinkled, and there is water always available you don't need to worry.

oh my I didn't know you needed that much substrate, of course the people at the pet store told me that tank would be just fine... so you wouldn't have any of those cage ornaments in the tank either? how often do you clean the tank as well? also Ive never seen her try to climb the sides of the tank or anything if that is normal for them to be doing

 

[Keke713]

oh my I didn't know you needed that much substrate, of course the people at the pet store told me that tank would be just fine... so you wouldn't have any of those cage ornaments in the tank either? how often do you clean the tank as well? also Ive never seen her try to climb the sides of the tank or anything if that is normal for them to be doing

Most pet stores don’t know much, if anything about keeping tarantulas. Personally I would take out all those ornaments as they provide no benefit for your T. That tank is fine if you take the right precautions. As stated above add way more substrate and burrow that cork bark a little so she has a suitable hide. Unless you know the exact date she was pulled from the sac age is irrelevant. She could possibly be way older than 4 years old.

 

[AnObeseHippo]

oh my I didn't know you needed that much substrate, of course the people at the pet store told me that tank would be just fine... so you wouldn't have any of those cage ornaments in the tank either? how often do you clean the tank as well? also Ive never seen her try to climb the sides of the tank or anything if that is normal for them to be doing

The ornaments can stay if you add more substrate and bury them a bit. The worry is if the tarantula climbs a good height, it can fall onto something, rupture its abdomen or hurt something internally and die. The rule of thumb is no more than 1.5-2x the diagonal leg span of the tarantula in fall space

Thanks for coming on AB for questions. We care about your little one’s well being and I hope you don’t do like some people and take offense to some members

 

[Montanagoddard]

The ornaments can stay if you add more substrate and bury them a bit. The worry is if the tarantula climbs a good height, it can fall onto something, rupture its abdomen or hurt something internally and die. The rule of thumb is no more than 1.5-2x the diagonal leg span of the tarantula in fall space

Thanks for coming on AB for questions. We care about your little one’s well being and I hope you don’t do like some people and take offense to some members

okay perfect I will defiantly add more substrate asap and no I dont take offense at all, I know everyone is just trying to help!! Im glad I found this site!!

 

[8LeggedLair]

Here we go again with the D@mn Pet Store and false info, i won’t answer in what to do the others did well...

One question, was it YouTube that drew you to Tarantulas?

 

[Montanagoddard]

Here we go again with the D@mn Pet Store and false info, i won’t answer in what to do the others did well...

One question, was it YouTube that drew you to Tarantulas?

Yaaaa.. you’d think a person at the pet store should be knowledgeable about all types of pets or at least be honest if there not to sure uhh but um no it wasn’t YouTube, I’ve just always been fascinated in spiders and finally decided to get one, I did watch YouTube videos of them before I 100% purchased one just to see what others had and the advice they put out there!!

 

[Teal]

oh my I didn't know you needed that much substrate, of course the people at the pet store told me that tank would be just fine... so you wouldn't have any of those cage ornaments in the tank either? how often do you clean the tank as well? also Ive never seen her try to climb the sides of the tank or anything if that is normal for them to be doing

Yeahhhh, as others said already... pet store employees generally don't know anything about the proper care for tarantulas ):

I don't have a problem with the decorations, personally, but many will tell you to get rid of them. I say, if you like them and can incorporate them into a properly set up enclosure then there is no reason why you can't have them in there.

There is no reason to clean the tank. You can remove the bolus (the leftover bits after a feed) if it is easily accessible, but if not then it isn't a problem to leave it. I keep my tanks more "natural" than a lot of folks... I use sticks/bark from outside, I let mold cultivate, I let mites do their clean up thing (and also add isopods for cleaning up), etc.

 

[chanda]

Yaaaa.. you’d think a person at the pet store should be knowledgeable about all types of pets

Pet store employees are hired because they can run a cash register or stock shelves or whatever, just like any other retail employees. They don't necessarily have any expertise in pets - particularly not all of the possible pets that the store might carry or might carry supplies for - but, like most people, they don't want to admit that they don't know what they're talking about, either.

 

[8LeggedLair]

Yaaaa.. you’d think a person at the pet store should be knowledgeable about all types of pets or at least be honest if there not to sure uhh but um no it wasn’t YouTube, I’ve just always been fascinated in spiders and finally decided to get one, I did watch YouTube videos of them before I 100% purchased one just to see what others had and the advice they put out there!!

Because the employees at pet stores don’t care they could careless ( not all but most, consider it a job instead of actually taking care of said animals there ) about taking care of them. Hence the other thread, that bought a Tarantula only because ( I believe it was @Arachnophoric ) the piss poor living conditions it was in, white reptile calcium dust, crickets uneaten obviously, because of the dust, a sponge for water which is a harbinger of bacteria.
He/she also had to sign several forms to waive any responsibility of the animal once in his/her care as soon as it left the door.
Which the last time I walked in a pet store was in 1993...

I apologize if I seemed rude or so, was just wondering how you came about Tarantulas/exotic animals... with all the goings on it seems YouTube is the first place newbies come. For some there is no problem with that me included if that person is constantly researching ( not care sheets ) the animal. However most 90% of today’s new hobbyists are coming from such outlets cause they think it’s cool... sorry for the long post...

 

[The Grym Reaper]

4 year old Rose hair

Age is pretty much irrelevant, 10 people could raise slings from the same sac for the same amount of time and they'd all be different sizes so unless the previous owner has had it since the day it hatched then they have no way of knowing how old it is. Possibly closer to 10 seeing as it looks adult sized, not that it matters as they generally live up to 30 years (the oldest, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, lived to be 49 though).

Diagonal Leg Span (measured from the tip of the front leg on one side to the tip of the rear leg on the opposite side) is much more helpful to us.

and she used to eat the crickets i threw in right a way twice a week but it has now been two weeks and she hasn't eaten

Way too much food, I'd bet it's full and it'll probably refuse food for several months (they can go for in excess of 18 months without food), this species has some of the lowest food requirements in the hobby, you ideally want to be feeding once every 4-6 weeks.

The girl I got it from said she molted about three months ago but im not to sure how often there supposed to.

Adults can go from 2-6 years between moults.

And this is my girl and her enclosure if it helps!!

That enclosure is way too big IMO but if you want to keep using it then it'll need some work.

Firstly, nowhere near enough substrate, even a short fall can kill a tarantula and you have plenty of hard stuff in there for it to fall onto. As a general rule, the gap between the top of the substrate layer and the top of the enclosure shouldn't exceed 1.5x the tarantulas leg span (e.g. for a 6" spider the gap should not exceed 9").

I'd ditch the bottle, if you want to keep the sphinx ornaments then you may need to part bury them (it'd actually make them look better IMO).

I'd cut that tube hide in half lengthwise so that you have 2 half log hides (don't worry, cork is easy to cut/break).

Ditch the pebbles in the water dish, tarantulas are heinously hard to drown (you'd have to fully submerge one and then hold it there for over half an hour to do it), they can also swim.

If the lid is screen/mesh then you'll need to mod it (terrestrial tarantulas commonly get their tarsal claws stuck in the mesh and then either lose a leg/fall/both). Just get a sheet of acrylic cut to size, drill a bunch of holes in it for ventilation and then fix it to the inside of the lid with aquarium silicone.

If the light is a heat lamp then it is not needed, temps over 65°F are fine and they can tolerate drops below that for short periods.

Hope that helps.

 

[boina]

Can you get a better pic of your spider? Because in that pic you posted it doesn't look like a typical rose hair tarantula to me... Since you got it from a pet store let's make sure it hasn't been mislabeled.

 

[Arachnophoric]

Because the employees at pet stores don’t care they could careless ( not all but most, consider it a job instead of actually taking care of said animals there ) about taking care of them. Hence the other thread, that bought a Tarantula only because ( I believe it was @Arachnophoric ) the piss poor living conditions it was in, white reptile calcium dust, crickets uneaten obviously, because of the dust, a sponge for water which is a harbinger of bacteria.
He/she also had to sign several forms to waive any responsibility of the animal once in his/her care as soon as it left the door.
Which the last time I walked in a pet store was in 1993...

I apologize if I seemed rude or so, was just wondering how you came about Tarantulas/exotic animals... with all the goings on it seems YouTube is the first place newbies come. For some there is no problem with that me included if that person is constantly researching ( not care sheets ) the animal. However most 90% of today’s new hobbyists are coming from such outlets cause they think it’s cool... sorry for the long post...

No, that was this thread by @Tenebrarius

 

[Tenebrarius]

Yaaaa.. you’d think a person at the pet store should be knowledgeable about all types of pets or at least be honest if there not to sure uhh but um no it wasn’t YouTube, I’ve just always been fascinated in spiders and finally decided to get one, I did watch YouTube videos of them before I 100% purchased one just to see what others had and the advice they put out there!!

I was summoned here, but cool origin story. my favorite superhero was/is spider-man and that's why I like Ts. just to make a MAJOR note that's WAY too much vertical space here a simple equation for it 1.5(DLS)=vertical space, this applies to only terrestrial not fossorial or arboreal. I'd take the rocks out the water dish could result in broken fangs. those tall things when sub is added to reduced the vert.len can be flipped to their side. ALSO PLEASE TELL ME THATS NOT A HEAT LAMP. I am said person who saved the pet store T from back conditions heat lamp was last piece that made me do it. now might I ask what type of sub is that?
also to answer the main question, T aren't alway hungry unless its a H. pulchripes never seen mine refuse food unless it was in heavy premolt. so dont worry to much if your T doesn't want to eat unless its abdomen is shrunken. if its eaten before their won't be a problem with a not molted sucking stomach. Im not trying be a rude person in fact i consider myself passionately informative so take our knowledge we are trying to help dont trust pet stores and minor note: research and inquire in advance.

 

[8LeggedLair]

No, that was this thread by @Tenebrarius

Yea that’s right, couldn’t remember if it was you or him, I should’ve @ him as well...