Zebra won't eat!

Widowman10

Arachno WIDOW
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Jan 25, 2007
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my zebra (A. seemani) recently molted (more than a week ago) and now won't eat. she didn't eat for about 2 months before the molt and i know that's normal, but i never heard anything about not eating after the molt? is this normal? everything seems fine- molt went perfect and everything is hardened already. HELP!
 

Pyst

Arachnoknight
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Nov 7, 2005
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Give it another week or two and try again. This is normal behavior so don't sweat it.
 

PinkLady

Arachnobaron
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It's normal for them to do this. You have to give them time to harden up. I usually don't feed mine for a couple of weeks after a molt.
 

Widowman10

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a couple of weeks? geez, everything seems hard tho... is it just a zebra thing? b/c my other T's eat after only a few days...
 

PinkLady

Arachnobaron
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This all depends on the size of your A.seemani also. The younger the T I find the faster it hardens up. I had a L.parahybana sling molt and was able to feed it aprox. 4 days later. I wouldn't be too concerned. T's can go quite some time without eating.
 

Widowman10

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sweet, thanks. yeah, shes kind of a big un... and my L parahybanas are really small and they do harden up FAST.
 

Windchaser

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a couple of weeks? geez, everything seems hard tho... is it just a zebra thing? b/c my other T's eat after only a few days...
You may want to be careful when you do this. As tarantulas get larger they take longer to fully harden. Feeding too soon can result in damage and deformities to the fangs if the tarantula feeds before the fangs have fully hardened. You are always best to wait a minimum of a week before feeding after a molt.
 

Mushroom Spore

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You may want to be careful when you do this. As tarantulas get larger they take longer to fully harden. Feeding too soon can result in damage and deformities to the fangs if the tarantula feeds before the fangs have fully hardened. You are always best to wait a minimum of a week before feeding after a molt.
Seconded--and a T that's still soft is also likely to get chewed up by crickets.
 

GartenSpinnen

Arachnoprince
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Aug 17, 2005
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I second everything everyone else has summed up... wait at LEAST a week after a molt to feed! Ive seen tarantulas get broken fangs from feeding too soon after a molt, definately not a good thing to happen! Also, with this species be prepared for it to burrow and not come out for months at a time, not eating or anything, and then when it finally comes out it eats like nothing else!
 
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