Mexican Red Rump Tarantula

External Since: Apr 06, 2006 Posts: 6

Hi all,

have posted some time ago in here, and had loads of help. We got given the
above spider as a wedding present, and while it was initially a bit weird
waking up to the damn thing (my bedside table was nominated as "the cool
place for it to be"), she is now firmly part of our family.

Initially she was behaving as she was supposed to, but she's now got rid of
all her reticulating hair, and it's been gone for over a month now. She
hasn't molted for about 3 months, she hasn't burrowed, and when we put two
crickets in there she might take one, then take the other one a day or two
later.

Her abdomen is completely bald, and has been for a while, which is a shame
because the hairs gave her a beautiful red colour, which was getting deeper
each time she moulted. She's not half as aggressive as I initially thought,
and I picked her up some time ago and she was lovely about it. I can put my
hand in there and she'll just rest one of her legs on my finger. She's been
doing really well up until now, but she really doesn't seem to be behaving
as she's supposed to, i.e., burrowing, molting etc

The only thing I can think of is we cleaned her case/cage/glass thing out
after she last molted, and replaced it with that vermicular stuff, as was
supposedly in it when we got her.

She has plenty of water, she's rarely bothered by anyone, she's in a quite
secluded spot, humidity is fine, heat pad is working, fed at the right times
etc. I'm going by the book here, but she really doesn't seem to be looking
healthy, albeit only her abdomen.

She is actually eating, she seems to be active, the only thing that's
worrying me is her reticular hairs haven't grown back, she ain't burrowing,
and shows no sign of molting, and at her age apparently she should be
molting every 4 weeks roughly.

I feel terribly responsible here, so any advice would be grateful.

I have to admit, I've kinda bonded with her now.

Many thanks for any help,

Gavin

External Since: Oct 13, 2006 Posts: 1

"Likewise" writes:
> She is actually eating, she seems to be active, the only thing
> that's worrying me is her reticular hairs haven't grown back,

"Hairs" don't grow back; they're really spines that are part of the
exoskeleton and are replaced at molt time.

> she ain't burrowing, and shows no sign of molting, and at her age
> apparently she should be molting every 4 weeks roughly.

Spiders seem to get dormant at times for no reason that I can discern.
Could her behavior change be seasonal? Our spiders show definite
seasonal patterns. Perhaps she's going to have a nice sleep in her
burrow during the winter.

> I have to admit, I've kinda bonded with her now.

You do tend to get attache to them when you've watched them enough;
you start to imagine events from their point of view.

--
Alison Chaiken "From:" address above is valid.
(650) 236-2231 [daytime] http://www.wsrcc.com/alison/
The only really vibrant counterculture in the U.S. today is
laziness. -- David Brooks