Smithi acting strangely !!

[Neil Ashby]

My adult female Smithi is doing something weird lately .

She is constantly rubbing off all her abdomen hairs all around the tank , they are all over !! . I wondered if this was a pre-moult ritual but she is adult and only shed last october .

Im a bit miffed she is doing it because she looked lovely before but now she is getting bald and the hairs are all over her legs and abdomen making her look a bit shabby now .

Im concerned though as shes obviously doing it for a reason and she doesn`t seem interested in crickets .

..... and before you ask , the bald spot doesnt show any sign of darkening !

[mike halewood]

Right....

and before you ask , the bald spot doesnt show any sign of darkening

Ah never mind.....

The only other thing is, is there anything in the tank thats bothering her??

[Neil Ashby]

Dont think so Mike , she has been fine till last week !

I did add some moss to her tank recently but that was a few weeks ago now and she often sits on it anyway .

I did a substrate change 3 months ago

[mike halewood]

IM sorry I cant be of more help, but knowing this place someone with alot more experience will be along to offer advice!!...

[Colin D Wilson]

If you've recently changed the substrate, check for mite's or other little creepycrawlies, they could be upsetting her if there are any.

[Neil Ashby]

Panic over !!


She is on her back as i speak , which is puzzling because her bald spot was not dark when i checked her yesterday morning !

[mike halewood]

Do you know what though, my B. smithi went black all of a sudden then pretty much a few days later she was on her back. Keep us informed on how it goes. And PICS!!!! you cant beat pics of a freshly molted smithi.

[Neil Ashby]

Will do

Ill snap her in the morning in her new suit , dont wanna disturb her now !

[Neil Ashby]

She is fine , and looks stunning .

Im having trouble uploading the pics tho , it keeps saying " internal server error ! "

Ill try again later

Oh , and she is 100% female , i will post the pic too !!!!

[Colin D Wilson]

Reduce the size of your pictures Neil, see if that helps.

"edit"

just tried to load some photo's in the PIX section and got the server error.
Sussed it.....if you load them one at a time, then it'll work ok mate.

[Neil Ashby]

Here are the pics !!!

She`s a beaut aint she ?

[Colin D Wilson]

Certainly is a nice looking spider there mate !!! she'll probably look even better in a couple of days when she's hardened up fully too !!

[mike halewood]

Very nice.....

I remember the joy when I was able to confitm my smithi was a she, congrats!!

[Barbara Gittings]

Lovely pictures Neil. She looks a beauty

Well done

Barbara

[Neil Martin]

OK, so what tells you it is female?

Is it the opening/flap between the top pair of book lungs?