Should I Release The Hound?

[Tomas Whitehouse]

Hi, I wonder If anyone could help me here.
Here is my 3.5cm Acanthoscurria Geniculata, just picked up today! Originally the nice guy I bought her/him from said that the length was 4.5cm, I posted a few questions a week or so ago and Mark Pennel offered me some superb advice on the enclosure and general care, now, because the spider is more or less a whole cent smaller, is placing it in the 30cm exo terra enclosure a bit over kill?
I really dont want to do anything wrong as this is my first Spider and I have read that putting them in too large of a space makes it hard to find food.
The terrium temperature is around the 27 degrees celcius and the humidity is reading around 70%. There is a piece of cork bark towards the back end and a small patch of sphagnum moss to maintain the humidity.
Also, the previous owner mentioned that a moult could be due, does he/she look suspiciously near to a moult? I can imagine my utter noob questions may be difficult and tedious to answer but any help or suggestions would be very gratefully recieved.
Thanks for your time.
Tomas

[Colin D Wilson]

Hi Tomas,

I will answer as if i were in your position (others on here may have a different approach but we all end up with the same end result)
I would keep it in the container it is in now for this moult, and the next, make sure it's well ventilated and leave it in the larger tank to maintain temp and humidity (checking both in the smaller tub for accuracy)
The sustrate in the smaller tub looks to be a little too wet for an A geniculata although mine do prefer a higher moistness of the substrate. i would let it dry out a little.

It does look as though a moult is on the way (pale appearence and a little scruffy on the abdomen is how mine go just before)

They grow a reasonable amount per moult at this size so it won't be long before it's able to "cope" with the larger tank, and in my experience they do well in a larger enclosure than normal (mine are great explorers and i've added a lot of tank furnishings to provide more tactile experiences for them)

Thats my option, wait for a few others and then choose the most common or select the best bits from each and do your own thing.

Regards

Colin

[alex smith]

i dont know what advice mark gave as iv'e not read the thread but the 30cm exo-terra viv in the pic looks like an arboreal viv i.e suited to tree dwelling species and if so is way OTT.
More like the small plastic ice cream tub you have it in is the correct size and height or for a glass viv-30cm long by 20 or less cm high.
You will need to ensure the plastic tub is ventilated properly some (smaller than cricket!!)holes punched in the sides and i use ladies tights (oooerr)stretched over the top and secured with a suitable elastic band on small make shift containers.
Good news is your spid looks from the photos like its about to moult (or in pre-moult) i notice the substrate is quite damp,this should be ok for moulting but let it dry out a bit (no puddles!) and use less misting/water after.Also remove all crickets and prey items(they can turn the tables and eat your spid.)Do not disturb the spider in any way until after it's moult when you can remove the cast off skin.Good luck and welcome to a very exciting and adictive new hobby.

[Nicola Dolby]

I'd agree totally with what Colin has said, give your spider time to grow.

[Tomas Whitehouse]

Thanks Folks.

Many thanks indeed. Everyone is sounding rather logical and I'm very appreciative.
He/she is staying in the smaller tub for at least the next 2 moults. Colin kindly advised that I exchange some of the more moist for dryer substrate and that has been done succesfully with little disturbance. The bottle cap is more or less full with fresh water and more ventilation has been provided. I don't think I need the ladies tights so maybe I'll wear them on my head and fain a bank robbery with a spud gun. (Today = Too Much Coffee!)
I hope everything is all nice for the imminent moulting. My fingers are crossed!

The large tank in the picture is an exo terra 12/12/12 inch not the higher version suggested for aboreals.

Should I attempt to feed now or wait until the a week or so after the moult?

Many thanks, everyone is so very helpful and I am very grateful.

I'll be sure to post some more and better pics too.

Tomas

[Sonny Howdle]

she will be ok in the tub shes in until after her next molt. i would put her some bark in or a plant pot for her to hide under if she gets scared.
they will grow quite big after each molt, mine went from 10p size at christmas 2006 to 4 and a half inches now. there abdomans go all fluffy when a molt is due.
i wouldent feed her until the day after you get her so she can settle in. keep feeding her until she refuses her dinner because if you just got her you wont know the last molt day.
hope this helps,
sonny

[Mark Pennell]

Tomas
Your little fella may look a bit lost at the moment but looking at its abdomen it’s going to molt pretty soon. For now leave it in the tub it’s in, and inside the larger tank.

This species grow very quick once up and running. I would suggest however a deeper substrate for it, before you move it into the larger tank, especially if the tank is quite tall.

Around 4 to 5 inches should be fine, more if you can.

Alex the advice I gave Tomas was via a series of private messages, it was all sound advice, and I am pretty sure after 25 years of keeping tarantulas I do know what I am talking about and based on a larger spider!

Regards
Mark

[Neil Martin]

Mine is about the same size and looks in about the same state "rear end wise".

The thing is my Smithi would give up food a good 3-4 weeks before molting and this little fella just keeps going at them - in fact the small crickets I bought a week ago have all grown in size and tonight I put one in about the same size as the spider, watching over proceedings in case the tables got turned, but the cricket lasted all of 5 seconds.

The spider is incredibly forward and active - when I brought it's box out of the airing cupboard tonight, it ran straight to the end that I was holding (quite aggressively) and then strutted around the container with its' backside held high in the air (I assume it was preparing to flick at me?) - I think it will be a handful when a bit bigger?

So, can I expect it to slow down and stop eating - or at this age/size does it just rattle out a quick moult when you aren't really expecting it to happen?

[Larry Shone]

I think the tub its in now, in that photo, is about right.
Gorgeous t by the way!

[alex smith]

Mark i wasn't for one moment doubting your years of experiance just simply stating that i dont know what advice you had given.

[Mark Pennell]

Mark i wasn't for one moment doubting your years of experiance just simply stating that i dont know what advice you had given.

Ok Alex! no problem just caught me on a bad day...

[Tomas Whitehouse]

Update

I think everything appears fine and dandio, the sub has been replaced for the dryer variety and after a few hours the little un came down from the walls and is now residing by the water dish. I'm just eargerly awaiting the big molt now. Will post more photies when the blessed event happens.


Thanks again for all the advice everyone. This noob certainly appreciates it very much.

Best Regards

Tomas

[Stanley A. Schultz]

... Should I attempt to feed now or wait until the a week or so after the moult? ...

Tomas and All -

Young tarantulas, as yours is, molt much more frequently than their corresponding adults. Often, you won't even recognize an approaching molt until it's either on its back or standing next to the old skin. The time they take to molt is usually also much shorter than that taken by a mature adult. On many occasions I've had very young spiderlings eat one day, molt the next day, then eat the day after that!

Yours is a bit older than that and will likely give you a few warning signs. It'll also stop eating several days in advance of a molt, take several hours to molt, then wait several days before it begins to eat again. The "periods" are longer than for very young tarantulas, but still shorter than for mature adults.

You might throw in a small cricket to see if it eats. If it does, give it another for good measure. If the cricket is still present later that evening, remove it before you go to bed. Wait a day or two, then try again. This tests whether the cricket is hungry or is ready to molt. Until after it molts give it only 1 cricket at a time and remove the cricket before you go to bed in the evening in case it decides to molt while your asleep. Crickets have been known to chew on molting tarantulas (while they're on their backs) and kill them.

Once the tarantula molts, record the date, and try a cricket. If it doesn't eat, remove the cricket as above. If it does eat, feed it all it'll eat for the next several weeks. You'll notice after a while that its appetite will diminish. That's when you should begin being more conservative in feeding it, assuming that a molt is imminent.

When it finally molts again, record the date and repeat the procedure. Now you know approximately the molting frequency and will have a reasonable idea of when to feed it copiously and when to expect to cut back on its food.

These suggestions are intended for the enthusiast who only has a very few baby tarantulas. What do you do if you're tending an entire eggsac of spiderlings? Or a collection of different species of different ages? Economy of time and effort requires that you feed them all regularly and about the same way. If you have dozens or hundreds (or thousands!) you can't nursemaid every one. That's when you adopt a "Henry Ford" philosophy and assembly-line them. You just have to watch them carefully and hope for the best.

Just keep in mind that tarantulas, even the babies, are easily capable of surviving long fasting periods. It's being eaten alive while they're on their backs in full molt that they can't survive!

Hope this helps. Enjoy your spiders!

[Neil Martin]

OK, this has me a little worried now - I put a really tiny cricket in last night (about 5mm long) after I had fed it one about 15mm long 2 days before.

Whereas it pounced on the larger cricket (which was almost the same size as the Genics' body parts - around 20mm), last night it simply followed the small one around it's housing, but when the cricket got close, it simply lifted its front legs and palps and let it walk right under.

I decided to leave it in 24 hours before removing, but if they can flip into moult that quickly, is there a danger that I may have left the spider in a bit of a predicament? Is it possible that such a tiny cricket could damage the T even in moult?

[Stanley A. Schultz]

... I decided to leave it in 24 hours before removing, but if they can flip into moult that quickly, is there a danger that I may have left the spider in a bit of a predicament? Is it possible that such a tiny cricket could damage the T even in moult?

Anything's possible. In truth, I've only had that happen once or twice in several decades of caring for babies. The problem is that when it does happen, it's usually the most expensive baby that gets killed. As a result, because I don't want to get blamed for killing your pet, I'm very careful to assume a conservative stance and warn you against it. In fact, the probability is rather small that a cricket will kill a moulting tarantula. Even so, I would urge you to try not to do that again.

If I can judge from the photos, I think that your tarantula is older than that and probably will take a number of days for premoult. You should have plenty of warning.

The fact that it didn't automatically attack the cricket as food is a good sign that it's going into premoult. Is the bald patch on its abdomen (opisthosoma) getting darker?

At this point I would withdraw all food for the next week, sit back and see what happens. If it doesn't moult, especially if the bald patch doesn't get any darker, I'd try another cricket in a week. If it eats, it was all a false alarm. If it doesn't immediately attack the cricket, remove the cricket and continue to wait and watch.

As I said earlier, tarantulas, even babies, can go a long time without food. Don't panic.

Enjoy your tarantulas!