Help - shrinking of abdomen with my first tarantula

[Amy Bernice]

I have had my first tarantula (Chilean Rose) called Lucretia (actual sex unknown) for several months now. All had been going well. I had read up on husbandry and was monitoring temp and humidity. She had a very healthy appetite and seemed happy. Lately she had been webbing rather a lot and last night she went into overdrive and completely webbed herself into one corner of the enclosure. She had stopped eating and I thought perhaps she was getting ready to moult. However this morning to my horror her abdomen seems to have quartered in size. I have tried to find out about this just this morning on the Internet but no joy. Does anyone have any ideas?

[Brendan Owens]

Hi Amy,

This is usually a sign of starvation or dehydration. Has the water provider been going? Also how old is your T? The resaon I ask is that I read once that for mature adult males the adomen shrinks until they die.( I am sure someone will confirm or deny this)

[andy hood]

sounds to me like she has laid an egg sac , if she hasnt moulted amy, females abdomens do shrink a lot after laying an egg sac , can you see her holding onto one??

[matthew spooner]

all of brendans comments are relevant, wt is the frequency of your feeding and how much water is available?

[Phil Rea]

I think Andy may be right on the button. If it the decrease in size was extremely sudden, and there is no sign of any laceration or puncture, then I would say that she has more than likely laid eggs (and the heavy webbing would also be an indicator).

If she was wild caught, then she may well have been gravid.

It's not likely that dehydration or starvation would have had an instant effect.

[Amy Bernice]

Hi. Thanks for this. I am confused as there is plenty of water (in a dish), cage kept humid as instructed by literature and crickets always in supply as she eats them. There is one in there now as I always make sure she eats what I put in.

However reading Andy's input, she is actually holding onto something.........could I have been given a pregnant T!!!!!!!!?????????

[Amy Bernice]

.......oh no....yes she seems to be carrying what looked like the floor webbing she laid last night.....now looks like a scrunched up tissue..........well I've certainly been put in the deep end......what do I do????

[Colin D Wilson]

I though the same as Andy "egg sac" when i read this, as Phil says dehydration and starvation take absolute ages to have that effect you mention.

She will be carrying a white ball in her Legs and "mouthparts" if she's got an egg sac.
then again with G rosea it's possible she may have just dumped it somewhere (possibly under a hide) if she's anyhting like my lot here, they're sometimes not the best parents

[Phil Rea]

Thought so! Congratulations

Assuming it's fertile, I'd leave it with her probably for about three to four weeks, and then remove it and incubate the eggs separately. However keep an eye on her as they are notorious egg sac munchers!

[Brendan Owens]

Certainly sounds like it. Can you see what she is carrying. It certainly sounds like a sac

[Colin D Wilson]

Seems we posted at the same time....

for the moment i would leave her with it, keep the temp around 75 - 80 in the day (you can have a drop to 70 at night without problems)
make sure she has water and take out any food she has in there at the moment.

main thing for the moment, dont worry and enjoy watching her care for the sac

[Amy Bernice]

I've just had another look.....it is really unclear. She seems to be holding onto a ball of web but this seems to be mingled and attached to a load of substrate above a mound of substrate. Earlier comment interesting though cos about 3 weeks ago she made a bit of a mound with the substrate and I thought she was just making her den more established by pushing substrate away into a mound (if that makes any sense). I have to confess though I panicked this morning and moved a lot of stuff about to free her of the cocooned corner not realising this was egg laying prep. Feel bit of a fool now ! I may have ruined proceedings....it never occurred to me she had eggs!!!

I think I am going to just leave her to it and monitor situation and if I can detect a clear sac, I will follow advice and take it out if in tact in few weeks time!!!

Thanks everyone!!

[Phil Rea]

I've just had another look.....it is really unclear. She seems to be holding onto a ball of web but this seems to be mingled and attached to a load of substrate above a mound of substrate. Earlier comment interesting though cos about 3 weeks ago she made a bit of a mound with the substrate and I thought she was just making her den more established by pushing substrate away into a mound (if that makes any sense). I have to confess though I panicked this morning and moved a lot of stuff about to free her of the cocooned corner not realising this was egg laying prep. Feel bit of a fool now ! I may have ruined proceedings....it never occurred to me she had eggs!!!

I think I am going to just leave her to it and monitor situation and if I can detect a clear sac, I will follow advice and take it out if in tact in few weeks time!!!

Thanks everyone!!

Check around the substrate in that corner, just in case there are some spilled eggs there if she's been unable to complete the sac.

[Amy Bernice]

Will do, thank you very much......need a magnifying glass I think, hard to tell on vermiculite.

[Paul Behan]

Well done Amy, just sit back now and observe. Dont worry about what you can do with all those spiderings. There are many peeps on here that will happily take the sac or the Slings off you if you are not comfortable with managing this situation.

Rosea's are known for their "not so good" parenting skills and are commonly known to eat their own egg sac's. Should this happen it is not your fault. Best you can do as Colin says is keep your temp good (it is starting to get cold now for us guys) and hope for the best. You can offer her a cricket but chances are she will not take it, if so remove the cricket after 24 hours. Dont fuss over her and just leave her be.

Good luck