Hi, New to the forum, have a couple of worries :(

[Ryan Simons]

Hello!

I am new to the forum, thought i would sign up as i have recently purchased my 1st collection of spiders! and need to learn as much as i can to keep them healthy and to find out more about what species are good to own etc!

I Currently own

1x Red knee sub-juvi ( ~3.5cm)
1x Red knee juvi ( ~6.5cm)
and
1 x Chile rose pre/adult (4.5")

I got the Chile rose 1st as i learnt it was a good one to start with, followed by the 2 red knees which i got a couple of weeks later. I think i have owned the C.Rose for about 4 months? All 3 spiders have had 1 moult, i think the sub-juvi r.knee had a little trouble with her moult as she seems to have a bad rear leg.

heres a couple of pics..

Chile rose..



M.Red knee juvi..




However... I have a worry..

Recently the chile rose has been behaving oddly. She seems to want to climb the sides of the tank all the time, she wont go back in her hide at all and i even found her hanging upside down from the roof earlier today.. she did slip but only fell 1/2 and inch onto the substrate luckly.

the humidity is currently 68% and temp is 20c . it does drop below 20c sometimes as my room is very cold at night and i work nights so im not there to flick some heating on etc, but i have re-adjusted the heat mat so its in contact with the bottom of the tank, and this is keeping the substrate warm, and also taped up some of the vents to keep more moisture &hopefully heat in.

More concerning tho, the juvi red knee seems to have got sluggish. she seems to be dragging her legs sometimes, also doesn't go in her hide, and also has been trying to climb the glass.

I didn't realise that the substrate is supposed to be dry with these species, and made the mistake of keeping it wet, so i did take the spiders out last week and dried the substrate a bit as it was quite saturated. i know its not advisable to disturb there setup but i felt it needed doing and i also had a new hide to put in the red.knees side anyway. It seems to be since doing this, and re-adjusting the heat mat, that the problems have started.

heres a pic of the c.rose's odd behaviour.


and a clip of the redknee being sluggish..



It has been about a month and half since the C.rosea shed, and a month for the red.knee. both are still funny with food, they only seem to eat one cricket in about 7 days, tryed meal worms but no luck.

The sling seems ok, he has ate 2 meal worms within 3 days and dug out his hide and seems healthy.

Can anyone advise whats going wrong?

thanx for your help

Ryan

[Steven Williams]

Hi Ryan.

they only seem to eat one cricket in about 7 days, tryed meal worms but no luck.

I wouldn't worry too much about them not eating more than once a week. In the wild tarantulas will not catch as much prey as they are fed in captivity. Also if they haven't moulted for a while it may be they're pre-moult and wouldn't want to eat anyway. I'm sure lots of people will be able to help you with any of your worries.

Steven

[jason holland]

ok, they often climb the sides of the tank.. so prob not too much worry. eventuall they will calm down. ur substrate does still look a bit too damn, but in time that will get better. heat mats... but them on the back of the tank not underneath. they shud stay warmer... or at least have half of the tank warm giving them the option to be warmer or colder.

ur problem with working nights... if you want to turn ur mats on or off, jsut get a timer stwitch. in asda at the mo u can get a 24 hour timer that you can just leave for about a fiver. that would sort out ur probs. the temp needs to be around 27C so u need to try get it warmer. i would firstly start to put the mat on the back of the tanks, and see what happens to the temp. and i would personally leave the mats on if it gets too cold in ur room.

with food... well T's are funny things with food. if they do eat the crickets, then just try them twice a week. and if they dont eat it after say 24 hours, remove it and try again on the next feeding day. i wouldnt worry too much about that.

im sure someone else can add to that.. also im not sure why your red knee is like that. its not something i can say ive seen before.

[Andrew Ferguson]

Brachypelma smithi like their substrate dry. They come from a desert region, so that substrate needs drying out more. Don't block the vents as it will help the moisture escape. You can always block them back up when the tank dries out more.
Don't put the heat mat under the tank. This will warm the entire substrate and will confuse the tarantula into thinking the it is too warm above the substrate. This will cause them to dig down (where they think it will be cooler) and end up getting seriously dehydrated or worse, die.
As for eating, G.rosea have been known to go over a year without food and B.smithi doesn't do anything in a hurry! As advised already, leave the food in (I've left a single cricket in for 3 or 4 days before it's taken) and just keep an eye on it.
There is another thread title "She won't come down" about someones Brachypelma that likes to climb, maybe you need to check it out for some reassurance on your Grammastola.

I've just watched the vid. How long after the moult was it taken? They need a few days to a week to allow their skins (forgive me, the correct term doesn't spring to mind, it is 5:15 am after all) to harden. If it just after a moult, it may not have the strength in its legs yet. Think of a baby horse/deer when its first born and you'll get my drift.

Hope this helps.

[Ryan Simons]

Thanks for the advise peeps.

I will defiantly move the heat mat and dry out the dirt some more.

Unfortunately, i have come home from work today to find the juvi R.knee dead. Its sitting upright with its legs curled underneath it, im sure its not moulting as 1 its the wrong way up and 2, its lifeless. I do not have a clue whats gone wrong with her?

Andrew - i filmed that clip last night, its been a good month since her last moult iirc. anyhow, i remember a week after her moult, she was full of life again. i handled her a few days after and she was perfectly well. its recently she became like this.

I read the other thread you mentioned. Thing is , both T's didnt seem like they was climbing the walls for the sake of instinct, it was almost as if they was terrified of the substrate!! perhaps it was the dampness of it?
The C.Rosea seems to be settling down a bit more now, shes back in her hut. iv thrown a cricket in there to see if shes hungry.

Do you think perhaps the temp was just far too low for the juvi? i am really struggling to keep the temp at 20c i have come home from work before to find it as low as 13c on one occasion. Apart from the heat matt, the only way i could keep the temp up, was to have a desk lamp on all night , pointing into the tank. this kept temps up to 18~20c

thanx for all your help

[Robert Martin]

Hi Ryan.
I watched your video and the only time i've seen a spider struggle to walk is when it's really dehydrated but looking at how moist it's enclosure was that is very doubtful. I have never seen one walking like that tho', really bizarre. Maybe a parasite, do you know it's source? Was it wild caught?

Has for heating mate, one idea which i use for my slings is to keep them in a reptile vivarium. Heat the vivarium with a RED reptile night light, apparently reptiles and arachnids can't see red light so it won't stress them and have it set on a habistat. Then just find the spot in the viv which is the best temperature for the specific spider and keep it in that spot. The habistat will stop any temperature fluctuations and they will be ok anytime. Ideal for a small collection.

Sorry to hear you lost your smithi mate.....

[Peter Lacey]

Hi and welcome to the forum

You really should get yourself a book on keeping Ts, you can easily pick up a good book by the likes of Samuel Marshall, Robert Breene or Stanley Schultz for less than £10, have a look on ebay. Take a read of Stan's care of G. rosea as this will cover both species fairly accurately: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/roses.html

Neither of theses species like moist substrate and the obvious reaction is for them to get off - in your case climbing the sides. However, climbing the sides isn't terrible especially as they can't fall far because of the size of your enclosures. But, your enclosures don't seem that moist so I wouldn't worry too much. Make sure there's plenty of ventilation and they'll soon dry out. Maintain a water bowl and once a week let it overflow.
Providing a hide is sensible for when they wish to retreat but if they're not using the hide its likely its comfortable with its enclosure.
Handling tarantula is certainly frowned upon in this forum and I'd recommend you take a different approach. They are delicate creatures that don't gain anything from handling and tarantula of this size really need to be left for a week after a moult. Consider your tarantula as delicate as an egg and you may start to understand how vulnerable they are. A drop from a foot or more would likely rupture their abdomen resulting in a slow death.
A temperature reading of 13c is alarming tbh so your heatmats really need to be used to raise it. If you put both enclosures against each other and put the heatmat in the middle you'll raise the temperature of both enclosures and you should aim for around 26c. There'd be no harm in keeping your heatmat on permanently as these don't give out much heat but as the weather warms you might want to put it on a timer. Definitely don't put your mat underneath as this traps the heat and could prove to be a fire hazard! You should see healthier more active Ts as a result of raising the temperature.
It looks to me like your B. smithi suffered Dyskinetic syndrome, something you might want to read up on.
Your G. rosea looks a lovely Red Colour Form.
Good luck

[Ryan Simons]

Thankyou for your replies. I certainly have been reading up a lot on the internet about how to look after these species. A lot of info from one site to another seems to contradict each other , but going from speaking to a few T'owners etc i have a good idea now on what i need to do.

I dont know if the R.Knee was WC or CB, but what does play on my mind; and i dont know if this is just concidence, is that i purchased the R.knee spiderling and C.Rosea (which are both in good health) from 1 pet shop but the R.Knee that died, come from a Different pet shop... I dont know if this has any significance or if i just had bad luck?

I said earlier on that she was eating 1 cricket a week, well after she died, i removed her water bowl and noticed the 2 crickets that i thought she ate, had actually hidden and died.

I kind of hope it is Dyskinetic syndrome and not a parasite that killed her, as from what i understand, Dyskinetic syndrome is an illness and not something that can spread. If it is parasites, then there is a worry they could get to my G.Rosea as she and the R.knee lived in the same tank, but with a divider in the middle.

I think i will clean the tank out and buy another R.knee and hope that one does better!

[James Box]

sorry about the loss mate it did look a touch like my brief experience with the pehnomoen being referred to as "dyskinetic syndrome." i think there are some theories as to what causes it, like pesticides or poisonous chemicals, but i am not sure if anyone knows for sure, it may even just be genetic. you gotta think with the number of babies these things have that a few just aren't going to have the genes to get them far through life. it's just a sad fact
hope the rosea settles down, but i'm sure she will.
good luck with the next one, glad this isn't putting you off keeping them!
and welcome to the forum, some great people here!