Small juvi B.Smithi & P.muriuns eating questions.

[Ryan Simons]

My B.Smithi which i have had since it was about 12mm legspan, now must be about 1.5" , Basically its become a right little pig! about 2 weeks before its moult and 2 weeks after it wouldnt eat, which is normal. Then it went through a funny bout where i thought it was going to die as it was acting drunk and limp like my old 'now decesed' T did when it got 'food poisoning'. It cant have been dehydrated as the soil was quite damp. Following some advice on here, i made a ICU tub for it and sat in the water dish, 3 days later it was perfectly fine again.

I dropped a small cricket into the IUC and it munched it up before it hit the floor!

So, now its back in its old home (new substrate etc etc incase there was parasites in there), its all settled in nice. But the thing cant go 1/2 a day without another cricket!

It will sit just infront of its hide, i drop a cricket in and bosh! pounces on it like a cat! i been feeding it 1/3" crickets and its done about 8/9 this week? i put a 3/4" cricket in today just to see if the T is ok with the size, and it didnt even look twice! little wrestle ,then dragged it back into the hide!

She is quite fat now, should i restrict her food intake? or just keep feeding her 1~2 a day?

Also, My P.muriuns is the complete opposite! she is docile as anything, and really is not interested in eating what so ever! in her old tub she would turn round to face the cricket, but then after a minute or 2, walk off. she has not ate in about 3~4wks ? i have re-housed her into a more perminant home now and she has webbed herself in the corner of her tank, with a slight bit of digging. but she still shows no sign of wanting to eat.

i can tap her feet with a small stick and she shows no agression what so ever, just moves her foot out of the way!

Heres an example of how docile she is.. heres a clip of me re-housing her..going by what people say about the behaveour of these T's, i was expecting hellfire, dark thunderclouds to come over, lights to start flickering, and cupboard doors to start slamming about etc etc lol but she is so docile!




Anyone got a clue whats wrong with her? seems her and my B.smithi have swapped personallities!

thanx
Ryan

[Phil Rea]

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about the P. murinus unless the abdomen is shrunken, but I'd certainly advise you to cut down on the food for the B. smithi.

[Colin D Wilson]

Thats a fairly podgy P murinus, wouldn't be surprised if it were due a moult and maybe thats why it's slightly more docile at the mo.
As for the feeding of the B smithi then i'd certainly cut down on the food intake.... as i've mentioned only recently on here spiders are opportunistic feeders and don't require feeding daily.
The recent post..... Click here

[Nicola Dolby]

2-3 crickets a week is plenty for any Brachy, as for the murinus I agree its probably a moult. What is her tank temperature?

[Ryan Simons]

Ok thanks for the info peeps. I read that post about eating habits, makes a lot of sense.

I dont have a thermostat in the Murinus's tank at the mo, but in my C.rose 's tank next to it (same style tank just twice as big) its reading 25'c. its been fluctuating between 21c ~ 28c depending on the temp outside as my room isnt very well insulated.

The substrate in the Murinus's tank was a little damp, but its now dryed out. I have been trying to keep her water bowl topped up and i have put a small bit of damp cloth in there too. I brought a piece of tree from the local pet shop yesterday, i boiled it, then microwaved it before putting it in her tank. Over night she has now come out of her old home (in the corner of the tank) and made a new web/home on the piece of tree. I assume she must be healthy otherwise she wouldn't be that optimistic.?

[greigmason]

Ryan it certainly sounds like your in for a moult. If she hasn't eaten for 4 weeks and is webbing alot I would say she is ready to moult. Keep her tank a bit more moist than usual and try not to disturb her. As for the smithi 2 to 3 crickets per week maximum is plenty

[Ryan Simons]

Sweet. i shall take your advice then and leave her alone! lol. soo tempting to have a look tho!

Can p.murinus's molt in really tight spots? Its concerning me a little on how much room she has left herself inside her web? My B.smithi and C.Rose was both 'upside down' -flat on there backs, just outside of there hides when they moulted,where there was plenty of room, but i dont think my p.murinus would have room to do that inside of her 'web cave'? there is plenty of room in other parts of her tank, perhaps she will re-locate nearer the time?

heres a pic...

[Craig Mackay]

Hi, She'll moult where ever she feels comfortable and secure. She'll manage no problem in a tight space if she has too. Best advice to give is that they know what they're doing better than us so just leave them to it, lol!

[Ryan Simons]

Ah ha! just a Quick update! She really thickend up her cave of web a few days ago, so i kept it humid in there as said.

Last night when i opened the enclosure to fill up the water, i see her move quite fast, got a torch in there and i could see that she had shed her skin, just as you peeps said she would nice one!

I decided to get the skin out before it gets damaged or 'sets' i didnt have to disturb her much tbh, it was quite easy getting it out but i prob should have waited a day longer as I think she may have shedded earlier that day, her legs did still look quite transparant.

But anyway, the moult looks perfect, all intact and she seems healthy!

She is also bigger than i thought. legspan on the moult is just over 4"

How long shall i give her before throwing in a cricket?