Another question on B.smithi behaviour.

[Matt C]

Hi all,

Just had another query on my big girl!
Just for my own peace of mind.

I got her from the B.T.S exhibition and got her a new tank a couple of weeks later. She settled in really nicely and is very happy. All has been fine up until a few weeks ago when I noticed a changer in her behaviour.
She started taking on a lot more moisture than usual and I've noticed she stays inside her flower-pot shelter all day and most of the night too. She is also stuffed herself as tight into the corner as possible.
Could this be due to an upcoming moult?
She has been refusing food for about 3 weeks now and has pushed a lot of substrate out of her shelter.

If anyone could get back to me with their opinions that would hugely appreciated.

Thanks for your time,
Matt

[Craig Moore]

The fasting and barricading in the hide sound like pre-moult behaviour to me

[Daniel Richardson]

100% moult. Dont worry just give a light misting every few days but dont disturb her.

[Matt C]

Thankyou people

Just would like to thank the people who have helped me out on this issue,
I feel nicely re-assured now.
If I have any questions I will post them up.

Thankyou everyone

Matt

[wayne balcombe]

the brachypelma smithi i'm looking after for someone has been in pre molt for around a month now, she did exactly the same as yours mate. built a wall of web and substrata in front of her hide and started taking on alot more fluid. i've just left her too it and increased the humidity in the terranium by about 15%. only downside with smithi's are they can stay in pre-molt for months.

[Stanley A. Schultz]

... Just had another query on my big girl! ...

From this, are we to assume that it's nearly full grown or an adult? If so ...

... All has been fine up until a few weeks ago when I noticed a changer in her behaviour. ...

If it's nearly full grown or an adult it will only be molting once a year, normally sometime from March through May. This is the wrong season unless you live on a place like South Africa.

My guess is that it's been eating everything in sight since you got it, it's now fat as a little pig, and getting ready for a long winter's nap. This is the time of year when many tarantulas dig a little deeper, plug their burrows, and go dormant until next spring.

I'd back off on the feeding and just leave it alone. Once a month, throw in a cricket. If it eats it overnight you can offer it one or two more. If not, remove the cricket and feed it to something else. Try again in several more weeks.

Make sure it always has a dish of clean water handy, and a secure place to dig in or under.

Don't worry a lot about it until next spring. It isn't going to starve to death, and it won't die from lack of attention. It'll just go to sleep like some vegetables we know for a few months.

If YOU get bored you can always go out and buy another tarantula to keep you amused.

Enjoy your little hibernating bear!

[Matt C]

Thanks again to new repliers...

Again, a massive thankyou for sharing your experience with me.
I'am starting to give a light misting every morning to boost the humidity a little bit throughout the day.
I'm interested in Stanley Shultz's reply as this will be my first winter with my little hibernating bear! (love it!)
And just for the record, she is an adult spider.
I also do not feed my spiders loads of food items. Ever since I got into the hobby last October I have fed them twice a month on lovely big, juicy black crickets.They get 1 large cricket every two weeks and I've been reassured that this is absolutely fine and I have had no problems with them with regards to food.
Please keep your replies coming, I love to read everyone's personal opinions.

All the best everyone,
Matt & his little hibernating bear!

P.S - I have ten already, need more space to increase my collection!

[wayne balcombe]

i'm also interested in stanley's reply, i've been in the hobby for 14 years and none of my spiders ever "hibernated" i didn't think this was something spiders did but it prooves that no matter how long you've been in to something you learn a new thing all the time. thank you stanley for giving me something to research.

the easy way to tell if its getting ready to molt is to look at the bald patch near the spinnerettes on the dorsum of the abdomen it should be a beige or tan colour normally but turns dark almost black when in pre-molt. if this is the case then keep the humidity up and wait and see what happens.

stanley, i'm really interested in your theory about hibernation. is there a publication i can read to further my knowledge on theis subject?

wayne.

[stuart longhorn]

Hi Matt...

I remember exactly the spider you have, because, just to add... i actually think it might actually be Brachypelma annitha, a much rarer species in the pet-trade. If i remember right, it was large, so adult or near enough.

As long as its not too dry (which sounds like its not the issue), then i also would guess it may be coming upto a moult. Yes, adults of that size do moult on a roughly yearly basis, often do not feed the few weeks before, and behavior can change, like barricading a burrow entrance for privacy.

If she doesnt accept food within a few hours, indeed take it out. With adults this size i only feed about once a month. i would guess when you first got it, you may have fed it rather more often as it was new. I find myself doing that.....but its not good to 'overfeed' a new spider though.

Now, i too would like comment on couple of points from the helpful reply from Mr Schultz. My initial issue is about it being the wrong season for a moult. Firstly, in nature - the main mating season of these redlegged Brachypelma species is around November to February, and moulting can be anywhere from May to November... so that males appear at the end of the year, and females are moulted before mating. Secondly, this is a long-term captive spider... so has not experienced natural seasonal cues, which means the annual moult cycle can be well off the natural cycle.

Secondly, on hibernation and burrow plugging. While i would accept that lots of north american plug their burrows (often in response to the coming of drier seasons), there are no records of the mexican B.smithi doing anything similar to this. In fact, these species generally live in wide scrapes under large rocks, and dont have discrete circular burrow entrances like most north american (and mexican) Aphonopelma. So, while i accept that [some] north american Aphonopelma plug their burrows, i havent seen any evidence for this with redlegged Brachypelma. Furthermore, after burrow plugging in Aphonopelma, im curious what is the evidence for 'hibernation'. Though the burrow is closed, underground prey items like worms can still enter the burrows. Plugging is likely to prevent humidity loss on drought, and subsequently the spider would have access to few prey, but im really not sure what evidence there is for 'hibernation'.

Hopefully these points will be addressed, Mr Schultz is a widely respected authority on tarantulas, who's knowledge and many years of experience i appreciate. I also found the advice in his excellent book to be really useful in my early years learning about tarantulas (also like 'just' 15yrs ago). Its really great to see him contribute to this forum here !!!

Many thanks
stuart