HELP! losing my t.apophysis juveniles!!

[kenny fraser]

can any body please help? i have had 4 t.apophysis juveniles(still with pink feet) but have recently lost 2 of them through them becoming trapped in the moulted skin. can any body suggest why this can be happening? i was keeping them in cricket tubs with half the vents covered(to increase humidity), and keeping half substrate(peat/coir) very damp and other half dry. i thought this would be o.k. but i am now feeling very apprehensive about any further moults with my remaing 2 spiders.
i have re-housed the one nearest moulting in a sandwich box with a few ventilation holes and this time included a small water dish,and will re-house the other one too in a similar container with water dish too,just to see if that helps,but if anybody has a clue whats going wrong,i could really use some advice, thanks.

[Peter Lacey]

Hi Kenny
Sad to hear
I kept all 3 of mine in damp enclosures with springtails and woodlice to help eliminate issues.
They were regularly sprayed in pet pals so the air didnt become stagnant. The only one I lost was due to a cricket!
My enclosures were busy and most seemed to prefer a hide.
As they come from very wet environments you might want to raise the moisture level.
Here's one of mine that decided a hide wasnt de-rigeur.
Good luck

[Eleanor]

Hi Kenny, sounds like you should do fine with the move into a tub with a water dish.

I know people often don't give slings a water dish and just spray regularly and they do fine, and I do the same for really tiny slings. But for me, if it is big enough and I can find a dish small enough - easy enough with Theraphosas which are big even as slings - then I will always give it a dish. If they always have a water dish then they can regulate their own water intake easily, so it saves you the worry of trying to get the moisture level right. I keep Theraphosa slings in a relatively dry container with a dish - I let it overflow every now and then so the substrate is moist, but sometimes it dries out - and they shed with no trouble. I think you should be ok with your new set-ups. Good luck!

[James Box]

i've found these things to be a bit troublesome to keep alive, so don't beat yourself up too much.
i had mine in moist enclosures and out of 4 one made it, and at least one was stuck in a moult...bit fiddly. i actually gave up on them and gave the remaining one away. L parahybana all the way for me when it comes to the giants!

[Eleanor]

James, did they have a water dish, and how moist were their containers? Just curious - I wonder what it is that goes wrong, since quite a few people do seem to have trouble.

I suppose they could have been a bad batch, too, and just weren't going to survive; I think it can happen sometimes - I had a bad batch of Haplopelmas once that were mostly unable to shed their skins.

Neither of you should give up. They aren't always difficult and they can be very rewarding to keep.

[James Box]

nah i don't really like the genus, if i'm honest...not my favourite shade of brown
they had waterdishes and it was VERY moist. perhaps too moist, you never know. but a bit too finicky for me!
i've had others that appeared to be doomed from the start, it's always sad when you can't get them through.

[Eleanor]

nah i don't really like the genus, if i'm honest...not my favourite shade of brown

Fair enough then

I have to admit I've never tried L. parahybana so I can't really make the comparison. I've never fancied those so much. I love my Theraphosas - I wouldn't change them for anything else!

[Eleanor]

I just want to add that for people that *do* have trouble with Theraphosas, and who have kept them very moist, it's worth trying to keep them drier but always with a water dish. Since that's what I do and it has worked for my spiders. Touch wood, I've never had one have a bad moult.

Obviously people who haven't had trouble should stick to what works for them...

[matthew spooner]

james, how can you say you dont like them because they are brown when you keep aphonopelma lmao. i must admit theraphosa have never appealed to me too much as they are just a big brown nasty spider, l.parahybana is alot better looking and alot more docile, lovely jubbly

[James Box]

james, how can you say you dont like them because they are brown when you keep aphonopelma lmao. i must admit theraphosa have never appealed to me too much as they are just a big brown nasty spider, l.parahybana is alot better looking and alot more docile, lovely jubbly

Please! Aphonopelma are a completely different shade of brown!
lol
i do agree though, i've seen an 11 inch L. parahybana, and the lovely dark grey colouration with the pink hairs was stunning on such a gigantic spider. not exactly a lap dog in temperament, but definitely not as bad as Theraphosa! also, the size was comparable to most blondi that i've seen as most don't get over 11 inches, if i'm not mistaken.

but to each their own...if i'm tempted to try again, Eleanor, i'll take your advice though...i don't like soaking things and only did it because i thought that was right. however thinking back, i know of two individuals that successfully kept their Theraphosa's rather dry, but yes with water available.

i suppose another giant that i'd like to try one day, but has similar care, i hear, to Theraphosa is of course Xenesthis...yum!

[kenny fraser]

my thanks to everyone for their help and advice,most appreciated, but i think this must be a bad batch,as i've just found another dead stuck halfway moulting,this is with high humidity with water bowl,and lifting lid for a spell every couple of days to allow airflow,funny but the last lot of s/lings i had trouble like this with was HAPLOPELMA MINAX,way back in 1998,when out of 20 s/lings i had just 2 survive!!!, unlike james i like BOTH LASIODORA and THERAPHOSA, currently having L.DIFFICILIS (thanks pete!!!) and a pretty sizeable L.PARAHYBANA female (around 8.5 inches),i would agree they are somewhat less critical in husbandry requirements than goliaths, though the s/lings are pretty tiny and take a while to "get going" ,whereas goliaths are larger as s/lings and seem to be more voracious when smaller.
i have now got just 1 theraphosa left out of 6 originally and await the next moult of the survivor with quite a degree of trepidation.

[James Box]

sorry to hear that mate! that's really sad...hopefully that last one will be stronger and make you proud!!!