still concerned after a long time.

[vincent winyard]

hi everyone. i posted a thread on here about five months ago regarding a aranthoscurria geniculata not eating and being on the slugish side. well after all this time she's still not eaten and seems to be getting slower. she seems to spend most of the time hanging round or on the water dish but just will not eat and thats been over a year now. i still try a roach or a cricket twice a week but always end up having to remove it where she hasn't eaten it. i have try'de an icu unit twice to see if it will give her a boost but it dont seem to help. i dont know how old she is as she was full grown when i got her just over 2 years ago. she's had one molt in that time and that was the last time she ate just before the molt although her eating habits were not to good before. i gently try'de to move her out of the way with a nudge with a small paint brush and i had to push her gently to get her to take just a few steps it's almost pittiful to watch. i just dont know what else i could do to try and help her. would it be a good idea to put her in a smaller tank to see what happens. i have another female same t in the same size tank although i know she's very young and thriving. any help would be much appreciated thanks everyone.

[martin hudson]

Hi Vincent sorry to hear you still got trouble mate, i no it seems like a silly question but are you shore
that its a female? sounds like it could be an old male!

[Peter Roach]

Any spider that is constantly hanging aroung the waterbowl needs the humidity raised.

[vincent winyard]

hi martin it is a female i knew she was before the molt but was able to tell for sure when i had a good close look at her molt. i was reading something on icu units in a book i've got and it says something about keeping the spider in one for three maybe four days moving the t in to a clean one every day or two thats if it needs to stay in one that long. i had her in an icu for 24 hours prehaps it should have been a little longer i dont know. anyway thanks for your reply mate.

[vincent winyard]

thanks for that pete. it just so happens i've given her tank a good misting tonight. i normaly keep her on the dry side as i heard this t dont like it to damp but needs must at the moment so i'll try anything. the other white knee is kept the same and like i said in the original post she's thriving and she is very young. i've never experienced an oap in a spider so im not sure if this might be the problem as i've no idea of the age. anyway many thanks for your help pete.

[stuart longhorn]

Hi,

Yes, improving the humidity sounds like a very good thing to do. These species come from the lower amazon of Brazil, where the
temperature is always warm, but most importantly the humidity is nearly always high. You can look up how people keep Theraphosa species for an example, and see annual climatic data around the cities of Manaus or Belem, Norther Brazil.

I agree it could also be an old individual, and simply slowing down, but before accepting that, try modifying its environment, and see how its behavour changes - its behavour (ie hanging round the waterbowl) should be a major guide. Sounds like you did well with the ICU and you are trying to improve life for her, good luck!

[vincent winyard]

thanks for that stuart i'll have a look round to see how other owners keep there's. maybe a slight change might be the way forward. i suppose any two spiders of the same species have different needs just like us i suppose some like the sun where others like it a bit cooler prehaps with a drop of rain thrown in if you get what im trying to say. anyway fingers crossed i can make life better for this girl i'll do what i can many thanks for your help mate.

[Peter Roach]

There are a few ways that i would raise the humidity for the spider.

1) Simply generously overfill the water bowl so that one corner is constantly damp
2) Use a shallow and larger water bowl
3) Bury a shallow tupperware container so the lip is slightly above the substrate and keep it filled with soaking wet substrate
4) Deepen the substrate (4-5inches) and keep the bottom layers on the wet side of damp and make a burrow for the spider

I have found that misting will only dampen the top few mm of the substrate and only raise the humidity slightly for a few hours at best, which is why I rarely mist my spiders.

[vincent winyard]

hi pete there's some good tips there. the substrate is 4 inches plus already and i do have a large shallow water dish for her wich is overfilled a couple times a week. i think i'll give the damp substrate in a bowl a go though sounds a great idea. thanks for your help pete.

[James Heeley]

Hi to raise humidity i (used to - all my spiders had to go coz of university) i used a syringe to 'inject' water to the bottom layer of substrate thus keeping humidity high but dry on top to prevent mould. I thought it was a good idea but im sure ill get told its rubbish lol.

[Christopher Smallman]

Hi to raise humidity i (used to - all my spiders had to go coz of university) i used a syringe to 'inject' water to the bottom layer of substrate thus keeping humidity high but dry on top to prevent mould. I thought it was a good idea but im sure ill get told its rubbish lol.

Thats what I do as well James
Except I use the low tech way of a little measuring jug and dribble it down one corner of the spiders enclosure.

ChrisS.

[vincent winyard]

thats not a bad idea there seems to be many ways to sort out the humidity problem without giving the whole enclosure a good soaking. im trying out a small tub in the substrate first to see how it goes and i must say so far so good but i wont rule out trying anything else. many thanks to you all for all your help and advise.

[JensFalk]

Could be premolt, not eating, inactive and sluggish can be a sign of that.

[martin hudson]

Hey, Vincent, just thought i would ask how's it going with your A,geniculata? hopfuley she will have picked up by now,
& is 'noming' the old crickets? anyway hope she is doing well mate

[vincent winyard]

hi there martin sorry i didn,t reply sooner. she seems to be the same. what i did is bury a small container in the substrate and soak that every other day it seems to be doing the trick in raising the humidity but it's not making much difference to her. i dont know what else to do but just hope she picks up soon. anyway thanks for your concern martin if there is any change in the near future i'll let you know thanks again mate.