Is my pink to ill ..... or pre moult?? Help for a relative newbie.

[Sorcha Cantwell]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a newbie to the forum so firstly hello to you all :O) ( and title was meant to be pink toe not pink to)

I have had a read up of similar threads but wanted to get a little peace of mind about my Pink Toe, she was sold approximately 3 weeks ago as a Metallic Pink Toe, but I'm pretty sure she is Avicularia avicularia. She has not eaten since I got her, she was very active at first but now has become rather dormant, with bursts of roaming around. She has lost the hairs on the centre of her abdomen but is not a flicker. Her abdomen is not shrivelled or wrinkled r. I'm swithering over whether she (I say she, but i'm not sure yet) is pre moult or unhappy/stressed, her temperatures are kept correct and has ample humidity at all times, standard arboreal set up. She did web up a part of her tank initially but then trashed it and hasn't webbed anywhere since then. Any offerings of food are flicked off her "tree" in anger/defence and I then remove them.

Any Idea's? is there anything I should change? Or should I leave her be for a week or so (or more?) and see what happens. I'm very concerned about her lack of appetite as all my spiders are voracious eaters!! nom nom nom

Thanks in advance for any help

Sorcha

[neil atkinson]

Hi,

It sounds to me that your Avic is in pre-moult stage. I have kept alot of different Avics over the years and the all seem to be pretty bullet proof, and the fact she is still defending her territory would suggest to me that she is not ill. If you have all of your temps and humidty right as well as some good hidouts in the set up she should be fine. keep an eye to her offer her a drink (but I have yet to see an Avic drink from a bowl) and all should be well.

keep me up dated on how she is

[Sorcha Cantwell]

Hi Neil,
Thanks for replying....i've been a bit worried as i'm quite fond of her/him even though i've only had it a short time. How long can pre moult last for Avics? I will keep an eye on her, should I maybe mist the glass to allow her to drink? There is already a bowl of water there but more for humidity than anything else. just a bit worried she'd slip off if I made it wet. I had wondered also if maybe I don't have a female and in fact have a male!! I will be examining a bit closer this evening just in case!

Thanks
Sorcha

Soz for all the questions lol

[John chambers]

welcome to the forum
we have avic Guyana and avic versi and both go off food in pre moult and it can take a week or two for a moult.
as I learnt with T's it's just letting them get on with it and wait and wait and wait lol.. pokies are just as bad if not worse for waiting lol

[Sorcha Cantwell]

LOL i guess i'm just being impatient !! When I went home she'd been tramping all over her tank and had hidden away.... Sigh

[neil atkinson]

well with any luck she will ne moulting right now.

As John said, its just the waiting game with her now, you seem to be doing everything right so you should have no worries

[Sorcha Cantwell]

Well, all change again....got home today and there is web everywhere, she has also webbed up the inside of her log and is stowed away in there. so I am going to leave her to it. I will update as soon as anything noteworthy occurs lol :O)

Sorcha

[Sorcha Cantwell]

Still no joy with my Avicularia, she is still hidden away in her log, looking ok though so I will leave her be just now.

However...... My P. Striata did just moult ...nice size change, My brazilian black sling is eating everything in sight before its even hit the ground and looks like its about to moult AGAIN and I soaked and spread out my Giant White Knee moult to keep me from pestering the Avicularia and have discovered on inspection that it is a female.... all in all a very pleasing day.

Oh and my Queenslad Goliath sling looks to be getting ready to shed again too. How often do slings shed? It looks like its going to be every few weeks !

Happy New year to you all xx
Sorcha

[Sorcha Cantwell]

Ok....

Is it possible that I have made Lilith's environment TOO good? I have not seen her set foot outside of her Cork bark tube for about a month and a half now. I still cant tell if she has eaten as I've removed cricket bodies but never seen her take food (only seen her attack it and throw it away) The only time she did come out was when I was playing some music one day a bit louder than usual ....out she popped, tramped all over the place, drank for some time then disappeared into the cork tube again. Will she ever come back out? She's lined the tube with silk but no web other than that. No hooks or fat pedipalps so not a male as far as I can see. No moulting....just.....nothing

Starting to get used to my pet cork bark tube now though :/

[Peter Roach]

Ok....

Is it possible that I have made Lilith's environment TOO good? I have not seen her set foot outside of her Cork bark tube for about a month and a half now. I still cant tell if she has eaten as I've removed cricket bodies but never seen her take food (only seen her attack it and throw it away) The only time she did come out was when I was playing some music one day a bit louder than usual ....out she popped, tramped all over the place, drank for some time then disappeared into the cork tube again. Will she ever come back out? She's lined the tube with silk but no web other than that. No hooks or fat pedipalps so not a male as far as I can see. No moulting....just.....nothing

Starting to get used to my pet cork bark tube now though :/

She could be in premoult or she just doesnt want to come out in daylight

Its just a normal spider behaviour.

If you are going to keep spiders . . .get used to it.

[Sorcha Cantwell]

She could be in premoult or she just doesnt want to come out in daylight

Its just a normal spider behaviour.

If you are going to keep spiders . . .get used to it.

LOL fair point :O)

[the ming cu]

Hi,

It sounds to me that your Avic is in pre-moult stage. I have kept alot of different Avics over the years and the all seem to be pretty bullet proof, and the fact she is still defending her territory would suggest to me that she is not ill. If you have all of your temps and humidty right as well as some good hidouts in the set up she should be fine. keep an eye to her offer her a drink (but I have yet to see an Avic drink from a bowl) and all should be well.

keep me up dated on how she is

I've seen it, avic drink from a bowl. pretty interesting though because the bowl is smaller from the body. So it is as if s/he squishing her own body to that bowl LOL. later on, I change to bigger bowl.