Female White knee problem

[joebore]

Im looking for some advice on my white knee. I have had her for 2 years from 1 inch and now she is only 3inches.
From after a few months of me having her, its rare she eats and she looks skinny. She never webs up and if she does she collects the web and moves it into a corner away from her hide. She is always jumpy and sometimes stays on the side of the tank for a few days without moving then if she is in her cave she keeps her legs close in and just looks stressed.

Her tank is 12"x8"x8"
Humidity is around 70-80
temp 25C
Her soil (80% ecoearth, 20% vermiculate) is dry apart from around her waterbowl

I have a few tarantulas that have the same requirements as her that are kept in the same conditions and they seem to be fine with no problems. Something is stressing her out and I havnt got any clue why.

any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Joe

[vincent winyard]

hi joe im no expert but the only thing i would try and do is move her in to a smaller tank and keep the set up the same. i only say this because i have heard that tarantulas are happy in a enclosure two or three times the size of the leg span. your enclosure sounds a bit on the large side for a three inch t. also are you sure its female as males are not always good eaters. o i forgot what food items are you offering her/him.

[joebore]

Thanks for your reply
Shes definitely a female (by looking at her moult)
ill move her too a smaller tank and see if she changes
When she does eat she will only eat crickets

[Peter Lacey]

I doubt its the size of the tank that is creating the problem, especially if she's been in there for 2 years!
This species is not renowned for being big webber, but its likely she has laid a base layer over the substrate which gives her clues about food and where to run if she needs to retreat. However they are great display tarantula so all the hides Ive provided have actually been ignored. IMO rehousing will only cause more stress and not provide any benefit.
They are notoriously good eaters and they'll take several crickets at once in my experience.
How often are you feeding and with what?
How are you reading the humidity level? as that seems higher than I'd expect from a dry enclosure. And how are you reading the temperatures?
The temperatures in the wild range in the low 30c's year round with temps dropping to low 20c's during the night.
Humidity ranges formless during the dry period (June/July) to very high 100% during the wet season, but for the most part its quite a wet environment.
You don't have to religiously follow these in captivity, but its worthwhile knowing their natural habitat.

Do you have any pictures of the enclosure?

[joebore]

i try feeding her once every 2 weeks and i will leave it in there for a few hours.
she is fed crickets
i have a digital temp reader and a digital humidity reader
i keep the water bowl full and let it flood over. I cant keep the soil too wet because im currently having a problem with small black flies and apparently drying out the soil gets rid of them.
she has been in that setup for about 8 months from when she last molted.
(any advice on getting rid of the fly's would be appreciated! i have been trying to get rid of them for about 2 months now and im not having any luck. i have tried cleaning everything and changing the soil and they still keep coming back)

[Peter Lacey]

The flies (probably fungus gnats) are ubiquitous, if you ever do get rid of them it won't be too long before you see them again. Fly traps from B&Q will help, and they are pretty cheap.

There's nothing obviously wrong with the set up, although I personally would raise the height of the substrate but it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

The feeding regime seems fine too and the digital readers are far more accurate than the dials.

Why not try raising the temperature a few degrees or put it on a timer so that it drops during the night. That might spur on feeding.

[joebore]

Ill try leave a cricket in and see how it goes
Which flytraps do you recommend?

[Peter Lacey]

not sure what they're called, but they come in boxes of 6 or more. You unravel them, they're very sticky and hang them up.

[joebore]

Ok thank you for your advice

[SamLees17]

Ok thank you for your advice

I have a G pulcheripes that sounds extremely similar. I have had it for 2 years and it seems like it has barely ever eaten. It gets shaken up by the slightest of things and will curl into a long distressed/timid shape and not move at all for a period of time. It looks extremely skinny but it still keeps moulting. I have just put it down to a personality thing? It will let food crawl over it for am hour or so before deciding to eat it. Very strange...

I wouldn't worry about it.