daveemory
|
greenbottle continues to puzzle meI'm wondering if anyone has clues here: in past weeks, I had written concerns about my 4"-ish GBB female, as it had stopped eating and drinking for a period of about two weeks. It didn't seem possible that it was in pre-molt, as it had only molted six weeks prior.
Much to my surprise, it molted. Its abdomen is quite small now, as one might expect.
But it's been six days, and she continues to not only be very sluggish, but still is not eating and kicks food away/goes into threat position. And over the past two days, she has done something I had not yet seen at all: she has almost entirely enclosed herself in webbing. I don't see an obvious exit hole where she could leave to get water through.
Ideas?? I'm really wondering what is up. After her last molt, she ate like a vacuum cleaner.
- Peter
|
darth skippy
|
i'd give her a few more days to harden up and try to feed her again. keep her water dish full but keep her enclosure as dry as possible. she might come out of her hide and web it up again when she goes back but it sounds like she's teling you to leave her alone for a little while 
|
Anthonaus
|
I agree with Skippy. 
|
daveemory
|
| Anthonaus wrote: | | I agree with Skippy. |
Well, this girl has told me to leave her alone in the past, so I am going to try to relax.
But does it seem odd that she would have molted twice in 6 weeks being the size she is? Or is that not uncommon? (Remember, I'm new at this...)
PC
|
Anthonaus
|
That does seem soon for that size to molt again. Maybe it was a growth spurt. I just know that they like a week or so to harden up before food should be reintroduced. Maybe someone with more experience can chime in on this phenomenon. 
|
BayLee
|
That sounds more like a GBB's attitude now. She is perfectly fine.
They web up their enclosure to the point you can't see a thing.
The threat pose is also very normal.
She will eventually eat, give her a few more days and make sure she has a fresh water bowl.
|
daveemory
|
| BayLee wrote: | That sounds more like a GBB's attitude now. She is perfectly fine.
They web up their enclosure to the point you can't see a thing.
The threat pose is also very normal.
She will eventually eat, give her a few more days and make sure she has a fresh water bowl. |
Well, again, this is new behavior, because she generally has been out from under her hiding place in past months. I was happy to catch her out having a drink of water tonight, so I am going to try again with food tomorrow. Problem with tossing crickets in there and not keeping track of whether she eats them is that they DISAPPEAR and die where I can't reach them, as her webbing is so extreme.
PC
|
BayLee
|
Because this species is kept dry, I would not worry too much about the crickets. As long as you eventually move the dead ones.
If the enclosure had a high humidity set up that would be a different story.
I recently found a dead cricket in the corner of my G. rosea enclosure when cleaning it. I have not fed crickets for over 6 month. It was all crusty but there was no sign of mites etc in her enclosure, because it is kept dry.
|
daveemory
|
| BayLee wrote: | Because this species is kept dry, I would not worry too much about the crickets. As long as you eventually move the dead ones.
If the enclosure had a high humidity set up that would be a different story.
I recently found a dead cricket in the corner of my G. rosea enclosure when cleaning it. I have not fed crickets for over 6 month. It was all crusty but there was no sign of mites etc in her enclosure, because it is kept dry. |
That's a good point, as this is a dry-happy species and I comply by keeping her that way. In theory, no one wants dead crickets in a place where they could go bad, though, and I suspect that if they die in the crevice underneath her bark they may not have air flow to dry out.
Hopefully, this will all be a moot point, and she will go back to being the insanely voracious eater and cruel hunter she once was. Maybe even right now...
PC
|
daveemory
|
I'm happy to report (because I just KNOW you are all so very interested and waiting with baited breath for more reports)  that Phyllis, my GBB, pounced violently on a cricket today and scarfed it down in record time. This was her first food in probably three weeks. Or longer.
I still find it very strange that a 4" female would molt twice in six weeks, and everyone else I talk to seems to agree. I would hate to learn it's actually a male, but this molt sure looks female to me:
Would everyone agree that it is female?
PC
|
darth skippy
|
i can't see that anyone would dissagree
|
BayLee
|
This is 150% a female.
I think have said it before in another post. Ban me if I am wrong... he he he
|
|
|
