| Archive for San Francisco Bay Area Tarantula Society SF BATS |
| daveemory |
major concern with GBB - anything I can do?I mentioned in a previous post that my greenbottle blue had stopped eating about a week ago, perhaps a bit more, but that it had only molted about 5 weeks ago. This is a 4"-ish female of indeterminate age (was purchased from Vivarium, and they got it from a customer many months previous). Someone suggested perhaps it is gravid, but its abdomen doesn't seem enlarged.I've been noticing that when it sits, it has seemed to look a little more curled up than usual - or rather, its long legs seem a little bunched together. It has been sluggish in general and kicking crickets away. I haven't seen the usual evidence of it drinking from its dish, and in fact I found its dish totally webbed up around the time it stopped eating. Well, I just discovered it in a very weird position, sort of limply splayed out with its abdomen up on the edge of its wood hide and its carpace/front pointed down, with one leg hook seemingly hanging off of webbing. Not right. I've gently touched her legs, and she twitches the leg(s) back and curls up and inward - and when I lightly misted the area around her, getting some droplets on her, she didn't budge. This has been a skittish animal, even in pre-molt until it started hiding out. I feel something is really wrong. It looks as if it is dying. Coincidence or not, around the time it stopped eating, I switched off its heating pad because the ambient temps have been warming up, and the room temp has stayed between 69-80 degrees. I just tried turning it on again overnight to see what happens. I fear I am going to wake up in the morning to a dead tarantula; if it lives through the night and is still in this state, is there anything I might logically do here..? PC |
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| northswan04 |
ICU it!! | ||
| UglyKid2 |
I see you mentioned spraying it. This species likes drier conditions. I hope everythings OK today! | ||
| daveemory |
I rarely mist this spider since I know it likes it dry. It has a water dish. But it does tend to desiccate the enclosure when the heat pad is on. As of this morning, it is sitting in the heated area of the enclosure but still is looking "bunched up". Not as in legs-folded-underneath, but still kind of bunched up. This is how it has looked for a week. Northswan04: ICU? Is there any pattern to gravid spiders' behavior, if it _is_ gravid? PC |
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| northswan04 |
ICU
Take a deli cup or other such container, poke air holes in it, line it with damp paper towels to raise humidity and place the spider inside, then just keep an eye on it. Not sure if this is right for yours but if you think it's dying it doesn't hurt to try |
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| daveemory |
I am just not so sure what is up with the GBB at this point. Its behavior is basically unchanged, but at least it is not necessarily frozen in one spot.
But as most of you know, this species has really long legs, and it's particularly unique for me to see it with its legs - especially the front ones - appearing sort of bunched up. 1.) is there any real indication I can look for to see if it really is gravid? 2.) aside from periodic mysterious fasts, can anyone else report a GBB female (or male, I guess) doing this sort of stuff only 5 weeks after a molt? I don't think Phyllis is ready for the ICU, but on the other hand, she just doesn't seem right at all. PC |
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| EdgarOrtega |
Did you confirm it being a female? EBV isnt always knowledgeable on their T's as much as their reptiles.
Is it possible you have a mature male? |
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| daveemory |
It's a good question, but the guy, who is one of their self-proclaimed tarantula experts, seemed sure. The molt, however, was fairly torn up (shown here). Perhaps he saw the slit on the underside? If it's visible here, it's torn open and looks like a mouth... PC 
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| darth skippy |
looks like a girl to me... | ||
| darth skippy |
check it out: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/the.....store/spermgal-Chromatopelma.htm | ||