L. parahybana no appetite

[marisa]

Hi guys.

My male (I think male) parahybana has no appetite and I am slightly worried.

He was going into a molt so he didn't eat for about two weeks. He molted perfectly, 13 days ago. (So a total of a month off food) Since coming out of his molt he has roughly a 6 inch leg span (maybe a bit larger) and is about a year and couple months old.

Last night since it had been two weeks since the molt, we offered him a large pinky/small fuzzy. He had no interest what so ever and moved away from the food. Before the molt he was EASILY and eagerly eating mice that were even larger than that every couple weeks. (Almost hoppers which would be the largest I'd offer)

He has never refused food for so long before, so I am a little worried. I thought about trying a cricket today but even the largest cricket is so small to him he has been basically ignoring them for months now.

Marisa

[snakelover111]

He has never refused food for so long before, so I am a little worried. I thought about trying a cricket today but even the largest cricket is so small to him he has been basically ignoring them i have the same problem

[Emily-Fisher]

Like I said in another post, boosting the humidity and temperature helped me with my stripe knee that wouldn't eat. That's about all I can tell you... sorry!

[reverendsterlin]

It is quite possible that this was the penultimate(? final) molt and that sex is all it cares about between now and death.

[skinheaddave]

Rev,

Last moult = ultimate moult
Second-to-last moult = penultimate moult

All that being said, if he did go through the ultimate moult then he should have spurs and enlarged palpal bulbs.

Cheers,
Dave

[reverendsterlin]

thanks Dave, still that could be why it has gone off feeding correct?

[marisa]

Well its quite warm already in the herp room so I am not really going to raise the temps anymore...but I did make sure to spray well yesterday and today. He hasn't really moved and is trying to hide himself under his tube which is has almost outgrow LOL. I am thinking of giving him a few more days to chill out, then trying again with a day old pinky, or some really big crickets.

Marisa

[Tarcan]

Hi all,

And postultimate molt is any molts after the maturity molt (male will sometimes attempt this...)

First, Marisa, I would not even remotly start to worry one single bit for a T not eating for 13 days, specially not after a molt... the bigger the spider gets, the longer it takes before it starts back to eat after a molt... frankly, if your spider has always been fed, I would not even worry if it did not eat for two months or more... even if this is his ultimate molt, mature males are always voracious for the first month (s) (some will eat almost all their lives...), so this is not a factor...

Second, Snakelover, I read your other post also... first you have G. rosea... and now you have to start "thinking" like a semi-arid theraphosid spider and not like a human... let me help you... my females G. rosea often stop eating for 6 to 7 months prior to molting... I have a male that did not eat anything for the last 2 years and a half and is in perfect health... does that help you yet?... this species have a slow metabolism and you have to think how a semi-arid animal instincts are... since preys are rarer in their natural habitats (compared to rich tropical habitats), they have the tendency to grab everything that passes by and accumulate a lot of reserve energies (because they "have no idea" when the next meal will be... tomorrow, in a month, in six month?!?!?!?)... well, if in captivity, you always offer your animal food (like most of people do, they are actually power-feeding an arid dweller without intentionnally wanting/knowing it) well, your animal will gorge itself and will be able then to stop eating for ridiculous amount of time... leading it's keeper to much confusion and worries... Also, G. rosea are animals that enter a period of "hibernation" temparatures dropping to 10 Celcius and even less in their natural habitat... this period makes them inactive, so you again understand that it is an animal that will accumulate reserves for less "interesting" moments of the year....

Here are some general considerations:

First, please all do me the huge favors of stop using vertebrates as the main diet for your Ts... what exactly is the big difference size between a pinkie and a huge adult criket!LOL Even if Ts are able to tackle and eat small vertebrates in the wild, THAT IS NOT THEIR MAIN STAPLE DIET... inverts are... vertebrates are much too rich and can even be unhealthy to your animal... you can gove some once in a while but not always... by the way, I never saw a full grown T. blondi that will not eat crikets... understand the difference in size here? If it moves, the animal will attack if it is hungry, trust me...

Second, you animal stops eating for a few weeks, do not worry... here is what you have to do, monitor the size of it's abdomen... if it never loses weight, no problem at all, even if it is not eating for 6 months (again, for exemple, some adult Brachypelma spp. will stop eating for 8 months and more before to molt...)... if your animal loses weight, that is the time when you are alowed to be worried... you have a sick animal, probably internal parasites... nothing you can do but sadly watch your animal die (if internal parasites it is)... it might be external parasites, well, too long to explain, there are good books everyone should have when buying an exotic animal such as a T...

Hope this helps, good luck

Martin

[marisa]

Well I am confused now as many people on the tarantulas.com (hmm or .net lol) have said they feed their larger T's mice quite often and haven't had problems for a very long time, some keepers for years. The last time he ate a cricket was months ago, maybe he is hooked on mice, I do not know.

Thanks for your advice. I will not worry about his eating habits just yet. When and if he does get hungry I will try to get him to eat more crickets.

Marisa

[Tarcan]

Feeding a large T with crikets is not also the ideal thing as it would require an incredible amount of them to satisfy a T. blondi for exemple, I gave my exemple just to show that size was not a matter of accepting or refusing a prey (well, I hope no wise guys will pop up saying I will try feeding a pinhead to my adult T. apophysis female)...

Diversity is the essence to a very healthy and happy T...

Giant roaches are an incredibly good source of food for large Ts... I am not saying to absolutly never give mice to your T and that it will kill it, I sometimes do it once in a while also and give lezards to my adult pokies once in a while to... but not every meal, I am not a big fan of this... I will do it maybe once every 2 to 3 months...

What you need to remember is that Ts are EXTREMELY resistant animals and sometimes you almost need to make it on purpose to make them die! There is a huge difference of a T "SURVIVING" and a T "THRIVING" in captivity... and I unfortunatly fear that most of the Ts in captivity are actually doing nothing more then surviving but not necessarly at their ultimate best... this also falls in the "bone dry" terrarium versus a humid terrarium debate for the species that need it... people often say that they do not have problems with molts in a bone dry terrarium... fine enough... but is getting your T through it's next molt really the only challenge and fun of this wonderful hobby? Personnaly I do not think so... but sadly, most of North American enthusiasts seems to think so...

All the best

Martin

[marisa]

O.k. but roaches aren't the easiest thing to get. And if I am feeding gut loaded crickets, when he'll eat them, and a pinky/fuzzy mice every two weeks, I do not feel he is mearly surviving and unless they NEED roaches to survive then aren't I providing the best care possible?

I offer them worms (waxy/silkie) but this male in question will not touch them.

Marisa

[Tarcan]

They do not need roaches, but they are a nice alternative... unfortunatly, in Canada, nobody is supposed to have any (but of course, you can find some...)

Not every Ts like the worms either, some will love them some will run away from them!LOL

I am not saying you are not providing the best possible care you can, in fact, my post should not be mistaken that I believe I bring the best possible care also... what I meant is mainly that it is hard to determine if a T is surving or thriving, since they are so resistant animals...

Ts can be brought to adulthood and bred a a diet of crikets only, it has been done, of course they need to be gut loaded as you mentionned, but it is possible... I am only saying that the most variety the better, even me mainly offer crikets... but I will vary as much as I can...

It is just that some only give mice to their Ts, and that is totally not natural for a T to only eat vertebrates...

All the best

Martin

[Vanan]

I have to agree with Tarcan's argument. I think what he's saying is that, if fed vertebrates, keep it in moderation.

On a side note, since you mentioned rosies earlier Tarcan, my rosy's off food, good weight and all. I'm interested in overwintering it. Would you recommend it? If so, what temps should I try em at. Haven't tried looking for info on the net yet :D, but I figured since you touched the topic, I might try hijacking this post! lol! j/k!

[Tarcan]

Vanan...

Verdez recommends a cooling period of 2 months during which you can lower the temp. to around 15 to 12 Celcius... you do that gradually of course...

Mating is recommended to take place prior to cooling period...

I think that logically, since this animal is from the southern hemisphere, this should be it's summer and not winter (according to it's internal clock)... so it might be the wrong time of the year to do such a thing... wild caught Ts will take years to "get out" of their cycles so I think it would be safer to do that later this year but this is totally a guess...

Good luck

Martin

[Vanan]

Hmmm...I'm only considering it cos it seems otherwise healthy but is not eating. Besides this one looks like a juvi too. Maybe 1 or 2 moults away from the ultimate molt. Guess I'll keep trying to see if it'll eat for a week or two. No luck, then I'll keep it cooler. Whaddya think?