Extended belly?

[helenaoskars]

I am worried about one of my Venezuelan Suntigers. I have two at the same age, and they are not fully grown. One looks “normal”, the other has a different color stomach that seems very extended. Can someone tell me if I should be worried or not? And, if possible, what I can do?


It is hiding, so very difficult to get a good picture.. But you can see its belly clearly, the lighter and rounded shape…

 

[Salatia]

I'm not clear what you are asking.

What do you mean by 'extended'?

In the image I can see a pale abdominal underside - nothing unusual. As tarantulas grow their colouration develops and gets closer to what it will be as a matured adult. Irminia are sexually dimorphic as well, which means colour variation between males and females. Either way, nothing I can see here looks strange or noteworthy. If you believe there's something specific to note, it might help to highlight it - but I can't say as looking at the abdomen it simply looks like any tarantula abdomen.

Note that same age is also not very helpful in tarantulas. Age is meaningless, because while two tarantulas may have been alive for the same amount of time they could be very differently sized, since conditions and feeding frequency will make some grow faster or slower than others. Additionally, males typically mature before females from the same sac, and even those of the same sex might experience the same conditions and grow at slightly different speeds.

I would recommend you read threads that cover the information for beginner keepers, as I get the impression from your post that there are a lot of areas in which you need to do further reading in order for your tarantulas to remain healthy, and be long-lived. In particular, individuals won't look identical for a multitude of reasons, and assuming that a difference being present means there is an issue could cause actual problems. Those threads typically contain a lot of info regarding actual issues to keep an eye out for as well.

 

[helenaoskars]

I'm not clear what you are asking.

What do you mean by 'extended'?

In the image I can see a pale abdominal underside - nothing unusual. As tarantulas grow their colouration develops and gets closer to what it will be as a matured adult. Irminia are sexually dimorphic as well, which means colour variation between males and females. Either way, nothing I can see here looks strange or noteworthy. If you believe there's something specific to note, it might help to highlight it - but I can't say as looking at the abdomen it simply looks like any tarantula abdomen.

Note that same age is also not very helpful in tarantulas. Age is meaningless, because while two tarantulas may have been alive for the same amount of time they could be very differently sized, since conditions and feeding frequency will make some grow faster or slower than others. Additionally, males typically mature before females from the same sac, and even those of the same sex might experience the same conditions and grow at slightly different speeds.

I would recommend you read threads that cover the information for beginner keepers, as I get the impression from your post that there are a lot of areas in which you need to do further reading in order for your tarantulas to remain healthy, and be long-lived. In particular, individuals won't look identical for a multitude of reasons, and assuming that a difference being present means there is an issue could cause actual problems. Those threads typically contain a lot of info regarding actual issues to keep an eye out for as well.

Thank you for your answer, I conclude that my spider is as healthy as its neighbor.

I have done extensive reading on tarantulas and the specific kind I have. The reason I asked was because the belly seemed too large, and a few of the videos and websites I’ve seen (from channels and pages recommended by users in this forum that has had this type of tarantula for a long time and knows it well), has shown pictures/videos that looks similar and described this as a potential problem that experts should give an opinion on. Since this is my first p.irminia (I’ve had a healthy and correctly kept Chilean rose for 10 years), I chose to ask someone to make sure that it looks as it should. My spiders get the right care, just as my Rose has for 10 years.

If you feel I should find somewhere else to ask whenever I’d like the opinion of someone that’ll know a bit more than me of this specific kind of T, please let me know. I have previously been told that it is a good thing to ask when in doubt, the tone of your answer makes me doubt it.

 

[Enn49]

Never be afraid to ask it's the best way to learn and so much info on the web is sadly out of date.
In my view your T looks fine and as long as it is active and eating well all you need to do is keep the water topped up and enjoy watching you little on grow.

 

[helenaoskars]

Thank you This is a picture of my other P.

Irminia (today is the first time it’s shown itself like this for a couple of months), the difference might explain my doubts.

 

[Enn49]

I find it one of the joys of keeping Ts, the fact that even Ts from the same sac can grow at different rates and have different characters too even though their care is exactly the same.

 

[Salatia]

I wasn't being funny or judgemental. There's no tone to written text, only the words used - any tone is inferred by the reader. Asking is the best thing to do, if in doubt. It's just also best not to assume someone is seeing things the same as you - hence asking you to highlight if there was a specific thing about the abdomen that worried you. 'Extended' might be that it looks longer than normal, larger than normal overall, or misshapen with a bulge. Things that look obvious to us in person or in an image may not appear the same to others, particularly as there's also interpretation of meaning involved.

I answered the question based on the information you provided - which was to say you thought the abdomen looked 'extended' and something was wrong with the colour, accompanied only by an image of a well fed tarantula in a web tube showing the ventral side of the abdomen, as far as I could tell. Colour can change depending on how the light strikes the hairs - which will also change with web in the way-, and varies within same species and sacmates, so isn't reliably indicative of anything without something else to support the idea that there's an issue as well as reasoning for the colour in question to be concerning. The abdomen was large in the sense that it fed enough to get a bit fatter than arboreals tend to (but psalmos sometimes seem more willing), but it was regularly shaped with no bulges or one side appearing larger than the other.

You refer to having seen some resources mention 'something similar' that was an issue, but don't say what the issue being discussed is in those cases. In the event someone has a specific concern it's best for them to mention it, since that can actually help indicate specific things to look for in images or descriptions.

So as far as I could tell you were concerned about something that looked entirely normal, or at the least not concerning. Usually it's best to watch for specific 'symptoms' or potential symptoms, because the vast majority of the time there is barely a norm for certain things for an individual tarantula, let alone within a species. Leaking fluid - clear is usually grooming fluid, their 'blood' is bluish -, abdomen is misshapen - ie bulges/non symmetrical, death curl (though apparently this is sometimes a comfortable grooming pose according to some of my Ts, why expend effort keeping your legs out if you don't have to) , DKS, a wrinkled abdomen in younger tarantulas for dehydration, those sorts of things.

I mainly mentioned beginner information because you referred to 'age', which usually means the person doesn't understand why this isn't a useful metric in tarantulas. Those aware of that typically refer to how long they've had the tarantula(s), and the DLS as far as they can judge. Even DLS is only really useful for certain things.

In the other picture, that tarantula is slimmer. More typical for arboreals but again that doesn't mean some won't eat more. They can certainly get a little thicker without issue. The ventral side of an abdomen also might appear wider in general, due to the overall shape of the abdomen, and the tarantula squeezed into a web tube means it's likely pressed a little against the surface, where the web combined with mostly a single colour helps obscure/limit vision of shadows that give a better sense of where the abdomen may be curving away.

 

[Salatia]

Wanted to add this to make it clear why I was hoping for further clarity regarding what you suspected you might see in the image.

Note, whenever possible I will spend some time examining any images for signs something might be amiss. In the event a poster thinks they see something, and I am unable to spot anything, I would rather ask than tell someone all is fine only to miss something that may or may not be obvious.

I also tend to approach things slightly differently to others which means I tend to notice different things. That can mean I miss things that are, or seem, obvious to others. Brain fog on top of that sometimes, due to health issues, again means I'd rather be safe re what I'm looking for. Since there isn't always a tonne of engagement I can't guarantee that someone else will appear and spot an obvious thing I miss. I approach most things this way - try to ensure there's no misunderstanding of the information by asking questions where things aren't clear to me.

 

[helenaoskars]

Wanted to add this to make it clear why I was hoping for further clarity regarding what you suspected you might see in the image.

Note, whenever possible I will spend some time examining any images for signs something might be amiss. In the event a poster thinks they see something, and I am unable to spot anything, I would rather ask than tell someone all is fine only to miss something that may or may not be obvious.

I also tend to approach things slightly differently to others which means I tend to notice different things. That can mean I miss things that are, or seem, obvious to others. Brain fog on top of that sometimes, due to health issues, again means I'd rather be safe re what I'm looking for. Since there isn't always a tonne of engagement I can't guarantee that someone else will appear and spot an obvious thing I miss. I approach most things this way - try to ensure there's no misunderstanding of the information by asking questions where things aren't clear to me.

Thank you for clarifying, and for supplying additional information. I always try reading more about these spiders, and have been since I posted this too. My conclusion has been that their enclosures have probably been too dry, I am currently trying to rectify this in ways I see recommended by other keepers.