P. muticus not eating - premoult?

[Steff]

Hi all! So after my last P. muticus sling passed away (poor thing was ill on arrival) I got another one, this one slightly bigger. He's very defensive, stridulates at everything, seems healthy from what I can tell, but he won't eat. I've tried feeding him every few days for the past two weeks, and at most he'll stridulate, threat posture and occasionally strike at the food but never actually eats it. At first I assumed he was just stressed from moving to a new enclosure, but now I have to wonder if he's in premoult. I'm not sure why else he'd refuse food. I took some photos of his abdomen, does this look like premoult?

 

[Jesusplants]

Might just be settling in to the new enclosure still, dies it have its burrow dug out so it has a good hide place to feel comfortable?

 

[Steff]

He has a hide instead of a burrow, and he's webbed it inside and a little bit on the outside too. He spends most of his time inside it, or pressed between it and the back of the enclosure like in the picture.

 

[Oodalolie]

His abdomen doesn't look like premolt... my GBB sling did that once, struck but then lost interest. Perhaps the food is too big?

 

[Steff]

The food was just a waxworm, so it was fairly small and soft. Should I maybe just leave him alone for a week or two and try again then? Maybe he will have settled in by then. He's in a fairly dark area already and I don't make much noise, so I don't think that's a problem.

 

[Jesusplants]

Ya he might just still be making himself at home. How deep is the substrate though? They do like to burrow.

 

[Steff]

2 and a half inches deep, then between the substrate and the lid of the enclosure there's nearly 2 inches. If i try putting any more substrate in I'll block up the rest of the air holes, unfortunately