Brazilian Black spiderling not eating.

[Joshua Kern]

Hello everyone, and first and foremost I apologise for my ignorance in advance. About a year ago my girlfriend bought me my first spider. A beautiful little it bitty Brazilian Black, she has kept spiders before and has a lot of animal knowledge. However I've never kept spiders before and know nothing about them.

She helped me pick out some coconut fiber bedding and told me to keep it in a smaller encloser untill it gets bigger. Everything was going fine, my girlfriend bought a choco knee at the same time. And he/she is quickly outgrowing my Brazilian Black. Around 3 months ago my spider stopped eating crickets. He/she will drink. And walks around her 5x5inch Tupperware just fine. But won't eat. Also it hasn't molted for about 4 months give or take.

My girlfriend says there is nothing we can do except keep offering food, but I wanted to see if there is anything I can do or am doing wrong!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated thank you.

Her Choco

My Black

 

[londelsh]

From my experience which isn't as great as most of the people on here, is to keep doing what your gf said. From the look of the pictures it's rump is black so it could just be in premolt, so just keep offering food once or twice a week (more once a week really), keep giving it fresh water, and wait. What are you using as a water bowl, and a hide?

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[IamKrush]

Needs a hide. Also becareful if you are using crickets as feeders they sometimes will chew on a T while its moting or even after. And with no way for it to defend itself it could end up killing your T.

 

[Joshua Kern]

From my experience which isn't as great as most of the people on here, is to keep doing what your gf said. From the look of the pictures it's rump is black so it could just be in premolt, so just keep offering food once or twice a week (more once a week really), keep giving it fresh water, and wait. What are you using as a water bowl, and a hide?

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As for water, we don't use a water bowel we mist the sides of the containers, and they come up and drink the drops. And I don't have a hide, these are the containers they stay in for now. Then I put these containers into a bigger glass encloser that will eventually be home of their permanent homes.

So should I try taking it out and putting it in the bigger one and giving it a hide?

 

[Joshua Kern]

Needs a hide. Also becareful if you are using crickets as feeders they sometimes will chew on a T while its moting or even after. And with no way for it to defend itself it could end up killing your T.

Yeah, she told me about that. When I'm offering him/her crickets I usually put them in there for a few hours, and if it's a no go I take them back out.

So, do you think it's just because I don't have a cave/hide in it's small container? Maybe nervousness.

 

[londelsh]

As for water, we don't use a water bowel we mist the sides of the containers, and they come up and drink the drops. And I don't have a hide, these are the containers they stay in for now. Then I put these containers into a bigger glass encloser that will eventually be home of their permanent homes.

So should I try taking it out and putting it in the bigger one and giving it a hide?

Me personnel I would put a hide in just so your T has somewhere to go to if s/he feels threatened. How big is your T? With mine when they were about an inch I start putting in a water bowl but that's just me though.

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[Joshua Kern]

Me personnel I would put a hide in just so your T has somewhere to go to if s/he feels threatened. How big is your T? With mine when they were about an inch I start putting in a water bowl but that's just me though.

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I would say around the size of a Quarter.

 

[Enn49]

As soon as my slings are in a container that will take a small bottle top they get a water bowl. Ts will not drown.

 

[londelsh]

Im from the uk dont really know how big that is, but if it's as big as I think then yeah your right I was wrong g with the size lol.

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[IamKrush]

Im from the uk dont really know how big that is, but if it's as big as I think then yeah your right I was wrong g with the size lol.

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He is talking about the coin.id say same as a Ten pence

 

[kormath]

My 2 cents.

The size of the containers they're in now is fine, you'll want to move them to a bit larger after their next molt, 2 to 3 times their legs span for the width (not length) of the container.

All T's need a hide, all creatures have a fight or flight instinct. It's better for T's to have someplace to hide for the flight instinct rather than be forced into the fight instinct as they have no place to go to get away. No need to remove the T when you place in the temporary hide.

For water i agree with the rest, you have enough room there to put a soda bottle cap in as a water dish. If you're worried about drowning, like @Enn49 said the T's won't drown, but the crickets or whatever you use for prey might. For mine i put aquarium gravel in the bottle cap so the prey insects have something to keep them from drowning.

Those 2 like to dig. so you can do something for their hide like cut a paper cup in half, they'll burrow out underneath it usually and make their own home.

They don't look like they're in premolt from your pics. My guess is they're still getting adjusted to their homes. That can take a few weeks sometimes and they don't usually eat while they adjust.

Edit: Just read the OP again. add the hide, i'd put money on they'll behave and eat normally after

 

[Dabegill]

cool looking t

 

[Lee'scrazybeasts]

I keep grammastola pulchra's. They are the slowest growing T I know. When mine go into ore moult they can refuse food for weeks. They do take a long time to prepare themselves. They also need hides. They are a burrowing species and like somewhere to stay safe. T's can drown too. Especially as slings. I use t-light holders with a ball of cotton soaked. I mist one side of the enclosure once a fortnight n let half the soil soak. Unlike most grammastola's these guys need a touch more humidity. One of mine refused to eat for so long I thought she was ill. She was so huge she dragged her abdomen when she walked. She was stunning when she moulted!

 

[Miss Moxie]

T's can drown too. Especially as slings.

That's not true. Tarantulas have to be submerged underwater for over an hour before they will drown. All of my slings get water dishes, even the smallest ones that look like ants. I purchased a silicone ice cube tray, 55 water dishes for a couple of dollars. I've even got a video of my C. versicolor walking on water, and have seen a video of a Poecilotheria sling that willingly submerged itself under the water of it's dish to hide.

 

[Thistles]

Tattoo ink caps are where it's at. Best sling water dishes everrrr.

 

[Lee'scrazybeasts]

That's not true. Tarantulas have to be submerged underwater for over an hour before they will drown. All of my slings get water dishes, even the smallest ones that look like ants. I purchased a silicone ice cube tray, 55 water dishes for a couple of dollars. I've even got a video of my C. versicolor walking on water, and have seen a video of a Poecilotheria sling that willingly submerged itself under the water of it's dish to hide.

Plenty of T keepers will disagree. But hey, lots of different info about all sorts.

 

[Miss Moxie]

Plenty of T keepers will disagree. But hey, lots of different info about all sorts.

Anatomically speaking, it's just not possible unless they're submerged for a very, very long time. Tarantulas have incredibly low oxygen needs and so it's akin to being supremely skilled at holding your breath. Not only that, but their setae is hydrophobic. There is also a hydrophobic layer on their book lungs as well, meaning it would be incredibly hard for water to physically enter the lungs. With that in mind, it wouldn't really be the definition of drowning, more like they would suffocate because they'd run out of oxygen eventually while submerged.

Have plenty of keepers kept Ts without water dishes? Yup. Not saying it can't/doesn't work. Just saying that not providing a water dish on the basis that your tarantula will drown in it is misinformed. Just as many keepers, if not more, provide water dishes and suffer no losses to drowning.

Here is an article {PDF} written about swimming in tarantulas, and they proved that they actually adapt their leg movement instinctually.

“Tarantulas can drown in water bowls.”

Another myth likely started by well-meaning but overly cautious keepers. When I first got into the hobby, I searched the web to try to find any instances of tarantulas drowning in their water bowls. I found one possible instance where the T was found in a death curl in its dish, but the keeper seemed to think that the spider died of natural causes during a molt. There just seems to be no evidence to support this claim. Is it possible? Sure. A weak specimen could find itself in an overlarge dish and not be able to climb out.

However, you have to figure that an animal that has been around million of years, with some species living in areas with huge amounts or rainfall, would figure out how to avoid or negotiate water hazards.

Furthermore, the “rule” that slings shouldn’t be offered water dishes until they are 1.5″ or more also appears to be based on a fallacy. Many folks provide slings as small as .5″ with small bottle caps for dishes, and the slings have no issues with them. There is even video of slings effortlessly floating on water before climbing off to safety. I would, in this instance, use a smaller dish just in case (no use putting a 3″ water bowl in with your 1″ sling). In this instance, the pros of offering your small, vulnerable sling a water dish far outweigh the imaginary cons.

From this article on Tom Moran's website. He expounds on the subject here.

And he even did a video on the subject.

In this video, you can even see the outline of space between the water and the Poecilotheria's setae. Absolutely incredible creatures.

In this video, the cameraman actually mentions the visible space of air between their setae, addressing it as appearing "chrome."

 

[kormath]

Anatomically speaking, it's just not possible unless they're submerged for a very, very long time. Tarantulas have incredibly low oxygen needs and so it's akin to being supremely skilled at holding your breath. Not only that, but their setae is hydrophobic. There is also a hydrophobic layer on their book lungs as well, meaning it would be incredibly hard for water to physically enter the lungs. With that in mind, it wouldn't really be the definition of drowning, more like they would suffocate because they'd run out of oxygen eventually while submerged.

Have plenty of keepers kept Ts without water dishes? Yup. Not saying it can't/doesn't work. Just saying that not providing a water dish on the basis that your tarantula will drown in it is misinformed. Just as many keepers, if not more, provide water dishes and suffer no losses to drowning.

Here is an article {PDF} written about swimming in tarantulas, and they proved that they actually adapt their leg movement instinctually.



From this article on Tom Moran's website. He expounds on the subject here.

And he even did a video on the subject.

In this video, you can even see the outline of space between the water and the Poecilotheria's setae. Absolutely incredible creatures.

In this video, the cameraman actually mentions the visible space of air between their setae, addressing it as appearing "chrome."

Great post, i was going to mention the H. gigas swimming but you beat me too it

 

[Miss Moxie]

Great post, i was going to mention the H. gigas swimming but you beat me too it

Thanks! Maybe I'll make it into a thread for more people to see.