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So Habanero, the newer of my two tarantulas, a little 3 inch male brachyeplema smithi, seems to have not been like himself lately. Neither of my tarantulas are aggressive but even still he's is/was by far the more gentle of the two and behaved in much the highly praised manner typical of his species with good character and tolerance letting me touch him and pick him up and just being very pleasant when I was around or working in his enclosure. I know like all animals they are individuals with their own personalities but I always heard that once they get used to you they are pretty much set in their ways and stay like they are but he changed on a dime. He's always been a little bit skittish but now he is extremely skittish, darting into his cave if I so much as nudge his habitat and he's been a lot crankier, flicking hairs at me for the first time a few nights ago and believe me I know crankiness and hair flicking, my older tarantula, October, a 4 inch male brachypelma boehmei is still quite a hair flicker and less tolerant but used to be much more so, only mellowing out recently as I started to handle him more. As for Habanero he wasn't like this a week ago. I do think he's going to molt soon for the first time since I've had him because his abdomen is huge and he refused food when I offered him some. I know molting is a very stressful time for any tarantula and maybe he just feels more vulnerable and is being more defensive right now. I really hope he goes to normal once his molt is over.
