Help with Chilean Rose hair tarantula

[erikah]

Hello, I’ve had my tarantula for about 7 years and she was about 3-4 years old when i got her. She has molted twice since i got her. In the last month or so she has been acting so strange. When I put crickets in her cage she is terrified of them and when i walk in the room she moves all quickly in a circle like something is attacking her. And then this morning i walk in and it’s like she can’t use her front legs, her head is facing down and her butt is sticking up. Does anyone have any idea what is happening to her??

 

[Stan Schultz]

Hello, I’ve had my tarantula for about 7 years and she was about 3-4 years old when i got her. She has molted twice since i got her. In the last month or so she has been acting so strange. When I put crickets in her cage she is terrified of them and when i walk in the room she moves all quickly in a circle like something is attacking her. And then this morning i walk in and it’s like she can’t use her front legs, her head is facing down and her butt is sticking up. Does anyone have any idea what is happening to her??

My first guess is that something in her cage is irritating her. Please answer each and all of these questions so we can offer some suggestions. (DO NOT try to second-guess what responses I'm after in answering these questions. Just answer them truthfully and directly.)

1) What makes you think that it's a female?
2) What makes you think it was 3-4 years old when you got it?
3) Does it have a water dish and a constant supply of fresh water?
4) Is her cage dry or damp? Or is just a small part of it damp (e.g., under the water dish)?
5) How long has it been since you last thoroughly cleaned the cage?
6) Did you recently change to a new form of substrate (bedding)?
7) Look carefully in all parts of the cage as well as on the tarantula itself, especially after dark. Do you see little pinpoints of light moving on the surfaces in the beam of a flashlight ("torch" in some countries)?
8) Or is there a little raft of what may look like dust or bits of ground glass floating on the surface of the water in her water dish?
9) Do you handle her, i.e., physically pick her up and hold her in your hand?

Also, visit and read Care and Husbandry of the Chilean Rose Tarantula. Be forewarned that the webpage was recently moved to a friend's server when its original host server shut down, and I haven't yet had an opportunity to find a new, permanent host server or update any of the internal links. Few if any of them will work. Get back to me (E-mail address in the sig below) if you want to read any of the linked references. Also, because I haven't had an opportunity to edit the webpage for a number of years, a few details are now obsolete. If something seems a bit odd, or doesn't work, get back to me for a clarification.

Unfortunately, tarantula medicine is still in the Witch Doctor phase. Tarantulas are so vastly different from humans, dogs, cats, and farm animals that few or none of the diseases and other maladies, and their treatments, that we're familiar with are applicable to our eight legged little buddies.

Please be certain to get back to me/us with the answers to the questions above. Plus, keep me/us up to date about what you've tried to do to figure out what's wrong and if it worked or not. Even your hints and suspicions may be critical clues to what's wrong and what to do to correct the problem.

Stan