PinkToe Pre-Molt? Help

[ItsJustDan]

Today has been the 3rd week that my T skipped feeding. She hasn't eaten anything yet and Im assuming its Pre-molt behavior. I googled How long they can last without eating and it said 3 months, So I shouldn't worry much. She did spun a bit of web but its nothing crazy she moves around here and there from time to time, mostly idling. I also noticed an odd bald spot on her abdomen.

I want to know if its okay to take her out of the enclosure and clean it up.

Thanks.

 

[m0lsx]

How do you feed it & with what?

Some T's will pounce on food as soon as it is offered, others will wait & feed over night. Others will only eat food that is not too big. I have several T's that only eat over night & several who eat well when offered two or more smaller crickets, rather than one or more larger ones.

But 3 weeks is nothing to worry about. In the wild they sit & wait for their prey to walk within inches of them, so can go much longer than 3 weeks in the wild.

 

[ItsJustDan]

How do you feed it & with what?

Some T's will pounce on food as soon as it is offered, others will wait & feed over night. Others will only eat food that is not too big. I have several T's that only eat over night & several who eat well when offered two or more smaller crickets, rather than one or more larger ones.

But 3 weeks is nothing to worry about. In the wild they sit & wait for their prey to walk within inches of them, so can go much longer than 3 weeks in the wild.

My T attacks as soon as its in front of her. I would drop a medium-sized cricket in the encloser and guide it towards the T using feeding tongs. If the PinkToe is too high up I would gently push her to the cricket and she would attack ASAP, and within a couple of hours, shes finished.

Also is it alright to clean the enclosure? Its been a while since the last time I did clean it.

Thank you for your reply.

 

[m0lsx]

If you suspect the T may be pre molt I would personally cause it as little disruption to it as possible. And try just leaving the food in there for your pink toe. Is it an Avic avic? As there are other pink toes. I feed my Avic avic by simply popping food in & leaving it, it is normally gone over night.

With cleaning, just quietly pick out any bits of detritus you can with tweezers & leave it at that until you your T is either eating again, or until it has molted. T's are fairly hardy, but I personally try to not knowingly disturb a T, I suspect maybe pre molt if I can.

Edited to add. A Tarantula in the wild would not eat every week & maybe not every month & it will see seasonal changes to availability too. So a well fed captive T, may naturallly go through periods where it does not need to eat, or where it chooses not to feed for any number of resons. Being pre molt, being just one of those reasons.

 

[ItsJustDan]

If you suspect the T may be pre molt I would personally cause it as little disruption to it as possible. And try just leaving the food in there for your pink toe. Is it an Avic avic? As there are other pink toes. I feed my Avic avic by simply popping food in & leaving it, it is normally gone over night.

With cleaning, just quietly pick out any bits of detritus you can with tweezers & leave it at that until you your T is either eating again, or until it has molted. T's are fairly hardy, but I personally try to not knowingly disturb a T, I suspect maybe pre molt if I can.

Edited to add. A Tarantula in the wild would not eat every week & maybe not every month & it will see seasonal changes to availability too. So a well fed captive T, may naturallly go through periods where it does not need to eat, or where it chooses not to feed for any number of resons. Being pre molt, being just one of those reasons.

Yes it is a Avic avic.

I will leave food overnight maybe for a week or so and see what happens, If not eaten I'll take it away. As for cleaning, I won't do much because I was thinking the same thing, Don't want to disturb her.

Awesome info! Thanks a ton!

 

[ExMember]

My T attacks as soon as its in front of her. I would drop a medium-sized cricket in the encloser and guide it towards the T using feeding tongs. If the PinkToe is too high up I would gently push her to the cricket and she would attack ASAP, and within a couple of hours, shes finished.

Also is it alright to clean the enclosure? Its been a while since the last time I did clean it.

Thank you for your reply.

As far as I know there is no real reason to clean an enclosure for a spider. Maybe for a mold outbreak but even then most mold will not harm a tarantula. When my albopilosum had a mold problem it was due to him taking worms into his burrow and not eating them. I solved this by only giving him water drops instead of a patch of damp substrate. I did this for a month and no more mold. He did bring his moldy worms (and a couple of his legs?!?!) out of his burrow when he was getting ready to moult.

Just spot clean if you find a bolus and you should be good.

If you suspect the T may be pre molt I would personally cause it as little disruption to it as possible. And try just leaving the food in there for your pink toe. Is it an Avic avic? As there are other pink toes. I feed my Avic avic by simply popping food in & leaving it, it is normally gone over night.

With cleaning, just quietly pick out any bits of detritus you can with tweezers & leave it at that until you your T is either eating again, or until it has molted. T's are fairly hardy, but I personally try to not knowingly disturb a T, I suspect maybe pre molt if I can.

Edited to add. A Tarantula in the wild would not eat every week & maybe not every month & it will see seasonal changes to availability too. So a well fed captive T, may naturallly go through periods where it does not need to eat, or where it chooses not to feed for any number of resons. Being pre molt, being just one of those reasons.

Great advice @m0lsx !