Poecilotheria Regalis Cowering

[Margritte]

Hello,
I have a young male P. Regalis that acts so cowardly when I open his enclosure to change his water, or try to feed him. He literally pushes himself down to the substrate, or makes himself real small. It concerns me I guess. I can never feed him, I just have to put his crickets in his enclosure and assume he found them. Actually, it saddens me to see this. Please share your thoughts.
Thank you kindly!

 

[Enn49]

I have quite a few youngsters that run and hide when I drop food in so don't worry unless he's leaving the food. Many Ts prefer to eat in private.

 

[Margritte]

Hi, thank you. I guess I thought this species would be a bit more defensive

 

[Lawrence b]

It differs from individual to individual .

 

[Margritte]

Thank you, I guess I have a shy guy lol. Take care!!

 

[Salatia]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'feed him'. To feed a tarantula you put food in, and let them catch it. Disable the food if its dangerous. You don't have them take it from tongs or such because 1) they can break their fangs, meaning they can no longer eat normally and 2) if it changes its mind about striking or freaks out you've given it a direct line to you.

Also what cover do they have in their enclosure? These Ts in particular like to inhabit cork bark rounds/half rounds. Theyre far more likely to cower or lash out if they don't feel they have a safe place to retreat to.

 

[Margritte]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'feed him'. To feed a tarantula you put food in, and let them catch it. Disable the food if its dangerous. You don't have them take it from tongs or such because 1) they can break their fangs, meaning they can no longer eat normally and 2) if it changes its mind about striking or freaks out you've given it a direct line to you.

Also what cover do they have in their enclosure? These Ts in particular like to inhabit cork bark rounds/half rounds. Theyre far more likely to cower or lash out if they don't feel they have a safe place to retreat to.

Hello,
He has a cork bark round. I will attach a photo of his enclosure. I raised him as a tiny spiderling.

 

[Margritte]

Hello,
He has a cork bark round. I will attach a photo of his enclosure. I raised him as a tiny spiderling.

Hi again
I have always put his crickets in his house for him to hunt down. I was worried that maybe he was acting the way he was because he was possibly not eating. Thank you for clarification on not using tongs. I was starting to doubt how I was feeding him, and you see various videos of people tong feeding their Ts, so I wondered if I too should feed him with tongs.

 

[Salatia]

Hello,
He has a cork bark round. I will attach a photo of his enclosure. I raised him as a tiny spiderling.

Ah great! It looks good. Maybe if you added some black paper in the corner behind/around the bark it might feel more secure? Just a thought and up to you - could use a light tape or something so you can pull it back if needed. It may just feel there's not a solid hiding place, somewhere it feels totally secure, at the moment. Some are particular!

My regalis I had from a couple of inches and they have always retreated to a cork tube when disturbed. It was clear they'd settled into it because there was web everywhere within. Very useful when doing anything such as feeding etc, and when I rehoused that one I covered the tube with thick cloth both ends and left it in the new enclosure. Though the little bugger didn't shift to the new much larger one, so I ended up having to use some prompting so I could have the old one back

He might use the defensive posture if live crickets are annoying him, if he's leaving them alive some of the time and they're not being removed. I'll usually give them a day or so to eat and then remove, though crickets annoyed me too much for various reasons in the end. Tongs are the easiest way of getting good feeding video, they're handy for dropping food in ideal locations - I use them to drop onto webs etc - I just don't think it's worth risking the fangs by trying to give the food directly. Usually if the prey is still I'll use a paintbrush to either make it move a little or use super light strokes on the web nearby - usually enough to get the Ts attention if they're hungry, and I can tell by watching them now.

 

[Margritte]

Ah great! It looks good. Maybe if you added some black paper in the corner behind/around the bark it might feel more secure? Just a thought and up to you - could use a light tape or something so you can pull it back if needed. It may just feel there's not a solid hiding place, somewhere it feels totally secure, at the moment. Some are particular!

My regalis I had from a couple of inches and they have always retreated to a cork tube when disturbed. It was clear they'd settled into it because there was web everywhere within. Very useful when doing anything such as feeding etc, and when I rehoused that one I covered the tube with thick cloth both ends and left it in the new enclosure. Though the little bugger didn't shift to the new much larger one, so I ended up having to use some prompting so I could have the old one back

He might use the defensive posture if live crickets are annoying him, if he's leaving them alive some of the time and they're not being removed. I'll usually give them a day or so to eat and then remove, though crickets annoyed me too much for various reasons in the end. Tongs are the easiest way of getting good feeding video, they're handy for dropping food in ideal locations - I use them to drop onto webs etc - I just don't think it's worth risking the fangs by trying to give the food directly. Usually if the prey is still I'll use a paintbrush to either make it move a little or use super light strokes on the web nearby - usually enough to get the Ts attention if they're hungry, and I can tell by watching them now.

Thank you kindly Salatia. I was hoping my P. Regalis was going to be a female, but i love Sprinkles just the same. What kinds of Ts do you presently have?