Not sure of sex, but for simplicity sake I'll use she.
I've had a Selenotypus sp. champagne robustus for a little over a year now, raised from a ~20mm sling to now ~60mm. She has always been a good burrower webber and eater and fairly bold and active except for the winter just past when she closed the doors for 3 months, but generally stays underground anyway, comes up once a week when she is hungry and hides when she is not. Never seen her molt before but have noticed the signs before to which she just webs off the entrance and emerges some weeks later.
So anyway, I rehoused her about a month ago and her attitude has completely changed. She was good for about a week, looked really happy with her new home, dug her hole and webbed all around it, had a couple small roaches and all seemed fine, but after the first week, she started webbing a mat just outside her hole, and would just sit there, doesn't want to eat, just scurries off into her hole when I drop her a roach, and will emerge again to sit on her mat once I remove the untouched roach. Been like this for 3 weeks, now on week 4 she just sits on top of her hole or just puts her front legs out like she is waiting for food but ducks away if I offer any and only comes back out when I remove it.
Now, there are several questions tumbling around inside my head;
First I'm thinking she is in pre-molt, it looks like she has gotten a little darker, not eating, except this time she has not just gone into her hole and closed off, considering that this species is an obligate burrower, and never before have I seen this pre-molt behaviour in her before, I thought it out of the ordinary.
Second is that maybe the substrate which is slightly different to what I used in her previous home is irritating her some way. Last time I just used coir peat and sphagnum moss, this time I added some plain topsoil (about 10%) to the mix. Thing is, I don't want to move her in case she is in pre-molt.
Does this seem normal to anyone with an obligate burrower or Selenotypus species?
Should I just ride it out or risk a new rehouse?
TLDR; Behaviour change in Selenotypus one week after rehouse, what do?
I've had a Selenotypus sp. champagne robustus for a little over a year now, raised from a ~20mm sling to now ~60mm. She has always been a good burrower webber and eater and fairly bold and active except for the winter just past when she closed the doors for 3 months, but generally stays underground anyway, comes up once a week when she is hungry and hides when she is not. Never seen her molt before but have noticed the signs before to which she just webs off the entrance and emerges some weeks later.
So anyway, I rehoused her about a month ago and her attitude has completely changed. She was good for about a week, looked really happy with her new home, dug her hole and webbed all around it, had a couple small roaches and all seemed fine, but after the first week, she started webbing a mat just outside her hole, and would just sit there, doesn't want to eat, just scurries off into her hole when I drop her a roach, and will emerge again to sit on her mat once I remove the untouched roach. Been like this for 3 weeks, now on week 4 she just sits on top of her hole or just puts her front legs out like she is waiting for food but ducks away if I offer any and only comes back out when I remove it.
Now, there are several questions tumbling around inside my head;
First I'm thinking she is in pre-molt, it looks like she has gotten a little darker, not eating, except this time she has not just gone into her hole and closed off, considering that this species is an obligate burrower, and never before have I seen this pre-molt behaviour in her before, I thought it out of the ordinary.
Second is that maybe the substrate which is slightly different to what I used in her previous home is irritating her some way. Last time I just used coir peat and sphagnum moss, this time I added some plain topsoil (about 10%) to the mix. Thing is, I don't want to move her in case she is in pre-molt.
Does this seem normal to anyone with an obligate burrower or Selenotypus species?
Should I just ride it out or risk a new rehouse?
TLDR; Behaviour change in Selenotypus one week after rehouse, what do?
