Hello, all. I have come here for help, because I have no other idea what to do for my Chilean Rose Hair, Isabella.
Isabella three or four years old. She has molted twice since she was given to me as a Mother's Day present in May of 2012. I have had rose hairs for almost twenty years, and she has become my favorite.
She lives in a five-gallon tank with a water dish in the corner. Her water dish is keep full, and there are two natural sponges in it. She drinks out of them when she's thirsty. Her substrate is a sphagnum peat and soil mix with no hard pieces. It is dry and packed very well. She has a heat rock in another corner. She uses it when she wants and can move freely about the tank. She has a little underground cave made from a buried mouse or gerbil hut (it is plastic). She uses that sometimes.
Isabella molted in November in an older nest of web, and she molted on her stomach, weirdly enough. It was the first time I ever saw a tarantula start from the upright position. Her molt was quick, she recovered very well, and I fed her about ten days afterward. She behaved normally after her molt: stretching, resting, extending her legs, etc. When she ate, she seemed fine. Actually, she recovered very well, much better than the first time she molted. I bought the crickets from the same place I always buy them from.
Then, about a week after she ate, I saw her in her cage in the agitated state position--she was partially reared up, her front set of legs and pedipalps in the air. She stayed like that for a day. At this point I got worried. What was going on, I wondered? She continued on like this for another day, and I became very worried, so I went to the internet to look for information on why a tarantula would be in a reared-up state when no stimulus or irritant was visible. I found nothing to help me, so on a whim I decided to look for mites in the tank. I found a few of them in the soil and decided to change the entire tank. I took all the items out of her tank and sterilized the tank itself. I got a new lid (the old one was a bit ratty). I put the cleaned tank in the freezer for three days, along with the cleaned water bowl and cave, and I took the chance to buy a new heating rock; the old one had disintegrated a bit. The heating rock is the basic, five-volt, orange terracotta one we all see around.
During this time, I put Isabella in a clear, plastic carrying container with a vented lid, and I kept watch on her. She was reared up for much of the time, and rested for other portions of time. I used a flash light and looked everywhere on her. Everywhere. In her mouth, by her spinnerets, by her book lungs, on her back, in her joints, etc. I scrutinized her for a mite, and I only found one white thing on her back ... but it never moved. I mean, I saw nothing. I looked at pictures on the internet of what mites look like on a spider, and believe me: nothing was on her. She looked pristine.
After a week, I bought new soil and peat, and I baked it at 400 degrees for quite some time. I thawed out her cage and stuff. I cleaned the shelf where her tank sits, searching it for any mites (and found none). Satisfied that nothing was amiss, I set up her new tank, and I put her in it.
Last night, after her being in the tank for two days, I found her rearing up a bit, still, and then she did the weirdest thing I have ever seen a spider do. She sat in her water bowl as much as she lower herself past the sponges. She put her butt right in the bowl. When I took the tank down to look at her, I saw white flecks on the top of her abdomen. They did not move, but they did look like mites. Same size, same color, same look as what I saw in some online photos.
I grabbed a Q-tip, and with petroleum jelly, I pulled off as many as the white flecks as I could, and even weirder, Isabella allowed me. She just sat there. When I was done, she almost had bald spots on her poor abdomen. Later last night, I saw her moving around the heat rock, and she sat on it, resting, for some time. She looked relaxed, and I thought maybe the trouble has passed. I found few, if any, white flecks on her back, and even weirder, it seems like hairs appeared back on the bald spot.
Then today, I found her in the water bowl again, irritated, and then back on the heat rock. So it seems she is putting her lower abdomen in the water, sitting there, and then going back on the heat rock. I am flummoxed and worried to death that, somehow, something is inside of her, and this is why she is acting up. I have no idea why a tarantula would soak her butt, where she breathes no less, in a water bowl, and then dry herself back out.
Does anyone have any idea of what could be going on? I love her dearly. She is so deep pink and calm, graceful, and just a wonderful little girl, and I feel so bad for her. Thanks so much.
Oh, and P.S. I used filtered water in her bowl, if that matters.
Isabella three or four years old. She has molted twice since she was given to me as a Mother's Day present in May of 2012. I have had rose hairs for almost twenty years, and she has become my favorite.
She lives in a five-gallon tank with a water dish in the corner. Her water dish is keep full, and there are two natural sponges in it. She drinks out of them when she's thirsty. Her substrate is a sphagnum peat and soil mix with no hard pieces. It is dry and packed very well. She has a heat rock in another corner. She uses it when she wants and can move freely about the tank. She has a little underground cave made from a buried mouse or gerbil hut (it is plastic). She uses that sometimes.
Isabella molted in November in an older nest of web, and she molted on her stomach, weirdly enough. It was the first time I ever saw a tarantula start from the upright position. Her molt was quick, she recovered very well, and I fed her about ten days afterward. She behaved normally after her molt: stretching, resting, extending her legs, etc. When she ate, she seemed fine. Actually, she recovered very well, much better than the first time she molted. I bought the crickets from the same place I always buy them from.
Then, about a week after she ate, I saw her in her cage in the agitated state position--she was partially reared up, her front set of legs and pedipalps in the air. She stayed like that for a day. At this point I got worried. What was going on, I wondered? She continued on like this for another day, and I became very worried, so I went to the internet to look for information on why a tarantula would be in a reared-up state when no stimulus or irritant was visible. I found nothing to help me, so on a whim I decided to look for mites in the tank. I found a few of them in the soil and decided to change the entire tank. I took all the items out of her tank and sterilized the tank itself. I got a new lid (the old one was a bit ratty). I put the cleaned tank in the freezer for three days, along with the cleaned water bowl and cave, and I took the chance to buy a new heating rock; the old one had disintegrated a bit. The heating rock is the basic, five-volt, orange terracotta one we all see around.
During this time, I put Isabella in a clear, plastic carrying container with a vented lid, and I kept watch on her. She was reared up for much of the time, and rested for other portions of time. I used a flash light and looked everywhere on her. Everywhere. In her mouth, by her spinnerets, by her book lungs, on her back, in her joints, etc. I scrutinized her for a mite, and I only found one white thing on her back ... but it never moved. I mean, I saw nothing. I looked at pictures on the internet of what mites look like on a spider, and believe me: nothing was on her. She looked pristine.
After a week, I bought new soil and peat, and I baked it at 400 degrees for quite some time. I thawed out her cage and stuff. I cleaned the shelf where her tank sits, searching it for any mites (and found none). Satisfied that nothing was amiss, I set up her new tank, and I put her in it.
Last night, after her being in the tank for two days, I found her rearing up a bit, still, and then she did the weirdest thing I have ever seen a spider do. She sat in her water bowl as much as she lower herself past the sponges. She put her butt right in the bowl. When I took the tank down to look at her, I saw white flecks on the top of her abdomen. They did not move, but they did look like mites. Same size, same color, same look as what I saw in some online photos.
I grabbed a Q-tip, and with petroleum jelly, I pulled off as many as the white flecks as I could, and even weirder, Isabella allowed me. She just sat there. When I was done, she almost had bald spots on her poor abdomen. Later last night, I saw her moving around the heat rock, and she sat on it, resting, for some time. She looked relaxed, and I thought maybe the trouble has passed. I found few, if any, white flecks on her back, and even weirder, it seems like hairs appeared back on the bald spot.
Then today, I found her in the water bowl again, irritated, and then back on the heat rock. So it seems she is putting her lower abdomen in the water, sitting there, and then going back on the heat rock. I am flummoxed and worried to death that, somehow, something is inside of her, and this is why she is acting up. I have no idea why a tarantula would soak her butt, where she breathes no less, in a water bowl, and then dry herself back out.
Does anyone have any idea of what could be going on? I love her dearly. She is so deep pink and calm, graceful, and just a wonderful little girl, and I feel so bad for her. Thanks so much.
Oh, and P.S. I used filtered water in her bowl, if that matters.
