Tarantula help needed

[Stotty]

Hi all, new here as joined for some advice. I’ve owned two tarantulas for a year now with no problems until! My curly hair went into hiding about a month and a half ago not eating or coming out her hide, I’m pleased to report he has molted two days ago and eaten a wax worm and a cricket. The problem is his one leg is skinless ! I will attach a pic and ask, what’s caused this? Is it something to worry about, what should I do? Help

 

[Arachnoclown]

It was missing a leg before and regenerated a new one. It will look normal on the next molt. Also eating after molting two days ago is bad...Hopefully it didnt damage a fang.

 

[Arachnoclown]

 

[Stotty]

It was missing a leg before and regenerated a new one. It will look normal on the next molt. Also eating after molting two days ago is bad...Hopefully it didnt damage a fang.

Thank you for your reply, I’ve been told two days is fine to start feeding! How long should I leave it? Worried now! He wasn’t missing a leg before molt!

 

[Arachnoclown]

A spider the size of yours should wait a week or longer....slings 2-3 days before eating. Till the fangs are jet black.
A month and a half in her burrow...that's slot of time for her to remove her own leg. Lots of things could have happened. Being in premolt tarantulas are clumsy, she could have fallen and injured it.
Also feeders...a feeder hiding in her burrow could have caused damage.
You'll probably never know how but shes going to be fine...gotta love the power of regeneration.

 

[Stotty]

A spider the size of yours should wait a week or longer....slings 2-3 days before eating. Till the fangs are jet black.
A month and a half in her burrow...that's slot of time for her to remove her own leg. Lots of things could have happened. Being in premolt tarantulas are clumsy, she could have fallen and injured it.
Also feeders...a feeder hiding in her burrow could have caused damage.
You'll probably never know how but shes going to be fine...gotta love the power of regeneration.

I really appreciate you taking the time to reply thank you. I’ve looked and his fangs and they are jet black and shiny so I’m feeling a little less worried now. I will however take your advice after the next molt. It’s hard to know what’s right and what’s not! The place I go to for supplies are a little hit and miss with their knowledge on tarantulas. Glad I’ve found this forum for future questions and some educational bedtime reading. Thanks again

 

[Jess S]

There's no chance he's a mature male is there, because that looks awfully like a tibial hook on leg 1 But I can't see where the right pedipalp is, so maybe what looks like a hook is just the palp behind the leg.

 

[Stotty]

There's no chance he's a mature male is there, because that looks awfully like a tibial hook on leg 1 But I can't see where the right pedipalp is, so maybe what looks like a hook is just the palp behind the leg.

With fear of showing my lack of knowledge that’s now showing! What’s a Tibial hook and should I start worrying again!? I bought him a year ago from a now closed pet shop. He wasn’t a sling however I would guess less than a year old from my brief exchange in the shop. I did loads of research before making my first purchase however I missed any reference to Tibial hook or what to do if there is any sort of problem with your Tarantula. I look after both of mine as best I can, always making sure they are fed and have fresh water. Don’t want you all to think I don’t have a clue and my tarantulas are being in anyway not cared for. I have a Red Knee Girl and the Curly hair I believe to be a boy from his last molt.

 

[Stotty]

With fear of showing my lack of knowledge that’s now showing! What’s a Tibial hook and should I start worrying again!? I bought him a year ago from a now closed pet shop. He wasn’t a sling however I would guess less than a year old from my brief exchange in the shop. I did loads of research before making my first purchase however I missed any reference to Tibial hook or what to do if there is any sort of problem with your Tarantula. I look after both of mine as best I can, always making sure they are fed and have fresh water. Don’t want you all to think I don’t have a clue and my tarantulas are being in anyway not cared for. I have a Red Knee Girl and the Curly hair I believe to be a boy from his last molt.

 

[Rs50matt]

Once a male tarantula matures they show small hooks on the underside of their front legs (not all species but most) once matured a males life is nearing its end.
Yours doesn't have hooks so don't worry about that.
Unfortunately to put it politely majority of pet shops know very little about tarantulas and will say random crap to secure the sale.
It's hard to judge size by pictures but your albo looks to be well over a year old. Maybe closer to around 3 or 4? Although it's near impossible to tell the age of a T unless you recieve it as a sling.

 

[Jess S]

With fear of showing my lack of knowledge that’s now showing! What’s a Tibial hook and should I start worrying again!? I bought him a year ago from a now closed pet shop. He wasn’t a sling however I would guess less than a year old from my brief exchange in the shop. I did loads of research before making my first purchase however I missed any reference to Tibial hook or what to do if there is any sort of problem with your Tarantula. I look after both of mine as best I can, always making sure they are fed and have fresh water. Don’t want you all to think I don’t have a clue and my tarantulas are being in anyway not cared for. I have a Red Knee Girl and the Curly hair I believe to be a boy from his last molt.

These aren't my images but this is what you are looking for on your albo.

Quick explanation- Most species of mature male tarantulas including T. albopilosum develop tibial hooks on their front pair of legs, the purpose of these hooks is to hold the females fangs back when reproducing.

All mature male tarantulas also develop reproductive organs on the ends of their pedipalps, and the ends of the palps take on a thickened appearance, that get likened to boxing gloves.

It's important to note that physically it is very tricky to tell if a tarantula is male when they are sexually immature. However, when they have their maturing moult (called the ulitimate moult) then they develop those above differences. There are also some other differences such as they tend to be smaller than females and leggier.

When they have developed the hooks and emboli their purpose in life is to find a female and mate. They are on borrowed time and will not live to survive another moult. However, with the right care and particularly with long lived species you could keep a mature male alive for a couple years or so.

With the explanation out of the way, there is a potential yours may be old enough to be a mature male. That's if we take what the pet shop said with a pinch of salt. As it's a really fluffy species, you will probably have a hard time seeing the tibial hooks. Try to look at the ends of the pedipalps instead for those 'bulbs'.

 

[Jess S]

Sorry didn't notice Rs50matt had posted, but I'll leave it up as it's may be helpful to someone.
Also didn't notice that you'd sent the fresh attachment. And definitely no hooks.
I'm afraid I started typing all this very early this morning, spell checked it just now and posted without scrolling to see if any updates. My fault!

 

[Stotty]

Blimey that was brilliant, thank you Jess S. I didn’t know any of that, I’m learning so much on my journey of keeping Tarantulas. They have always fascinated me and continue to do so. I’m lucky enough to get the opportunity to see my Red Knee molt, I had woken early and witnessed the funny web mat dance, that’s when I set up my camera and watched on and off for most of the day. I’ll try and post a video if it will let me. Both mine have been keen eaters and luckily trouble free. I’ve been warned well away from handling them as I’ve been told they are very fragile and really don’t like to be held (resisting my desire to hold them and get to interact up close, I may add) I’ve also been told the handling subject is widely debated on these forums. I’m going to look for threads as I’m interested to learn what you experts say. I would love a GBB next as I’m interested to see and learn from a webbing T (and they are stunning in my opinion) I can’t thank u enough for taking the time to write out the above, I really enjoyed reading that and will keep an eye out in the future for Tibial Hooks and the ‘bulbs’ (can’t add a video!)

 

[Stotty]

Once a male tarantula matures they show small hooks on the underside of their front legs (not all species but most) once matured a males life is nearing its end.
Yours doesn't have hooks so don't worry about that.
Unfortunately to put it politely majority of pet shops know very little about tarantulas and will say random crap to secure the sale.
It's hard to judge size by pictures but your albo looks to be well over a year old. Maybe closer to around 3 or 4? Although it's near impossible to tell the age of a T unless you recieve it as a sling.

Thank you for your reply Rs50matt it seems males in the reptile world get a bad deal! I guessed it was a male after examining a molt, there was no clear flap (don’t know the technical term) saying that I’m not exactly an expert as I’ve clearly demonstrated! But we all have to start at the beginning in all hobbies. I’m building my knowledge base now and this forum is going to really help, in hindsight I should have joined on day one.

 

[Jess S]

When it next moults post a pic of the moult and we can confirm the sex, if you want.

Noone on here would claim expert status, but there are some users that keep 100s of tarantulas and been in the hobby years and you can't beat that sort of experience.

Thanks for your kind words. I've got a habit of typing out responses not realising that the thread has been updated, invalidating what I was going to say, especially if I have to stop to use the phone for something else, and then go back to it later! I'll have to start checking lol

I'd love to see your video. You'll probably be able to post it in the Media section.

I hope you stick around the forum!

 

[tapkoote]

Tarantula keepers guide is a good book for overall look at them. eBay used books , even new it's a fair price.

 

[Arachnoclown]

Tarantula keepers guide is a good book for overall look at them. eBay used books , even new it's a fair price.

This book is much, much better and more current then the TKG. I say this because I have 3 of the TKG revisions. The photos alone in this book of all the different species is worth the money alone.

 

[Stotty]

Tarantula keepers guide is a good book for overall look at them. eBay used books , even new it's a fair price.

I’ll be adding that to the Christmas list, thank you