Strange behavior to you...?!

jbrd

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 8, 2005
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At first glance to me, I would say this T has been messed with way to much. Bald abdomen, dead crickets in the tank, poked at with a ruler, tells me its possibly mismanagement of the T. Did it take a fall from climbing or some other mishap?
I would stop poking at it though.
Of course this is my opinion at first glance.

~J
 

Remigius

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
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Jan 18, 2008
Messages
320
is it well hydrated? Seems to be weakened somehow... That's just my guess. I've never seen sth. like that (it doesn't resemble the symptoms of diskinetic syndrome I've seen)
 

beanb142002

Arachnoknight
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May 23, 2008
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156
At first glance to me, I would say this T has been messed with way to much. Bald abdomen, dead crickets in the tank, poked at with a ruler, tells me its possibly mismanagement of the T. Did it take a fall from climbing or some other mishap?
I would stop poking at it though.
Of course this is my opinion at first glance.

~J
I received her with the bald abdomen. She started acting like this a few weeks after I received her.

She refused to eat and never drinks from her water dish.

I admit I did not remove the dead crickets and I can see how poking her with a ruler is not good either. But it was to demonstrate her odd movements.
I was not going to use my finger, sorry:rolleyes:
 

jbrd

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
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Mar 8, 2005
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I received her with the bald abdomen. She started acting like this a few weeks after I received her.

She refused to eat and never drinks from her water dish.

I admit I did not remove the dead crickets and I can see how poking her with a ruler is not good either. But it was to demonstrate her odd movements.
I was not going to use my finger, sorry:rolleyes:

Use a paint brush next time because you two will not be able to hurt each other that way. :D
Has she taken a fall since you have owned her?

~J
 

spiders4life

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
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Oct 9, 2005
Messages
339
She looks dehydratet, and no matter whats wrong with your spider, nothing gives you a reason to poke it like that with a ruler. If your spider are sick, the last thing it needs, is to be disturbed and poked arround :mad: Why didnt you just describe the symptoms instead?
 

Sathane

Arachnoking
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Feb 16, 2009
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Definitely looks like dehydration to me.

This YouTube comment (not mine) pretty well sums up the rest of it:

"I know Tarantula's very well. This is called the pokingia-owner-irritanti syndrom. It is very common.
It is trying to commit suicide by stopping eating to have rest at last.."
 

NinjaPirate

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
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Dec 11, 2007
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63
Yeah, seems to me that it's at the start of the "walking on knees" that you'd generally associate with dehydration. I'd put a nice big water dish in there and gently prod her until her face is in it. I had to do something similar with a GBB after a molt. It was Dehydrated, but wouldn't go looking for it's water. Other than that, reduce stress by keeping it in a dark place and not bothering it any more than absolutely necessary.
 

Remigius

Arachnobaron
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Jan 18, 2008
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320
I've watched the movie one more time and I noticed that you poked your T on its abdomen. Don't do that. It could hurt her.
 

mhill

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
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Feb 18, 2006
Messages
68
The main thing I see wrong is the idiot holding the ruler stressing the T out more by constanty poking it. No wonder its abdomen is bald. Make sure it has a full water dish, clean conditions, food, and leave it alone! Its stressed out!!
 

BrynWilliams

Arachnoprince
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Apr 22, 2009
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1,295
I think the point about not hassling the tarantula anymore with the ruler has been made, but I have to say I agree with them on that front.

However, regarding the Ts movement, it does look a little slow, definitely not DKS, and looking around the tank it seems a little dry in there. These signs point to dehydration but as far as a previous comment about ushering them over to a water bowl goes I don't think that would work.

A couple things I would recommend trying, give her somewhere to hide (flowerpot/plants etc) and either mist the inside walls of her tank so beads of water form on it, or get a fake plant in there and mist that. The purpose being that my slings love to go and sit on their plants when i mist them and I've watched them drink water from these drops before. Couple that with a water dish and you're giving the T every opportunity to rehydrate itself either off the turf/plants/walls/waterbowl.

That may help it regain it's usual attitude :)

I may also recommend not trying to feed it anything alive for a short while. This is just to prevent injury if it not up to it's usual strength. in this regard it's known that Ts get a lot of moisture from the food they eat, so you may wish to try and give it a wet prekilled cricket. It may be it's not currently eating due to lack of strength to hunt. The wet pre-kill may also be helpful in delivering moisture to the T.

I hope this helps and if anyone disagrees with anything I always welcome comments.

Bryn
 

peachypaderna

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 10, 2009
Messages
60
Yikes. Just watching the video made me feel incredibly stressed. I know the original poster meant well, but poking away with that ruler must have made things worse for his pet.

I'll just echo advice that's already been dispensed here: give your tarantula some water, and do buy a paint brush: you can use the bristled end to gently prod your pet towards a particular spot. Having said that, please resist the urge to interfere with your tarantula's activities, unless it's exhibiting unnatural, worrisome behavior that could indicate that it's ill.

Good luck! Hope you get more helpful replies along the way.
 
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