New Owner of Avic. Avic. with concerns

Hey Arachnoboards

This is my first post (yes I read the rules) and I have some questions because even though I feel pretty good after reading for hours on end about keeping T's I have some concerns over my T.

I bought an Avic. avic. from Jack's pets about 3 weeks ago, and I was super excited. After about a week after I brought it back, I tried feeding it some crickets, but it wasn't eating any. 2 days later, I found out she molted, so I knew that was why she wasn't eating. After a week, I tried again, and it doesn't seem to be eating. I put them right in front of it (the cricket even walked right underneath it) and nothing. It would normally just spend time in a hammock like web. I can't see anything that would confirm it being male, and the molt was too messy to sex. Also, I guess the stress from transporting it to my home and such messed something up, cause my T lost a leg in it's molt... I was really sad about that.

It's been 2 weeks since it molted and it still hasn't been eating. It's been wandering around the terrarium, I saw it by the water dish once. I destroyed the web when removing the molt to see if I could sex it and it hasn't made a new web yet. After the molt the abdomen was really small, but I knew that was okay. However, it hasn't enlarged at all since it molted and I guess I'm just worried something is wrong with my T. It could be that the T is male, and so it'll stay skinny.

Please lemme know if there is a problem (and if there is what I can do to fix it), or if I just have a male on my hands. But even if it were a male, why is it not eating?

Thanks!

How big is the spider? The bigger the spider, the longer it takes to recover from a molt. Keel it hydrated, give it another week before trying another cricket. Leave it alone outside making sure it has water.

Its abdomen won't just magically get bigger, that takes food, it will get bigger once it begins eating. What's the enclosure like...moisture, ventilation, anchor points.

A. avicularia are notorious for webbing before a molt, then tearing at least a part of it down afterwards and not webbing it up again until the want to molt once again. That's just them.

As for food, if it's past 2 weeks since she molted, throw a cricket in there and leave it overnight. She is able to defend herself at that point and if hungry, will hunt it down on her own terms. Some T's don't like being "tong fed" and want to hunt on their own. My A. avic is a bit picky like that, too.

Make sure is has access to a dish with fresh water, too.

The biggest killer of Avics is moist stuffy cages. Regular condensation is bad, as is overmisting. They need dry substrate and cross ventilation. A water bowl will provide the humidity. They live up in trees where breezes dry things out after the rains.

I really hate bugging my avics, especially after molting. I wait until they creep down out of their tube web and get in hunting stance before offering food. That way I know they are hungry and I wont have to chase down uneaten food. You can toss in a cricket overnight like Storm said, some avics dont like to be watched while they hunt/eat lol. The MM I had would only eat at night in the dark, even if the hall light was on he would not hunt it down (he also did not eat for almost a month after his maturing molt) . Avics can be fussy sometimes, as long as there is water available it should be fine. Just offer food every three or four days.