Avicularia Metallica molt?

Joseppi189

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Hello, i just purchased this T and she was purchased as an Avicularia Metallica, unsexed 3"+. She is about 5"+ and very docile but she will not eat and she looks very brown/grey rather than blue or green. Does she look like she is going to molt? she has a bald patch on her abdomen and isn't eating at the moment, although i have only had her a few days so maybe she is scared from being shipped and in a new home still? She is kept at about 75-80 degrees and the humidity is between 75-80% as well. i just hope she isnt sick.
also, do you think she is an A. Metallica? Pictures ive seen show a blue/green body with white hairs and as you can see, shes quite grey with flash on and a rust brown without.
Thanks for any help, im relatively new to the hobby so like most newbies i get concerned easily.
 

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Poec54

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Wild caught Avics can come in dull and brownish, and will get the full colors after shedding.

You need a bigger cage, that's way too small. Avics need dry (not moist) substrate, and only slings need misting; yours is much too big for that. It should have a water bowl for the humidity. Ventilation looks good (holes should be on the sides for cross ventilation, not on the lid).
 

Joseppi189

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ya, like i said i bought her as 3"+ so i thought she was going to be about half the size. i ordered a new 10x10x16" enclosure for her though and it should be in this week! all the care sheets ive read say that they should have 70-80% humidity and to mist their terrarium once or twice a week and dampen the substrate once or twice a month to keep the humidity up. guess theres some conflicting ideas on how to keep them but the only way i can keep the humidity that high is with misting. she does have a shallow water dish as well.
i never asked if she was wild caught.. i bought her from ken the bug guy.
Im more concerned about her not eating and being very sluggish. i thought the pictures might help an experienced hobbiest tell if she was near a molt.
 

viper69

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Your T does have white setae in the pattern characteristic of an A metallica, but not a guarantee. A fresh molt will tell us a bit more. Agree with Poec could be WC
 

cold blood

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ya, like i said i bought her as 3"+ so i thought she was going to be about half the size. i ordered a new 10x10x16" enclosure for her though and it should be in this week! all the care sheets ive read say that they should have 70-80% humidity and to mist their terrarium once or twice a week and dampen the substrate once or twice a month to keep the humidity up. guess theres some conflicting ideas on how to keep them but the only way i can keep the humidity that high is with misting. she does have a shallow water dish as well.
i never asked if she was wild caught.. i bought her from ken the bug guy.
Im more concerned about her not eating and being very sluggish. i thought the pictures might help an experienced hobbiest tell if she was near a molt.
Care sheets are GARBAGE. People who reply on them end up with problems more often than not, especially with the Avicularia genus. No species on the planet...not one, requires a number specific humidity. This idea causes people to way over compensate. Adequate cross ventilation if far, FAR, more important than humidity, which is something curiously left off of 99% of care sheets.

Because you insist that your humidity is 75-80%, I'm guessing you got roped into spending extra $$ on a worthless piece of :poop: hygrometer. Take it out, its gonna get you in trouble...these things are notoriously inaccurate, and people read these supposed magic numbers, add moisture and mist until they see this special number...by then its over-done and the avic is on a fast track downhill.

Like poec54 said, dry substrate and a water dish, along with good cross ventilation (not top) is all you need. That water dish not only provides a constant source for drinking, but its what controls your humidity...its literally all that you need. And misting is highly over-rated....misters aren't half as useful as a syringe...heck pouring water on the sub is a better use of water than a mister.


Follow these care sheets and you'll soon be believing in SADS (sudden avic death syndrome), which doesn't actually exist, but is rather a result of people being given poor care information and acting upon it.
 

Joseppi189

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well i mostly listened to jon3800 on youtube who is a very experienced hobbiest.. this is the first im hearing that avics only need a water dish and to have dry substrate. i also read numerous others and every single one ive seen gives a 75-80% humidity recommendation. so thanks for the advice, ill relax with the humidity then and not mist her cage. She does have a shallow rock water dish at all times but her substrate is damp.
im still worried about if shes in premolt and the whole not eating thing. ive been trying to give her a superworm in the evening to no avail so far.

---------- Post added 05-04-2015 at 07:12 AM ----------

You guys are correct though, she is wild caught. Ken said he had her for about 6 months. So if most care sheets are garbage, where's the best place to learn to care for a particular species? Or are they all pretty much water dish and dry substrate like this?
 

lalberts9310

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You guys are correct though, she is wild caught. Ken said he had her for about 6 months. So if most care sheets are garbage, where's the best place to learn to care for a particular species? Or are they all pretty much water dish and dry substrate like this?
Husbandry is al dependant on species, some species needs moist substrate, other needs bone dry, and other needs in between.. when it comes to husbandry, learning to correctly care for your tarantulas you have come to the right place, arachnoboards is one of the best (if not the best) place to learn how to properly care for your T, you can either ask or search.. here's a lot of experienced members who wouldn't hesitate helping.. majority of people have success keeping avics dry rather than moist, most avic deaths are due to improper husbandry thanks to all those infamous care-sheets from so called "experienced" tarantula keepers, those are junk... you can occasionally dribble few water droplets onto the substrate, provide a water bowl, cork slab to climb on and fake plants for anchor points for webbing, and cross-ventilation is key (sides not top) they need it, try making a few holes at the top and a few vent holes just above the substrate, and give it a bigger aboreal enclosure... as for the id of the T, I don't know, wait for it to molt, then you'll be able to more or less make a guess :)
 
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cold blood

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The problems with learning via you tube are the same as learning through care sheets....there is no one to correct mistakes, no one to question, no one to explain what or why they do or think they need to do what they are saying/doing. More often than not its just parroted info from other poor locations.

Here you get info from actual people successfully keeping them, who are available to not only help, but explain the whats and whys....plus poor info is very quickly corrected here.

I could be doing everything wrong, make a youtube video that looks great and convince hundreds of my poor ways...try that here...lol, a dozen people will chime in and the poor advice will quickly become obvious.


You've never heard this info because you've simply been looking and taking info from the worst of places.

Those guys big into youtube, like jon3800 and others, get WAAAAAAAAAY too much credit (almost all of it from newbies or those that just don't know any better)....99% of what I see on youtube vids is poor info from less than educated individuals who just want to show off rather than actually educate....not a good place to look for solid info.
 

Joseppi189

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thanks for all the help guys! you're all very nice and ill be sure to remember that! her enclosure is definitely too small right now, its about 8" diameter and 12" high, but i expected her to be 3" so i thought that was perfect. shes actually over 5" so as i mentioned, i did get her this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ARBOREAL-AC...315?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e99f202a3
I think it will be perfect for her to be able to climb and stretch out. i bought her a few fake plants, a vine, and a big log to make webs or climb at her leisure once it comes in. I really love my tarantulas and im glad youre helping me be a better keeper. I also have a Grammostola Pulchripes that is only 2" who i keep with dry substrate and a water dish and nice hide.
Do you guys think my A. Metallica is not eating cause shes still getting used to the environment or do you think shes in premolt? guess theres no way to be sure. ill just keep trying to feed her every day or 2 and see if she snaps out of it.
oh, and how will the molt help you figure out the species? like what color she turns after she molts?
 

Poec54

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Sometimes it can take them a couple weeks to settle in. It's a good sign when they spin a sheet/tube, and the best way to encourage that is to give them a lot of anchor points for spinning.

The biggest killer of Avic is moist, stuffy cages. They're up in the air in the wild and are used to breezes and fresh air. Just as epiphytic orchids can't live in a pot of wet soil, neither can an Avic. I have 10 species of Avics and keep them all with dry substrate, water bowls, and cross ventilation. I only mist slings.
 

lalberts9310

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A post-molt tarantulas colours is more vibrant than when it's in pre-molt, especially if it hasn't molted for a very long time.. regarding her low appetite I think could be because she might still be acclimating .. or could be pre-molt, but keep offering her food.. I also have a female psalmopoeus sp. That still needs an identification, had her for 5 months now, and am still waiting for a molt to more or less be able to know what she is.. so I know the feeling..
 
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Sana

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Not eating can be an indication of premolt, or a number of other things. I have an A. avicularia about the same size as your avic and she regularly fasts for no better reason than to make me absolutely crazy. Yours doesn't appear to be super skinny, so I wouldn't worry too much about the fasting. None of mine will eat in a new enclosure until they feel settled enough to start webbing. My girl who is the same size as yours only eats every week to ten days. If I try to feed her more often than that, I just spend a lot of time fishing prey back out of her enclosure so that it can't harm her or annoy me.
 

Joseppi189

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How is this terrarium for her?

Hey guys! i wanted to know if this enclosure is good for her! I just go it and moved her in. it looks plenty big enough and it has three 2" ventilation holes on it as you can see. i put dry substrate and overfilled the water dish a little as you guys recommended.
 

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cold blood

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I'm not a fan of that type of ventilation, so someone with more experience with that type can comment on them....I don't like them because mesh can a) be chewed through by a t and b) t's can get the hooks on their "feet" caught in it as well.

Otherwise the set up looks good, but you still need a few additions...and that's more foliage. They are one genus that really likes a more cluttered enclosure, giving them a large number of anchor points for their webbing....promotion of webbing should be a priority as an Avic almost always does better once its webbed a tube or home.
 

Joseppi189

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Ya, i actually was going to go get some more fake plants to throw in there! good to know, ill be sure to do that tonight. thanks.
The mesh is a metal of some kind, aluminium or similar.. i guess if i see any puncture marks ill have to address her possibly biting through it!
 

lalberts9310

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Ya, i actually was going to go get some more fake plants to throw in there! good to know, ill be sure to do that tonight. thanks.
The mesh is a metal of some kind, aluminium or similar.. i guess if i see any puncture marks ill have to address her possibly biting through it!
if I'm not mistaking, Poec54 had an H.gigas snap of a peace of plexi with it's fangs, just goes to show how powerful they are.. overall the setup looks good, just need more fake plants like CB already suggested.
 

Joseppi189

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I'm not a fan of that type of ventilation, so someone with more experience with that type can comment on them....I don't like them because mesh can a) be chewed through by a t and b) t's can get the hooks on their "feet" caught in it as well.

Otherwise the set up looks good, but you still need a few additions...and that's more foliage. They are one genus that really likes a more cluttered enclosure, giving them a large number of anchor points for their webbing....promotion of webbing should be a priority as an Avic almost always does better once its webbed a tube or home.

Is this good? IMG_20150507_205422081[1].jpg IMG_20150507_205527269[1].jpg
 

Joseppi189

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wow! thats pretty crazy, i actually thought they were kinda fragile creatures, didnt know they had some hulk strength when they wanted it.
 

BobGrill

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I watch John's videos and I respect him as an experienced hobbyist, but some of the things he does are a bit questionable IMO. He keeps even his larger tarantulas in rather small enclosures (even somewhat cramped looking enclosures) and I don't see hiding places in a lot of his terrestrial enclosures.
 

cold blood

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wow! thats pretty crazy, i actually thought they were kinda fragile creatures, didnt know they had some hulk strength when they wanted it.
They can be much stronger than one may expect from an invert....but when you think about it, they basically feed by overpowering their prey. Power is their game...with an assist from the element of surprise (with many species).
 
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