Strange Tapinauchenius gigas behavior

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MikePA

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Oct 21, 2012
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Hi everybody,

I've had my T. gigas for about 4 years now, and she recently started becoming much less agile, slipping on the walls of her container. She also basically stopped putting on mass after her last molt several months ago, and though she continues to eat, her abdomen doesn't really expand at all. Recently, she's been hanging out with her chelicerae in her little water dish for hours at a time, and finally I observed her sitting on her driftwood moving her chelicerae around as if she's chewing, and very slowly alternately raising her palps up and down, for about the past ten minutes. Some may have nothing to do with the others, but have any of you seen something like this before? I am a little concerned.

Thanks for any help you might provide!

Best,
Mike
 
lalberts9310

lalberts9310

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The moving chelicerae with the raising of the palps up and down sounds like grooming behaviour to me. As for the rest, you say she molted several months ago? How many months exactly? I think she may be in pre-molt again, they get sluggish and have a tendency to have less grip on smooth surfaces when in pre-molt. What have you been feeding her?
 
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MikePA

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Hi, thanks for your response! The slow motion drumming of the palps is definitely unlike any grooming behavior I've ever seen -- she's not cleaning her palps with her chelicerae, she's just making the chewing motion while at the same time slowly lifting up and then bringing down her palps, fully extended, one after the other (she has, for the record, stopped doing this now). I wish I could remember exactly, but I really would just be making up a date on her molt. I'm pretty sure it was before summer began in the northern hemisphere. I guess she could be in pre-molt, but just ate a few crickets within the week. She gets crickets and Dubia roaches. It would certainly be a relief if she simply molted soon and got back to normal.
 
BobGrill

BobGrill

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She's just grooming herself. All tarantulas do this.

Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk
 
BobGrill

BobGrill

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Is it actually drumming it's palps? It sounds like it could be a mature male but we can't say for sure unless we see a picture of it. Preferably from an angle that allows us to see the palps.

Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk
 
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MikePA

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[video]https://youtu.be/dvF3tweKIvg[/video]

Terrible quality video, but hopefully you can see what I'm talking about.
Also, definitely not an MM; I can't get a great pic of its palps right now, but no emboli.
 
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MikePA

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cold blood said:
After seeing the vid, I have to side with Bob on this one.
Click to expand...
Really? I guess I've just never seen one of my spiders move like that for 20 solid minutes without actually doing anything that would seem to constitute grooming. No running of the palps between her chelicerae and fangs, and no grooming of the other legs either, just that rhythmic motion over and over again. In any case, glad that no one is alarmed! Thanks for your input!
 
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EDED

EDED

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is she 'drooling' or any white stuff around her chelicerae? you might have to check from under or when she is climbing up the glass

from my experience its not normal grooming

her being less agile, drinking water for hours,
and you had her for 4 years, its not like you just got your first spider or anything.
sorry not trying to scare you. I am just agreeing that you find it odd and it should be. i saw the video too. We all know how T's groom or 'brush teeth'. If your spider is doing that without the usual foot under her mouth and grooming etc. then thats just odd.

check her mouth for white stuff

and keep an eye out for her behavior if there is any weird jerking motion too.

A long time ago, I lost A. genic juvenile that show dyskinetic syndrome and had white gooey stuff under mouth and did all that weird grooming. And behavior/movment was off too.
 
lalberts9310

lalberts9310

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Yes, that is very normal grooming behaviour, I have seen that with each and every tarantula of mine. Moving fangs and palps without actually running them through their mouth. And when it comes to EDEDs post regarding discharge, any fluid that is not clear is abnormal (to my knowledge). You'll usually see a amount of clear fluid from their chelicerae when they groom, they use it to clean themselves. Usually when they have something like nematodes they'll constantly hold their pedipalps underneath their chelicerae as if they were eating. Your T seems very normal to me, and also does not appear to be too thin (not fat either) try offering mealies, waxies or superworms.. as those can be more nutritious than roaches and crickets and may fatten her up a bit, also increase your feedings.. if she's willing to except prey, don't hesitate in offering, especially if you're concerned about her being thin. Also, I had instances where a T ate a day or two before a molt, so don't rule that out completely.
 
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M

MikePA

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EDED said:
is she 'drooling' or any white stuff around her chelicerae? you might have to check from under or when she is climbing up the glass

from my experience its not normal grooming

her being less agile, drinking water for hours,
and you had her for 4 years, its not like you just got your first spider or anything.
sorry not trying to scare you. I am just agreeing that you find it odd and it should be. i saw the video too. We all know how T's groom or 'brush teeth'. If your spider is doing that without the usual foot under her mouth and grooming etc. then thats just odd.

check her mouth for white stuff

and keep an eye out for her behavior if there is any weird jerking motion too.

A long time ago, I lost A. genic juvenile that show dyskinetic syndrome and had white gooey stuff under mouth and did all that weird grooming. And behavior/movment was off too.
Click to expand...
Yikes, I hope its not that! I haven't seen any white material around her chelicerae, but will watch out for it. So far no jerking motions, just weirdly awkward moving around. Thanks for the info, sorry to hear about your spider. Hope this resolves soon.

---------- Post added 10-06-2015 at 10:55 PM ----------
lalberts9310 said:
Yes, that is very normal grooming behaviour, I have seen that with each and every tarantula of mine. Moving fangs and palps without actually running them through their mouth. And when it comes to EDEDs post regarding discharge, any fluid that is not clear is abnormal (to my knowledge). You'll usually see a amount of clear fluid from their chelicerae when they groom, they use it to clean themselves. Usually when they have something like nematodes they'll constantly hold their pedipalps underneath their chelicerae as if they were eating. Your T seems very normal to me, and also does not appear to be too thin (not fat either) try offering mealies, waxies or superworms.. as those can be more nutritious than roaches and crickets and may fatten her up a bit, also increase your feedings.. if she's willing to except prey, don't hesitate in offering, especially if you're concerned about her being thin. Also, I had instances where a T ate a day or two before a molt, so don't rule that out completely.
Click to expand...
That's interesting to hear! I've had lots of tarantulas over the past ten years, and I enjoy watching them groom, and haven't ever seen that specific behavior.

I wasn't worried too much that she was skinny per se, I just observed over several feedings that her abdomen wasn't growing subsequent to eating, and coupled with her struggles climbing around her enclosure, I became a little more concerned. I sometimes throw in superworms for treats, and the big ladies get a frozen mouse once a year, but I try to keep them all from getting too chunky.
 
awiec

awiec

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MikePA said:
Yikes, I hope its not that! I haven't seen any white material around her chelicerae, but will watch out for it. So far no jerking motions, just weirdly awkward moving around. Thanks for the info, sorry to hear about your spider. Hope this resolves soon.

---------- Post added 10-06-2015 at 10:55 PM ----------



That's interesting to hear! I've had lots of tarantulas over the past ten years, and I enjoy watching them groom, and haven't ever seen that specific behavior.

I wasn't worried too much that she was skinny per se, I just observed over several feedings that her abdomen wasn't growing subsequent to eating, and coupled with her struggles climbing around her enclosure, I became a little more concerned. I sometimes throw in superworms for treats, and the big ladies get a frozen mouse once a year, but I try to keep them all from getting too chunky.
Click to expand...
Sounds like normal pre-molt to me, also T.gigas is a kinda quirky animal as mine does things I haven't seen my other spiders do.
 
ayskyub

ayskyub

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After seeing the video, I would say she's getting into the groove. Maybe you have an amazing song playing in the background.
 
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