A. avicularia balding abdomen

becca81

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Sep 17, 2004
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My 3.5" A. avicularia has been up and down since I got it a couple of months ago. It finally started to eat a few weeks ago, but I noticed this morning that it had some bald areas on the abdomen (which was definitely not there a week ago).

The pictures don't show the bald area well, but what I see looks quite pronounced. Since this species doesn't flick the hairs, and I don't know what she would be pushing them into, why would she be losing hairs like this? Can stress just make the hairs fall out?

Over the past couple of months, I've made changes to try to help her settle in more. I've upped the temperature and humidity and made the enclosure a smaller to help her feel more secure. She has two water sources, one on the ground and one near the top that are kept full. I offer pre-killed crickets only (which she ate 2 of a couple of weeks ago).

Any suggestions?

She's been hunched up on the top of her corkbark for a couple of days. I've only seen a couple of threads of silk ever produced, certainly not a web.




It's hard to see the bald area, but you can just make it out near the center of the abdomen.

 

tmanjim

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Nov 24, 2004
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sounds like prep for molt. mine went to the bottom of the enclosure to molt and did not even do a tube web. wait and see and keep posting the progress. good luck. hope it turns out well.
 

becca81

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I agree that it's probably in pre-molt, but I was under the impression that A. avicularia don't typically go bald.
 

Mattyb

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Jun 28, 2004
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Yeah my g/f's avic has been losing hairs, and i couldn't figure out why either, prolly just premolt tho. i doubt its stress.




-Mattyb
 

Schlyne

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Nov 19, 2004
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becca81 said:
My 3.5" A. avicularia has been up and down since I got it a couple of months ago. It finally started to eat a few weeks ago, but I noticed this morning that it had some bald areas on the abdomen (which was definitely not there a week ago).

The pictures don't show the bald area well, but what I see looks quite pronounced. Since this species doesn't flick the hairs, and I don't know what she would be pushing them into, why would she be losing hairs like this? Can stress just make the hairs fall out?
Even for T's that do not flick hairs, when stressed they can start loosing abdomen hairs. I rescued a cobalt blue a couple of months ago (in poor cage conditions (absolutely no place to burrow, and few good hiding spots), and it has a couple of bald patches. Hopefully she will molt soon. (Since then she has a ton of peat moss to burrow in and stays in the burrow all of the time.)
 
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