Hello,
I am hoping that someone (or several someones) out there can help me, I am very worried about my spiderling. Let me start out with the background of my new avicularia versicolor and I will catch up to the reason why I am posting here.
On September 3rd I purchased my new pet at the Exotic Animal & Reptile Show as it passed through my town. I bought 2 avicularia versicolor spiderlings approx. the same age judging by their size from one of the vendors at the show. This vendor had several species and several of them were spiderlings, so I have good reason to believe that they were good quality and healthy specimens. I do not recall the name of the business right now, but I do have their card around somewhere.
I purchased the "twins" so that my girlfriend could have one, and I would raise the other. Of the two spiders I gave the one that had webbed it's vial up the most to my girlfriend and I kept the one with less area webbed, no big deal. I kept both spiders for the first 2 weeks until I could deliver the one to my girlfriend since she lives out of state. During the first week, the one that I had reserved for her had eaten a couple of crickets, and one week to the day since I had bought them it had molted for the first time. It slowly regained it's appetite shortly after. Of the 2 spiders the one I was giving her had a much heartier appetite. I was feeding both of them one small cricket about every day to every other day, and her spider was definately eating more of them than mine. Finally after about two weeks I was able to deliver the one spiderling to my girlfriend. That night I fed them both and the next day I could see that her spider was still finishing the cricket (due to the small cricket "dust ball" hanging from it's tiny fangs. But as for my spiderling it looked as if it only sucked on it's cricket for a short while that night and "spit it out" with out finishing it. I thought "perhaps it was full & couldn't finish it's meal", not unlike many children and their vegetables. I returned home with my baby a day or two later, fed it again and this same process was repeated. Before you ask, I did witness the spider attack both crickets and begin feeding. That was the last time my spider had eaten. I dismissed it for about 1 week assuming it was preparing to molt. I have placed a few water drops in the vial for humidity & drinking on two occasions with no ill effects. Meanwhile my girlfriend's spider was feeding about every day like a good healthy baby should. Here I am 3 almost 4 weeks later since my spider has last eaten. I placed a cricket in the vial earlier this week thinking it MUST be hungry, growing babies need to eat, yet alas the cricket was ignored. Through out all this time my spider remains active and responsive, for instance when I lightly blow on it to see its reaction. Also when I let it out of the vial it is very active crawling all over my hands and arms. In the meantime my girlfriends spider was eating like crazy (like normal). Well, here's where I am beginning to worry, my girlfriend called me yesterday and told me that her spiderling had DIED!!! I checked with her and she was caring for it properly (heat, humidity, food, water). Now of the 2 spiderlings, her's being the healthier, normal acting spider (molting, feeding, etc.), mine the anorexic acting of the two, her's is dead and mine hasn't eaten in almost a month. If it were an older spider I would not worry, but since it is so young and should be normally eating I am really perplexed! I have already succesfully raised a greenbottle blue tarantula from a spiderling and it is now about 1 year old, and very happy and healthy.
PLEASE, PLEASE, is there anyone out there who may know what might be the problem, or that can point me in the right direction in possibly correcting my spider's eating disorder? I am afraid that since it is not eating as it should at such a young age that it may affect it's future development, if not die from it. I really don't want my spider to die as it's twin has.
Any help that anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated! And please forgive me if I have been a little long winded in explaining all this, I have never posted a thread, and besides I AM EXTREMELY WORRIED! :wall:
Please post a reply, or e-mail me if you can help.
Thank you all so very much,
Shade
I am hoping that someone (or several someones) out there can help me, I am very worried about my spiderling. Let me start out with the background of my new avicularia versicolor and I will catch up to the reason why I am posting here.
On September 3rd I purchased my new pet at the Exotic Animal & Reptile Show as it passed through my town. I bought 2 avicularia versicolor spiderlings approx. the same age judging by their size from one of the vendors at the show. This vendor had several species and several of them were spiderlings, so I have good reason to believe that they were good quality and healthy specimens. I do not recall the name of the business right now, but I do have their card around somewhere.
I purchased the "twins" so that my girlfriend could have one, and I would raise the other. Of the two spiders I gave the one that had webbed it's vial up the most to my girlfriend and I kept the one with less area webbed, no big deal. I kept both spiders for the first 2 weeks until I could deliver the one to my girlfriend since she lives out of state. During the first week, the one that I had reserved for her had eaten a couple of crickets, and one week to the day since I had bought them it had molted for the first time. It slowly regained it's appetite shortly after. Of the 2 spiders the one I was giving her had a much heartier appetite. I was feeding both of them one small cricket about every day to every other day, and her spider was definately eating more of them than mine. Finally after about two weeks I was able to deliver the one spiderling to my girlfriend. That night I fed them both and the next day I could see that her spider was still finishing the cricket (due to the small cricket "dust ball" hanging from it's tiny fangs. But as for my spiderling it looked as if it only sucked on it's cricket for a short while that night and "spit it out" with out finishing it. I thought "perhaps it was full & couldn't finish it's meal", not unlike many children and their vegetables. I returned home with my baby a day or two later, fed it again and this same process was repeated. Before you ask, I did witness the spider attack both crickets and begin feeding. That was the last time my spider had eaten. I dismissed it for about 1 week assuming it was preparing to molt. I have placed a few water drops in the vial for humidity & drinking on two occasions with no ill effects. Meanwhile my girlfriend's spider was feeding about every day like a good healthy baby should. Here I am 3 almost 4 weeks later since my spider has last eaten. I placed a cricket in the vial earlier this week thinking it MUST be hungry, growing babies need to eat, yet alas the cricket was ignored. Through out all this time my spider remains active and responsive, for instance when I lightly blow on it to see its reaction. Also when I let it out of the vial it is very active crawling all over my hands and arms. In the meantime my girlfriends spider was eating like crazy (like normal). Well, here's where I am beginning to worry, my girlfriend called me yesterday and told me that her spiderling had DIED!!! I checked with her and she was caring for it properly (heat, humidity, food, water). Now of the 2 spiderlings, her's being the healthier, normal acting spider (molting, feeding, etc.), mine the anorexic acting of the two, her's is dead and mine hasn't eaten in almost a month. If it were an older spider I would not worry, but since it is so young and should be normally eating I am really perplexed! I have already succesfully raised a greenbottle blue tarantula from a spiderling and it is now about 1 year old, and very happy and healthy.
PLEASE, PLEASE, is there anyone out there who may know what might be the problem, or that can point me in the right direction in possibly correcting my spider's eating disorder? I am afraid that since it is not eating as it should at such a young age that it may affect it's future development, if not die from it. I really don't want my spider to die as it's twin has.
Any help that anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated! And please forgive me if I have been a little long winded in explaining all this, I have never posted a thread, and besides I AM EXTREMELY WORRIED! :wall:
Please post a reply, or e-mail me if you can help.
Thank you all so very much,
Shade