Grammostola Pulchripes, is it in premolt? (Photos attached)

[Tom32]

Hi Forum!

I am new on this board. My name is Tom and we have got our first T. Since it is moving very slowly and is hesitant to eat (but eats) I am wondering if it could be just premolt-phase or something to worry about.
Humidity is 85 % during the night and 70 % during the day. Temperature is 21 °C during the night and 25 °C during the day.
During the day, she is hiding in the dirt in a corner. During the night, she roams through the whole enclosure. No signs of accepting the cork bark as her home.
Water dish is present.



What are your thoughts?

Best regards, Tom

 

[Mustafa67]

I

Hi Forum!

I am new on this board. My name is Tom and we have got our first T. Since it is moving very slowly and is hesitant to eat (but eats) I am wondering if it could be just premolt-phase or something to worry about.
Humidity is 85 % during the night and 70 % during the day. Temperature is 21 °C during the night and 25 °C during the day.
During the day, she is hiding in the dirt in a corner. During the night, she roams through the whole enclosure. No signs of accepting the cork bark as her home.
Water dish is present.

View attachment 472914

What are your thoughts?

Best regards, Tom

I wouldn’t say so

That sounds normal to me, they move slow and are very relaxed. Also they don’t feed often neither.

Read this. Lots of good info here, also forget humidity. Use room temperature.:

Tarantula Information for Beginners (and More)

Below are some helpful resources. (Rather than having half a dozen or more pinned threads, which clutter the top of the board, we are pinning this index.) While the focus is on beginners, there are other threads on health and more advanced species that may be useful to more experienced keepers...

arachnoboards.com

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Doesn’t look premolt to me either. How often are you offering food?
Ditch the hydrometer.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

What’s the entire cage look like?
they don’t need humidity

 

[TheraMygalo]

Hello Tom. What size feeder do you offer?

The abdomen of your G. Pulchripes looks small compared to its carapace. It has more eating to do before pre-molt. There are alot of photos of pre-molt slings. Especialy New Worlds.

Some tarantulas can be hesitant eaters. I don’t know how much time you have, but I put the prey alive in first and wait to see how the sling reacts. While I feed my other spiders, I “keep an eye” to see the interaction. I also try to feed as late in the day as possible. I don’t leave live prey in with my slings over night. Not yet anyways. I will cut off the head of the tiny cricket if it is not eaten after a while. Next day I remove anything thats not eaten.

 

[Tom32]

I wouldn’t say so

That sounds normal to me, they move slow and are very relaxed. Also they don’t feed often neither.

Doesn’t look premolt to me either. How often are you offering food?
Ditch the hydrometer.

What’s the entire cage look like?
they don’t need humidity

Hello Tom. What size feeder do you offer?

The abdomen of your G. Pulchripes looks small compared to its carapace. It has more eating to do before pre-molt. There are alot of photos of pre-molt slings. Especialy New Worlds.

Some tarantulas can be hesitant eaters. I don’t know how much time you have, but I put the prey alive in first and wait to see how the sling reacts. While I feed my other spiders, I “keep an eye” to see the interaction. I also try to feed as late in the day as possible. I don’t leave live prey in with my slings over night. Not yet anyways. I will cut off the head of the tiny cricket if it is not eaten after a while. Next day I remove anything thats not eaten.

Thanks for all of your advice. It calms me down a bit. I had it in a too large container before. It is now in a small glass cube (she sits on the left below a leaf). Photo is attached.



I know it does not need a special humidity.

But since I am sort of a tech nerd, I added a sensor and a fan to avoid mold.
Some days the fan is not running, because the humidity is in the tolerance-zone I programmed.

I gave it one small Shelfordella lateralis today. I guess she had eaten it, but I never found the remnants of it. How do they look like?

Best regards,
Tom

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

That’s an arboreal enclosure. Your T is terrestrial. There’s a huge fall hazard there. If your T climbs and falls, he could be injured or even die from a fall that high. Rule of thumb is no more than 1.5x the DLS of the spider from substrate to lid.

 

[viper69]

Thanks for all of your advice. It calms me down a bit. I had it in a too large container before. It is now in a small glass cube (she sits on the left below a leaf). Photo is attached.

View attachment 472924

I know it does not need a special humidity.

But since I am sort of a tech nerd, I added a sensor and a fan to avoid mold.
Some days the fan is not running, because the humidity is in the tolerance-zone I programmed.

I gave it one small Shelfordella lateralis today. I guess she had eaten it, but I never found the remnants of it. How do they look like?

Best regards,
Tom

Your humidity obsession might kill your T

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

You want to get a low fall risk enclosure like this . Your current cage is for tree spiders.

Mold issues in Lasiodora Cage

Last year I added more ventilation I’m still have a mold issues. I removed the second water dish a few months ago . I’ve removed some of it

arachnoboards.com

 

[Tom32]

That’s an arboreal enclosure. Your T is terrestrial. There’s a huge fall hazard there. If your T climbs and falls, he could be injured or even die from a fall that high. Rule of thumb is no more than 1.5x the DLS of the spider from substrate to lid.

You want to get a low fall risk enclosure like this . Your current cage is for tree spiders.

Mold issues in Lasiodora Cage

Last year I added more ventilation I’m still have a mold issues. I removed the second water dish a few months ago . I’ve removed some of it

arachnoboards.com

Thanks for your reply. Would a lowered ceiling made of acryllic glass suffice? The Wife Acceptance Factor of another Container is dangerously low

Best regards,
Tom

Your humidity obsession might kill your T

I have read that before. In most cases this is due to too much watering. I have it to avoid mold, so its kind of the other way around isn't it?

If not, please elaborate more on the problem you see here.

Best regards,
Tom

 

[TheraMygalo]

Thanks for your reply. Would a lowered ceiling made of acryllic glass suffice? The Wife Acceptance Factor of another Container is dangerously low

Best regards,
Tom

If you lower the ceiling, finding a way to avoid the spider from squeezing itself between the ceiling and the side of the enclosure would be the priority. If something is not “fixed” they will try to move it or get through it. Just because they can.

if you use the bigger enclosure, you could just add substrate. I cant see if there are vents in the lower part, but adding the substrate to a suitable level would avoid having to use a new enclosure. As the spider grows you could remove some substrate if needed and if your spider does not end up being an intense burrower.

 

[viper69]

I have read that before. In most cases this is due to too much watering. I have it to avoid mold, so its kind of the other way around isn't it?

If not, please elaborate more on the problem you see here.

Best regards,
Tom

Generally speaking most people who are concerned about humidity end up with a dead T

 

[TheraMygalo]

I gave it one small Shelfordella lateralis today. I guess she had eaten it, but I never found the remnants of it. How do they look like?

it depends on size of prey item and or if your tarantula ate it all. Sometimes there isnt much to find. It could look like a little bundle of dry flaky cereal. I think there are alot of pictures in the forum if you search “bolus”. Some spiders dump it all in the same spot and it piles up. Then you should start noticing it. My slings eat very tiny crickets. Sometimes i will find pieces of legs here and there, or a tiny little “fuzz” of mold that isnt white. Then i know there was cricket left over. Some even put leftovers in the water dish.

My G. Pulchripe slings are much smaller then yours. So i really do not find much. I also keep the accessories and decor to basic need requirements, extra minimal, to avoid things from “hiding, growing and lurking”.

i dont have access to red runners where i live. I would like to have such a feeder for variety. I read they do not tend to burrow but are very good at hiding and will hide for a long time if the spider does not eat it right away. If you are unsure, go roach hunting in your enclosure. Personnaly, and for the moment, I am too uncomfortable to leave live prey with slings unattended, even if the feeder is size appropriate. That is my personnal approach. Dave of Dave’s little beasties leaves live prey like flightless fruit flies with his slings- he got hundreds of them, pretty sure he aint got time to sit around and wait for everyone of them to eat. He is someone with alot of experience and there is much to learn from his videos.

 

[Tom32]

Generally speaking most people who are concerned about humidity end up with a dead T

I know that, as I already told you. I also read about problems with mold in the forums and a friend of ours had mold on the tarantula. Therefore I am afraid of too much moisture. Can you tell me, how this is dangerous to the T?

 

[cold blood]

Would a lowered ceiling made of acryllic glass suffice?

A much better solution would simply be to add more substrate until the distance from the top is safer.

I have it to avoid mold, so its kind of the other way around isn't it?

Well here is the thing, your t should be on dry substrate, and mold wont grow on dry sub, so your humidity remains irrelevant to your percieved probem.

Also, mold is really not a big deal, all you need to do is pick it out if it pops up.

 

[viper69]

I know that, as I already told you. I also read about problems with mold in the forums and a friend of ours had mold on the tarantula. Therefore I am afraid of too much moisture. Can you tell me, how this is dangerous to the T?

I can't explain your friend. However I can tell you mold is relatively harmless. You spot clean it out if it grows at all. I've never ever had mold in over 99% of my Ts in my life time, and I didn't have to micromanage any one of them at all.

Also, air currents in captivity often bother or freakout Ts btw. Good luck.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Is this a modified aquarium, by chance? If so, I’d turn it back to the longest side being horizontal.

 

[TheraMygalo]

Also, air currents in captivity often bother or freakout Ts btw. Good luck.

I would like to know if you mean air current directly in the enclosure? Or air current in general?

For example: a mini fan blowing opposite direction and away from enclosures. No air being mechanicaly aimed at the enclosures, but air motion in a room. The fan not being close to the enclosures either.

 

[Tom32]

A much better solution would simply be to add more substrate until the distance from the top is safer.

Well here is the thing, your t should be on dry substrate, and mold wont grow on dry sub, so your humidity remains irrelevant to your percieved probem.

Also, mold is really not a big deal, all you need to do is pick it out if it pops up.

Okay, thank you. Since it is a sliding front I will just stabilize an acryllic glass ceiling cut perfectly to the size of the enclosure with woodsticks and will glue it to the glass from the top. Otherwise it would block the airvents on the bottom.

 

[cold blood]

Okay, thank you. Since it is a sliding front I will just stabilize an acryllic glass ceiling cut perfectly to the size of the enclosure with woodsticks and will glue it to the glass from the top. Otherwise it would block the airvents on the bottom.

You can just block the airvents at the bottom...keep it simple.