curly hair help

[Truffs1178]

Thanks Benny. How's Ember and when are you getting your Gargoyle Gecko?

Edit:Private message me. It seems a bit rude making someones Tarantula thread into a Gecko thread lol.

[Glenn]

no, no hooks present, should i assume it is a female and wait for a shed to confirm?

Not necessarily.
If it doesn't have tibial hooks or bulbs, that only means it's not a mature male. It could still very well be an immature male as well as a female. If you happen to catch it up on the glass, take a close photo with the macro on of the ventral side of the abdomen, with a clear view of the area between the first pair of book lungs, like this. I know my way around a furrow and can probably tell you the sex .

As for how old it is, there is no way to know for sure. As I said in a previous post, growth rate varies greatly depending on how warm it was kept, how often it's been fed, and what sex it is. A tarantula at that size could be anywhere from a 2 - 15 years old!

[Glenn]

Most mature males will live about a year or so after maturing (Grammostola rosea males more often than not push three years!), but can take quite a while to get there. Slow growing Grammostola and Brachypelma can take 11+ years to mature in the wild, or if fed lightly in captivity.

[nok1888]

it escaped 2 days ago

See this is why I refuse to let my wife get a tarantula lol


2.0 Border Collies - Jinky & Chance
3.0 Cats - Monty, Dodger & Crunchie
1.1 Royal Pythons Orlina & Sedrick
0.1 BCI Boa - Aasia
1.0 Western Hognose - Hagrid
0.1 Bearded Dragon - iiara

[Lija]

See this is why I refuse to let my wife get a tarantula lol

it happened only because of owners (us), we didn't think about possibility of escaping and i was actually pretty sure our cage should be ok, and when we found it, it was like 10 cm away from his cage. In the future i will always think on how to make sure the tank is 100% escape proof, just like i do with king snakes, especially babies, they're nightmare lol but tarantulas are awesome, i never knew they're so interesting to keep.

[Lija]

.... and i got mexican knee baby from tangled in webs there are 3 sheds in a deli cup it is in from tiny tiny to little bigger, it is a bit smaller then adult cricket now, when we got home he ate small cricket. was very cute to watch how their size is measured, like you mentioned before, from end of front leg to the end of rear one diagonally?

a q - the soil is very dirty, lots of leftovers of everything- food, sheds, parts of bigger spiders sheds and not sure what's else. I would like to change it and put a hide may be, small something that would fit in a deli cup, i have small flat pieces of cork i can use. so should i do it or leave as is? and if to leave as is for how long? if to change - how it should look like, how to transfer such a tiny and fragile thing? spoon?

[Hypnotic]

I usually tip the enclosure lightly and chase them out carefully into the new one, I clean mine once every 6 months, but note, I spot clean and use a mix of plantation soil and vermiculite.
Sure you can put cork in there, just a heads up, spiders are ultimate destroyers. So far every tarantula I owned chewed pieces out of the cork, it's really funny to see.
If he's that small you can even use your hand to move him, like I do with my little sling right now, just be warned, they can be FAST.
I'l take a picture of my enclosure and post it in a minute or two, I'l also add a picture of my sling, since he's currently in hiding (suspect he has to shed).


And yeah, my windows get dirty instantly when misting, he's been in there for around a month or two.

[Lija]

Oh guys need help here.
My baby red knee got shed for the 4th time and got a piece of old shed stuck to his top part of the belly, it is thorax upper part that is stuck to it, can't take pic it is so fast, the moment I open the lid to take pic it disappears in his burrow.

What to do?

[Lija]

[Truffs1178]

Oh the thorax is stuck on the abdomen. That shouldn't be a problem. Just use tweezers and try to knock it off. Don't grab it in case it's actually stuck to something. It doesn't seem stuck though so it should fall off with a little help. You will probably have to take it out its tank.

[Lija]

Hmmmmm it is gonna be interesting..... Should I spray on it or something?

[MatthewM1]

I agree should come right off with a little gentle help. I just had a similar thing happen with my LP, it came right off with a little touch from the tongs

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[Truffs1178]

NOOOOO DONT SPRAY HER!!! They hate that and it really stresses them. They have an incredibly sense of touch as well. Such awesome little creatures.

[Truffs1178]

Ok now I'm more concerned. I can't quite tell what that is. Can you describe it. I think it's had a bad molt.

[Lija]

I took it out and now belly looks like that. Leave it or do something?

[Lija]

[Lija]

It looks like a wrinkle of old skin I'd say or may be leftovers

[Truffs1178]

If it's more excess she'd then try to tap that off as well. I thought it looked like a would or something on the pic. Extra skin shouldn't be too bad though. Keep me updated I want to see it ok.

[Lija]

thank you Jack, no it is not a wound and if it is, it is healed.
so i should leave it be and it should be better after next shed? or a guy will knock it off? and if it is a bad shed, why did that happen and what i can do to prevent it from happening in the future?

all i can say that whatever that is it didn't affect his appetite lol it is possible to overfeed tarantula?

[Glenn]

Looks like it's some left over molt on his abdomen; I've had that happen to some slings on occasion.
What you can do is keep it moist for a while, and try and grab it off with tweezers or something if it does not come off on it's own. I would think it's just barely stuck on, as there are bristles under there.
Otherwise, you can just leave it; it's not anywhere serious that would impede a future molt.

You can "overfeed" a tarantula to a point that it may stop eating or fast for an indeterminate amount of time, but I've only heard/read of one or two reports of them actually eating so much that they seemingly burst.
To be safe, I wouldn't feed it so much to the point where the abdomen is more than double the size of the carapace.

Edit:

Cute 'lil guy, by the way. I miss when mine was that small.