Crazy Female Spider

[dogmeat]

I have had a male pastel and female spider (from the same clutch) for about 3 months now. The male has gotten MUCH bigger than the female and accepts F/T rat pups every time. The female is very finicky and has only taken one or two, so I have started giving her live/stunned prey.

She is pretty skinny and seems a little dehydrated. She has shed twice, incompletely. These past two weeks she has been going around the cage like crazy (all day), wobbling, and trying to escape. She won't use any of the hides I give her (unlike the male) and hangs out on the cool side of the cage a lot (which worries me--it is probably only 75).

Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

[gpoplin]

I have had a male pastel and female spider (from the same clutch) for about 3 months now. The male has gotten MUCH bigger than the female and accepts F/T rat pups every time. The female is very finicky and has only taken one or two, so I have started giving her live/stunned prey.

She is pretty skinny and seems a little dehydrated. She has shed twice, incompletely. These past two weeks she has been going around the cage like crazy (all day), wobbling, and trying to escape. She won't use any of the hides I give her (unlike the male) and hangs out on the cool side of the cage a lot (which worries me--it is probably only 75).

Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

I have seen/heard of some pretty unusual actions by spiders (wobbling being one of them). I would separate the two and see of she is more inclined to use a small hide box. Also, I would check the humidity level and try paper towels for the substrate that are slightly misted. Good Luck!

[satomi325]

Maybe give her a warm bath as well. That way she can rehydrate and get rid of left over shed.

[blushingball419]

Well, it sounds like she's stressed about something. Are her hides small enough for her? You could try covering the back and sides of her tank with dark construction paper and giving her some fake plants (or even crumpled newspaper) to help her feel more secure.

How are your temps and humidity? If she's had a couple of incomplete sheds then the humidity's probably too low and you could mist more often. Also, as far as her eating habits, were the f/t rat pups warm enough? They should be around 100F, and some bps are more picky than others when it comes to the temp of their f/t prey. Using a hair dryer or just running them under HOT water for a minute after they've been thawed works well for me. If she seems to like the live prey more then I would stick with that for now since the most important thing is that she's eating, but just something to think about in the future

:edit: And yeah, definitely separate them if they are currently living together. That could be the main reason for her stress since one will usually start dominating the other when they co-habitate.