Trantula Bald spot

Hello, I purchased a Rose Hair Tarantula from a flea market about 7 months ago. When I bought it, it wasn’t very well taken care of. It didn’t have water or food. But it ate and drank a lot the first night. Since then it's been doing well. Eats almost every week and drinks a lot. I have it in a 6-gallon critter keeper with a locking screen top. It molted once and looked fine after, but it changed from the light brown to a dark almost black shade. It hasn’t molted in about 2 months but it has this weird bald spot now. It seemed to develop over night and got about twice as big as it originally was. I have a picture but it's hard to take so sorry it's hard too see. I've heard they kick off hairs to defend them selves not sure if that's what happened.

Thanks, Andrew

http://img313.imageshack.us/img313/6...derbaldkc8.jpg

yup... a bald spot is normal... esp before a moult.

but there are waaaaaay more intelligent members here who can answer on your specific tarantula.

Also if you ever see a bald patch with here all around it..this means your tarantula may have been kicking hair off because of stress or if it felt threatened -sp-

Well, first of all, that is mostl likely not a rose hair. They are not that dark, even the "muddy" ones. If you can get a picture of the entire spider, I *might* be able to give you a better idea of what species you have.
As for the bald spot, yes, it has been kicking hair. You can see by the color of the cuticle (the skin) that it is not anywhere near ready to molt again. Depending on its size, if it is an adult, it will not molt again for about another year. Only spiderlings molt every few months and that time frame gets longer as they grow.

That looks more like a haplopema species...possibly a cobalt blue. In that case, it needs much deeper substrate, as the bald spot is a sure sign of being stressed out for that species.

Can you get a whole body picture?

Hey guys, When I bought the spider the man told me it was a rose hair. It was light brown and looked like the other spider's he had for sale. It molted and turned from light brown to that almost black and orangy brown. I have a few pics there not great but best I can do.

The spider the day of purchasing -- http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/9...idernewpw6.jpg

The spider shortly after it's first and only molt --http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/1...dernew2yi8.jpg

Hi,


I can't venture any alternate species identifictions but can say you have a lil boy there - in case no one has told you they don't live very long after their adult molt .:(

They tend to be quite active as he should now be searching for a mature female to mate with - you might be intrested in seeing that whole process and possibly raising your own spiderlings.

Buying a female now will also mean you will have a longer term pet. Sexing is tricky if you don't have access to a shed skin but in the last pic you posted the middle of the collage clearly shows the "hooks" the adult male uses during breeding.

second leg down in middle pic 2 knuckles in


dr del

I may be wrong on this , but to me it looks like that spider has purple markings on its cephalthorax.. could be a type of Pamphobeteus

Actually, I would NOT recommended breeding that T, as you don't know what species it is! You definately have a mature male though.

It's not a Pamphobeteus and I really don't think it's a rose hair.

A Pamphobeteus species should have pinkish/purple markings on the carapace kind of like this one.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...newhousing.jpg

It's not possible to ID a T based on colors, and it's very hard to determine some T's from a photo.

The bald spot could be a sign of stress, so what should I do too change the enclosure? He seem's to eat and drink well so before that bald spot I never knew of any problems.