Lately I have noticed my B. smithi has a bald spot on her rear end which wasn't there couple weeks ago.

About a month ago I moved her from a small container to a large 20 gal tank and he seemed to adopt to it well. Explored the entire tank from top to bottom (didn't think Tarantulas could climb glass but she had no problem and spent a couple days hanging off the screen). For substrate I used a mix of untreated potting soil, invert mix and peat moss and have it about 6"-8" deep. I have some fake plants for decoration and a small bowl of water (about 2-3" diameter).

She has eaten crickets fine, so definitely doesn't seem stressed as far as I can tell. However I am not as well versed with T's as I am with other animals so this bald spot is something I don't know about. In birds and some mammals, bald spots could mean stress, as stressed animals often over groom themselves...but I don't know if stress does the same with T's.

Oh and one other thing that's different in this setup than in the old one, is I have a low watt bulb to help keep the cage warm. There is only a 60 watt bulb and the hot end surface temp (of the ground) is about 85F I think it was (I measured awhile ago, before I put my T in, to make sure it didn't get too hot).

I think I covered all the details, so if anybody can give some insight why my T's developing a bald spot, will greatly appreciate it. Oh and one last thing, I don't handle the spider so I know its not stress from handling.

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]