I have a female spider who’s a year old and sitting at 626grams as of 3 weeks ago and was feeding fine, would stike feed at ft rats and sometimes miss but most of the time have no problems. Now after shedding 2 weeks ago (which she shed perfectly with no problems) we’ve tried feeding her 3 times and she striking and missing or sometimes hits it but doesn’t grab hold and after 7-8 misses and hits sometimes more gets pissed off and starts hissing an goes an hides in her hide, she’s very interested in the food in the start but does show signs it’s defensive striking and not feeding?? Any ideas on what’s going on as I’m stumped.
Are you trying to feed her with tongs? Try just setting it down in front of her hide and leaving it for a bit.
Yes trying with tongs an I should of put this In, I have tried drop feeding her but I found the rat in the same place 12 hrs later
That is weird and I’m sure frustrating but happens sometimes, did anything change lately, besides the shed? Temps go up or down, have you been feeding her larger meals lately?
I’d say to re-attempt a few hours later or the next day but looks like with the past few attempts You’ve tried that already
No, no change in environment or temps but do up the humidity to around 70% in shed then return it to 55% after, have been trying her on rat weaners which she was eating fine before hand but was thinking of trying smaller prey item?
Are you sure the prey is warm enough by spot checking the temperature of the head? They recognize the warmth and if it’s not at the right temp, they’ll smell food but won’t be able to find it
How long has it actually been since she last ate? Could try the smaller prey item to get her back going again and like ^^^ said, make sure the prey is thawed out enough and warm. Balls are known to be temperamental. I have a bunch of consistent eaters but a few that have tried to test me in the past. Waiting them out has been the best in my experience and eventually they get back to eating frozen thawed again…all except for 1, but she’s so pretty on the bottom here
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Warm up the prey with a hair dryer concentrating on the head and make sure it is warm enough.
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Have been defrosting at room temp then heating on a heat mat until 32-34c or sometimes using a hair dryer or hot water to get upto temp, have tried dipping the head in hot water until 40c+ and offering so shd has a heat source to go at.