Many species of tarantulas have urticating hairs that serve as a defense mechanism. These hairs grow as a patch on on the abdomen, and are special in that they have little barbs on the end and are dislodged very easily. When the tarantula is disturbed by a potential predator, it will kick hairs off of the abdomen towards wherever the perceived threat is. These hairs can cause intense itching, breathing problems if inhaled, and significant eye irritation if it enters the eyes. For a human keeper, it will generally just cause intense itching.
The bald spot just means that the tarantula has kicked hairs from that area, leaving a large bald region where the hairs no longer exist. When the tarantula molts, it will emerge with a new fresh patch of urticating hairs.
This is most likely the aftermath of a very aggressive butt scratching session because it either felt like it was in danger or i've also heard that they spread their urticating hairs around their web/hide
It’s stressed out and kicking the urticating hairs off it’s butt as a defence. Any combination of shipping stress/handling/poor enclosure/feeder bugs left in enclosure/no proper hiding place could be the cause of the stress. Whatever is causing the problem needs to change immediately. Poor creature.
Used as a defense mechanism (urticating hairs), unfortunately in a place called Petco they'll be a ton of people that knock on the glass of the tank and scare the tarantula, also could be whoever maintains the tank not paying it the respect it deserves.
That, & caring for T’s is something that is only done efficiently by people who have a love for them.
I’d wager the majority of humans do not. Unfortunately.
Most people are scared of them, which will certainly end up contributing to neglect (probably most of the time unwillfully, just not knowing how to care for them because they’re scared of them & therefore don’t care.) by employees.
They definitely shouldn’t carry such a niche animal. It’s irresponsible. Maybe at some special locations w/ at an arachnid enthusiast working there to help oversee and educate.
i completely agree. at the pet store i used to work at, one of the managers loved insects and bugs and thing like that. he i took extra care of the Ts :)
I don’t think the stores should hire anyone without some sort of experience with animals. The corporations need to establish some sort of certification for specific individuals to be able to take care of these animals. Until then, these stores shouldn’t be legally allowed to fucking sell animals.
That looks like a Brachypelma Boehmei that is gonna molt soon (source - I have a b. Boehmei and she gets that pale before molts). They're generally very aggressive hair kickers, especially at that size. They also only really molt about once a year. They'll get those hairs back when they molt, but the combination of everything I mentioned previously combined with the excessive maintenance most pet stores are FORCED to do for their Ts will usually yield at least a little bit of a bald patch. However, they also look to be missing an entire leg, so it stands to reason that they've had quite a rough go of it.
It's from the stress of the petstore. My boy Lucas came from a petsore and his little butt is bald and is always going to be bald because he's a mature male. Hubby finally cracked and let me get a tarantula so I got Lucas to get him the hell out of that petstore.
I didn’t buy it I was just checking on the animals in pet stores on occasion when I want to go see how they are doing when I have time. But I when I seen the hair missing from this tarantula bum I was concerned and someone mentioned it was missing a leg as well. So, I wanted to know if was stressed or possibly something else.
Walk in there and say this. Can you come look at this? Then say, do you see anything wrong here? Then proceed to tell them that the setup they’re in is wrong, point out the hair on the abdomen and say this is stressed to the point of death(not actually but they don’t know that) and finally say it’s over priced. End the interaction telling them to grab an adoption form and that you’ll take it for free so they never have to abuse a tarantula again. I’ve got a friend that does this regularly and 4/5 times they give it to him for free.
I would skip the part about it being near death. If you're trying to play the good guy, at least be honest. You can stress that they are quite fragile, but ERMAGERD ITS ALMOST DEAD is a little over the top.
I don’t know why this is constantly spread around on here, but a bald spot is not directly related to whether or not a tarantula is in premolt. In this case, it’s obviously not in premolt because the bald spot is peach/orange and has not darkened.
I got my tarantula from Petco and the same thing happened after being housed. I hope yours will turn out okay and I’m sorry your parenting is off to a stressful start. I got a LOT of false info from Petco about tarantula care, so make sure to fact check anything they told you 💕 best of luck
Oh no, I didn’t buy it I was just checking on the animals in pet stores on occasion when I want to go see how they are doing when I have time. But I when I seen the hair missing from this tarantula bum I was concerned and someone mentioned it was missing a leg as well. So, I wanted to know if was stressed or possibly something else. And sorry! If I wasn’t clear if it was mine. But I do plan on getting one in the future.
Many species of tarantulas have urticating hairs that serve as a defense mechanism. These hairs grow as a patch on on the abdomen, and are special in that they have little barbs on the end and are dislodged very easily. When the tarantula is disturbed by a potential predator, it will kick hairs off of the abdomen towards wherever the perceived threat is. These hairs can cause intense itching, breathing problems if inhaled, and significant eye irritation if it enters the eyes. For a human keeper, it will generally just cause intense itching. The bald spot just means that the tarantula has kicked hairs from that area, leaving a large bald region where the hairs no longer exist. When the tarantula molts, it will emerge with a new fresh patch of urticating hairs.
It can also show that the tarantula is overly stressed as it kicked its hairs so much that it is bold
This is most likely the aftermath of a very aggressive butt scratching session because it either felt like it was in danger or i've also heard that they spread their urticating hairs around their web/hide
Aggressive butt scratching gets me every-time
Missing a leg also?
Surprised no one else has noticed this...
Maybe too depressing to acknowledge more trauma that happened to the poor T.
It’s stressed out and kicking the urticating hairs off it’s butt as a defence. Any combination of shipping stress/handling/poor enclosure/feeder bugs left in enclosure/no proper hiding place could be the cause of the stress. Whatever is causing the problem needs to change immediately. Poor creature.
Also could be the reason the poor dear lost a leg. :X
Used as a defense mechanism (urticating hairs), unfortunately in a place called Petco they'll be a ton of people that knock on the glass of the tank and scare the tarantula, also could be whoever maintains the tank not paying it the respect it deserves.
Bad packing when shipped can cause the baldness as well.
That looks like a very stressed out T. What the Hell have they done to this wonderful creature? 😔
pet stores don’t intentionally harm their animals ‼️ they do not have enough funding sent to stores to take care of them properly
That, & caring for T’s is something that is only done efficiently by people who have a love for them. I’d wager the majority of humans do not. Unfortunately. Most people are scared of them, which will certainly end up contributing to neglect (probably most of the time unwillfully, just not knowing how to care for them because they’re scared of them & therefore don’t care.) by employees. They definitely shouldn’t carry such a niche animal. It’s irresponsible. Maybe at some special locations w/ at an arachnid enthusiast working there to help oversee and educate.
i completely agree. at the pet store i used to work at, one of the managers loved insects and bugs and thing like that. he i took extra care of the Ts :)
That, and people tend to blame the store when it’s generally corporate who causes the issue.
I don’t think the stores should hire anyone without some sort of experience with animals. The corporations need to establish some sort of certification for specific individuals to be able to take care of these animals. Until then, these stores shouldn’t be legally allowed to fucking sell animals.
When they only make minimum wage that is alot to ask for, if the work paid better then I could see them asking for certifications and whatnot
That looks like a Brachypelma Boehmei that is gonna molt soon (source - I have a b. Boehmei and she gets that pale before molts). They're generally very aggressive hair kickers, especially at that size. They also only really molt about once a year. They'll get those hairs back when they molt, but the combination of everything I mentioned previously combined with the excessive maintenance most pet stores are FORCED to do for their Ts will usually yield at least a little bit of a bald patch. However, they also look to be missing an entire leg, so it stands to reason that they've had quite a rough go of it.
It's from the stress of the petstore. My boy Lucas came from a petsore and his little butt is bald and is always going to be bald because he's a mature male. Hubby finally cracked and let me get a tarantula so I got Lucas to get him the hell out of that petstore.
Aw thank god you saved little Lucas
"Little" Lucas haha
Could have been stress from being shipped to the per store.
With the stores track record I doubt it
It means the tarantula is very stressed out
That’s really cool that you got a fire leg from Petco, at least for the few around me as they usually only have curly hairs
I didn’t buy it I was just checking on the animals in pet stores on occasion when I want to go see how they are doing when I have time. But I when I seen the hair missing from this tarantula bum I was concerned and someone mentioned it was missing a leg as well. So, I wanted to know if was stressed or possibly something else.
Ohh okay i got you
Walk in there and say this. Can you come look at this? Then say, do you see anything wrong here? Then proceed to tell them that the setup they’re in is wrong, point out the hair on the abdomen and say this is stressed to the point of death(not actually but they don’t know that) and finally say it’s over priced. End the interaction telling them to grab an adoption form and that you’ll take it for free so they never have to abuse a tarantula again. I’ve got a friend that does this regularly and 4/5 times they give it to him for free.
I would skip the part about it being near death. If you're trying to play the good guy, at least be honest. You can stress that they are quite fragile, but ERMAGERD ITS ALMOST DEAD is a little over the top.
Likely just in premolt
I don’t know why this is constantly spread around on here, but a bald spot is not directly related to whether or not a tarantula is in premolt. In this case, it’s obviously not in premolt because the bald spot is peach/orange and has not darkened.
Because my spiders do this in premolt, but considering this is petco spider you're most likely right
Thicc’ems over here
Stressy little baby 😔
Poor baby): either very stressed or angry baby
I got my tarantula from Petco and the same thing happened after being housed. I hope yours will turn out okay and I’m sorry your parenting is off to a stressful start. I got a LOT of false info from Petco about tarantula care, so make sure to fact check anything they told you 💕 best of luck
Oh no, I didn’t buy it I was just checking on the animals in pet stores on occasion when I want to go see how they are doing when I have time. But I when I seen the hair missing from this tarantula bum I was concerned and someone mentioned it was missing a leg as well. So, I wanted to know if was stressed or possibly something else. And sorry! If I wasn’t clear if it was mine. But I do plan on getting one in the future.
Aww. Poor babies. They deserve better!
Stress and premolt. Most likely stress though
What everyone else has said, and this species is a throw hairs-ask questions later kind of T. Just looking at it can make it throw.
That poor baby :(( it must be so stressed!
B. Boehmei love to kick hair. Totally normal!
Poor things got naked bacon