Not a great buying experience.

[Meludox]

This may be a long rant, so buckle up.

Two days ago I ordered a Greenbottle Blue from StampsTarantulas.com Yay! A 3" sexed female-- and I got overnight shipping. I was wary yesterday after expecting a shipping confirmation all day and never getting one. So I emailed Steven asking if he could confirm shipment to which he never responded. Okay.

Well despite my doubts the spider did arrive today. I unpacked it from the bottle and was immediately put on edge. The spider was quite unresponsive to begin with and its abdomen seems shrunken, it's nearly smaller than the carapace. From what I've seen on the internet, not even the males have abdomens that small. But that brings me to my next point; I'm not certain if this spider is female. She is very leggy and while her abdomen IS small, I feel that it's just too small to be female even if it did shrink during shipment.

I'm just kinda bummed and not thrilled with this purchase at all. I'm glad to have such a gorgeous species but just with all of the other issues I've been drained of my excitement. I'm still quite new to this hobby, and all of my judgements are probably incorrect haha. But I've supplied a photo just for opinions.

 

[MassExodus]

Meludox, you're right, the abdomen is small, but not dangerously so. Just power feed her after she settles in, make sure she has a water dish, etc I can tell you this, every female GBB I've ever seen was leggy, to the point where, when I purchased a few, I was half convinced they were both male, until I sexed them both by molt. Every picture, video, etc I've seen on GBBs showed very leggy females. They're just not a bulky spider, I've never seen a bulky one, and I fatten mine up very well. They're just a slender, leggy species, in my experience. Stamps has been around for awhile, so I'm willing to bet that if he sold it as a sexed female, it's a sexed female. He doesn't want the bad publicity from a mistake like that, so if it turned out male I think he'd make it right. I've never ordered from him, but the email thing is just not right, and he should have responded and sent you the tracking info. That kind of surprised me..Many times after coming through the mail they are sluggish, don't be too worried about that as long as it's moving around ok. It may hide for quite awhile, and refuse food for a few days, but offer anyway, after six or 8 hours, she may eat, with that small abdomen..It stinks that you feel dispirited about the whole thing, Ii hope this cheers you up a bit. It's stressful the first few times you order spiders online. Hope this helps And keep us updated...I love this species Both my females have been hiding a lot lately, probably pre molt, but I'll try to get a pic later and show you that they look leggy even with a fat abdomen. It might help clarify things

 

[Meludox]

Thanks for the reassurance. I just fed her a worm, which she took eagerly. I'll probably give her a couple more afterwards cause they're small. I'm starting to regain hope, because really all it was bringing me down was my awful habit of overthinking. She's a very beautiful T nonetheless. I have a question about this species though, how dangerous is high humidity? I've read that they like very warm and very dry environments and high humidity can kill them but I can't seem to bring the humidity in her tank down, especially not while the heat is on.

 

[MassExodus]

Thanks for the reassurance. I just fed her a worm, which she took eagerly. I'll probably give her a couple more afterwards cause they're small. I'm starting to regain hope, because really all it was bringing me down was my awful habit of overthinking. She's a very beautiful T nonetheless. I have a question about this species though, how dangerous is high humidity? I've read that they like very warm and very dry environments and high humidity can kill them but I can't seem to bring the humidity in her tank down, especially not while the heat is on.

What's the humidity in her tank right now? When I turn the heat on in my room, it generally dries it out in here...are you using a heat mat?

 

[MassExodus]

By the way, if she's eating, keep feeding her until she refuses. It wont hurt, and she does have a little butt..

 

[Meludox]

By the way, if she's eating, keep feeding her until she refuses. It wont hurt, and she does have a little butt..

Will do. And the humidity is currently at 70%, temp around 71 or so. I don't have any heat sources expect for my space heater.

 

[MassExodus]

Will do. And the humidity is currently at 70%, temp around 71 or so. I don't have any heat sources expect for my space heater.

You're fine then, don't worry about it. A rise in humidity wont kill a GBB, if it did, both of mine would be dead. Just dont moisten the substrate and she'll do fine. Water dish is all she needs and I would try to raise the temp to 75, but that's just my personal taste, and she'll be fine at 71, it's just a little on the cool side. I let my room drop to 70 at night a few times a week, then bring it up to 75 for daytime.

 

[MassExodus]

I just checked, and both of my girls are burrowed up, so the pics will have to wait, but heres a front shot of my bigger girl one molt ago...this is her usual position in her tank..you can see the legginess a little bit, anyway..

 

[Meludox]

Ah, yes. And those eyes are wicked! Well thanks for the advice, as usual.

 

[Entity]

Just to add to what Mass said, my GBB has a little butt too. she eats regularly and loves to eat. her abdomen just doesnt blow up like my other spiders. just to throw that out there.

 

[Entity]

Pretty spider BTW.

 

[Meludox]

Thank you!

 

[CrypticSpider]

Where was the spider shipped from? Just curious.

 

[Jakob]

Beautiful GBB mate, if she's eating, fattening her up shouldn't take long.

 

[Meludox]

Where was the spider shipped from? Just curious.

Steven Stamps, from Texas.

 

[Chubbs]

Just so you know, abdomen size is not an accurate way to tell a tarantula's gender.

 

[Meludox]

I know, but I still can't help but feel suspicious when she has the physical characteristics of a male. I'm just used to my other female T I guess; short and wide legs and a big abdomen.

 

[Chubbs]

I know, but I still can't help but feel suspicious when she has the physical characteristics of a male. I'm just used to my other female T I guess; short and wide legs and a big abdomen.

Males and females of most species look identical until the male is mature.

 

[micheldied]

Unless it's a mature male(I'm sure it isn't), abdomen size isn't going to be a real indicator of what sex it is. Even then, some mature males can have decently sized abdomens. Sex the next molt you get from it, or guess by venting. Also, the abdomen really isn't too small. She'll be back up to size in a few feeds.

Your humidity is fine. Ambient humidity doesn't matter too much, they're very hardy. Just keep the substrate dry, that's how they like it.