A. Avicularia injured

[Tayraetattoos]

Came home one day to find my pink toe with an injured leg and a small cut on her abdomen. Yesterday I found her in a death curl so I put her in ICU for four hours and hoped for the best. Today I found her detached injured leg in the water dish and currently she is hiding in her log. She has seemed to bounce back thankfully!

I’m at a complete loss as to how she hurt herself though, so I’m posting pictures of her enclosure to see if there’s any changes that need to be made. It’s due for a cleaning so I can make changes ASAP (unless I need to give her time to recuperate from her injury?). She’s roughly four inches in leg span and molted around three months ago. There’s not a lot of foot traffic where her cage is so I don’t believe she was spooked into falling. She is super jumpy though so maybe she spooked herself!

Aside from critiques on her set up, when should I try to feed her? After her ICU I crushed a mealworm’s head and left it in there but she hasn’t taken it. Maybe because it died or is she just fussy right now due to her leg and all?

 

[Darktiger432]

Is the lid mesh? Otherwise I dont see anything wrong. Others will say get rid of the temp guage.

 

[Krystal Anne]

Since that's an Exo Terra, I do believe it has a wire mesh lid. My best guess is that your T's claw got stuck, injuring her leg, and she may have fallen, injuring her abdomen.

Leg injuries aren't a big deal. As you saw, she detached her leg. It will grow back next molt

Abdomen injuries, however, can be very fatal. Was it leaking? Can you post a picture of the cut?

 

[Greasylake]

For future reference, don't use an ICU. Since this is a species that should be kept predominantly dry if you had left it in the ICU overnight you very well could have killed it. Onto the cause of the injury, it most likely got its tarsal claws stuck in the lid and amputated the leg to free itself. It may have been injured in the fall or lost some fluids from the amputation and that's why it was in a death curl. Make sure your water dish is full in case it needs more fluids. I would wait a few days before trying to feed it again just to let it recover, I don't know about you but I think amputating my own limb would probably make me lose my appetite.

 

[viper69]

Your description sounds like it was sliced sorta of- I suspect you are using a screen top w/your ExoTerra as they come with screen. If not, who knows, if so, replace screen w/acrylic.

 

[Tayraetattoos]

Since that's an Exo Terra, I do believe it has a wire mesh lid. My best guess is that your T's claw got stuck, injuring her leg, and she may have fallen, injuring her abdomen.

Leg injuries aren't a big deal. As you saw, she detached her leg. It will grow back next molt

Abdomen injuries, however, can be very fatal. Was it leaking? Can you post a picture of the cut?

It wasn’t leaking but looks scabbed over. Here’s the best pic I could get. Her screen is wire mesh and you’re probably right about it being the culprit. Do you know where I can buy an acrylic cage online?

Your description sounds like it was sliced sorta of- I suspect you are using a screen top w/your ExoTerra as they come with screen. If not, who knows, if so, replace screen w/acrylic.

Do you know a good place online I could buy an acrylic cage?

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Do you know where I can buy an acrylic cage online?

You can DIY one yourself, buying acrylic in some U.S store (I think 'Home Depot' or sorta places like that has acrylic, anyway not 100% sure, sorry, I'm not American).

Or you can check some U.S T's breeder/seller online shops, few of those sells arboreal (and not) acrylic enclosures.

 

[Krystal Anne]

It wasn’t leaking but looks scabbed over. Here’s the best pic I could get. Her screen is wire mesh and you’re probably right about it being the culprit. Do you know where I can buy an acrylic cage online?

Your T looks alright to me! Just make sure that her water dish is full and maybe even add a few drops of water onto her web.

Maybe someone else can chime in about fully acrylic cages, but you can actually still use your Exo Terra and just replace the lid. I think a lot of people recommend going to Lowe's/Home Depot to get some plexiglass cut to size and have a bunch of holes drilled.

 

[PidderPeets]

It's in premolt. Even Avics loose some of their climbing abilities when in premolt. There's quite a few things I see in the enclosure that I think it could have cut itself on if it fell. The water dish, a few of the branches overhanging the water dish, and the thermometer/hygrometer gauge are the main things. But the only thing I would actually remove is the gauge. It's unnecessary (humidity is completely irrelevant for tarantulas, and monitoring it to maintain a certain percentage is dangerous. Room temp is usually fine for most tarantulas as well), and it just seems like an extra thing for it to hurt itself on. The water dish could be replaced with a deli cup since they have smoother edges, but it's not necessary. And the rougher branches shouldn't be a problem after it molts

 

[cold blood]

Do you know a good place online I could buy an acrylic cage?

You can simply replace the mesh with acrylic or plexi and dtill out ventilation. Most hatdware stores that sell it will also cut it for you.

 

[Tayraetattoos]

It's in premolt. Even Avics loose some of their climbing abilities when in premolt. There's quite a few things I see in the enclosure that I think it could have cut itself on if it fell. The water dish, a few of the branches overhanging the water dish, and the thermometer/hygrometer gauge are the main things. But the only thing I would actually remove is the gauge. It's unnecessary (humidity is completely irrelevant for tarantulas, and monitoring it to maintain a certain percentage is dangerous. Room temp is usually fine for most tarantulas as well), and it just seems like an extra thing for it to hurt itself on. The water dish could be replaced with a deli cup since they have smoother edges, but it's not necessary. And the rougher branches shouldn't be a problem after it molts

How do you know she’s in premolt? She just molted three or so months ago, it seems too soon. She was sliding down the glass this morning though so I see your point. Will her leg return after she molts? Is that why she’s refusing food?

 

[PidderPeets]

How do you know she’s in premolt? She just molted three or so months ago, it seems too soon. She was sliding down the glass this morning though so I see your point. Will her leg return after she molts? Is that why she’s refusing food?

The black abdomen. It would be odd for it to molt that soon after it's last molt given it's size, but injuries can accelerate the molting process in an attempt to correct any issues.

The leg should regenerate when it molts, but it may take a second molt to be completely regenerated