Amblypygi abdomen Deformed

[mantisfan101]

After dropping her eggsac her abdomen started changing and this is what it looks like as of now. She hasn’t eaten at all for at least a month and I’m gettig really concerend, does anyone know what this is?

 

[aphono]

those are egg sac flaps.

Have you heavily misted the whole enclosure and made the substrate "extremely moist"? Essentially what dart frogs like. My guess is she's still stressed by dehydration.

 

[mantisfan101]

The substrate is always damp enough that i can squeeze water out of it and I mist her enclosure every ither day. Is it ok if she isn’t eating?

 

[aphono]

I may be wrong on this- egg carrying females eat less than normal but a month is a bit long.

Is she right by/sitting on the substrate or well up away from the substrate most of the time?

What feeders & how many at a time, room temps?

 

[mantisfan101]

She’s resting so that she’s hovering above the substrate. I’ve tried superworms, crickets and beetle grubs(pelidnota punctata) to no avail.

 

[mantisfan101]

Right by/on top the substrate I mean

 

[aphono]

Are there dark secluded areas higher up? On top of substrate is not good & says not humid enough to me but without seeing the enclosure it's hard to tell.

They don't need high ventilation so if there's screen tops or the like, cover most of it with something water proof- I use cling wrap on the screen top reptile tanks with just a gap on one side. That really helped with keeping the humidity up & them happy.

Crickets are usually very well received as feeders- would suggest them as #1 feeder for now. It's my own practice to feed only one feeder instead of multiples at a time. They stress even easier if already stressed- this includes other things walking around them, such as 4 crickets constantly roaming around will annoy it.

 

[mantisfan101]

Hmm, good point on the humidity I’ll do that.

 

[aphono]

IME, the main issue with medius on the market is dehydration- many severely so. Mist hard enough to make droplets over everything & there's condensation on the walls after covering it up. Fortunately, they're easier to keep happy after a full recovery.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

 

[mantisfan101]

IME, the main issue with medius on the market is dehydration- many severely so. Mist hard enough to make droplets over everything & there's condensation on the walls after covering it up. Fortunately, they're easier to keep happy after a full recovery.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

Month 2 and no signs of deterioration or illnesses. Still fast as ever but hasn’t eaten anything at all but she does seem to enjoy the extraoisture and humidity. Her abdomen looks a little “lumpy” or fat when viewed from the side, could she be prepping for a molt?

 

[aphono]

Glad she's showing some improvement. It's hard to impress on how much to wet the enclosures for new medius. Drops, condensation everywhere, substrate practically flooded. It will seem way overboard but it has done wonders for every single new medius I bought. I'd suggest super heavy misting either every few days(when the tank walls & decorations far from the substrate are 'dry') or at least once a week with 'regular' misting in between until it seems to have recovered and is regularly hanging away from the substrate. Basically just in case she needs more recovery time, especially if she is in premolt. Once she has fully recovered it's not necessary to go so crazy with the misting anymore(but they do like high humidity. Sitting on substrate is a definite sign it's far too dry).

Normally there isn't any lumpy parts sticking out sideways like in the top picture but yeah they do get a premolt plump abdomen. The odd looking skin on the sides of abdomen basically stays the same size or increases despite not eating. That same skin expands and then shrinks relatively quickly after eating & not in premolt. Sometimes there will be a hump on top of the abdomen too but since your female recently had egg sac it would have been there anyways.

Not sure if this seems a bit scary, I think yours will be fine as long as the humidity stays sky high for a little while.

 

[mantisfan101]

I practically flooded the substrate while trying to maintain proper humidity and she seems to be really enjoying it. Daily misting seems to be the way to go with this species.