Caring for an Octoplegic

[z32upgrader]

Here's the story. I was in my spider room on Monday, happily drilling holes for a new enclosure, when my roommate walked in and said, "Look what I found". It was a young tarantula, about 2" DLS, he found in the yard that appeared to be dead. He let me take it from his hand onto mine, and I was pleasantly surprised to see it move one of its legs ever so slightly. It's still alive! I flipped the little spider upside down on my hand and spent the next 30 minutes dripping water into its mouth, which it very slowly drank. I set up an ICU, and put the little one in my closet to rest and hopefully recover. She was basically a limp spider rag-doll. That was three days ago and she hasn't moved at all.

Yesterday, I took a piece of wire and tried to move one of her front legs out from its curled position, and she moved the leg back in!

This morning, I discovered she is able to hold herself up off the paper towel! Yay! Progress!


I don't know what happened to her, or why she left her burrow, only that she can't move. My leading theory is that a pepsis wasp stung her and started to drag her off, and my roommate interrupted that and it dropped her and flew away. So I have a partially paralyzed spider that may or may not recover. Her abdomen is plenty big, and she's well hydrated. I would think she could last for a year or more with her now super low calorie burn. I feel like I've done all I can with the ICU, but does anyone else have any suggestions? Will I just have to wait it out and keep her until she starts to stink?
Thank you for your help.

 

[awiec]

I believe there have been cases where people have interrupted a wasp abduction and the spider eventually recovered but I can't seem to find where the articles were. I suppose all you can do is wait and see. If she can stand herself up then that's positive as that means her muscles are probably recovering from whatever happened to her.

 

[Beltane]

Wow - hope she makes it. Certainly sounds like she is in the best care.

 

[RegallRegius]

This is awesome. I hope she fully recovers from whatever happened to her. Good luck!

The one story I remember most about a tarantula being nursed back to a full recovery after a Pepsis Wasp sting is:

Pat's Miracle

A Google search on this should bring up some old threads on it.

 

[z32upgrader]

Well, she has made significant progress. She still cannot walk, but readily moves her legs in response to stimulus. I also made a video of her drinking water in time lapse. I don't know if this has ever been done before, but enjoy! She's improving steadily day by day.

 

[cold blood]

Great video upgrader! What was the real time for one of those droplets to disappear?

 

[z32upgrader]

Thanks cold blood. The first big drop took about 5 minutes to disappear and the smaller drops took about three minutes to disappear She got two more drops after I stopped the recording. The time lapse function on my iPod touch takes two photos every second of you wanted to do some figuring yourself. I believe the video is compressed to 30 frames per second.

 

[Bugmom]

Looks like she's in good hands. Fingers crossed that she recovers. The video was really neat!

 

[RegallRegius]

Very nice vid. One thing to watch out for is poo. If she doesn't, she may become constipated. Keep her anal openings clean to help prevent the constipation.

Another thing I'd suggest is giving her "bug juice" aka "cricket soup" for added nutrition. If she is drinking water that well, she would do well on the "soup".

I am following this thread avidly.... and am wishing her a full recovery under your care.

 

[klawfran3]

She is a beautiful tarantula! She seems to be doing much better from when she first started it seems. Keep up the good work caring for her! I am watching this thread constantly.

 

[MrsHaas]

I just have to say, wow, you are such a caring person. I'm sure your other Ts must be very content and healthy. All my good wishes go out to you are ur little friend! Best of luck! Keep us posted!

 

[z32upgrader]

Very nice vid. One thing to watch out for is poo. If she doesn't, she may become constipated. Keep her anal openings clean to help prevent the constipation.

Another thing I'd suggest is giving her "bug juice" aka "cricket soup" for added nutrition. If she is drinking water that well, she would do well on the "soup".

I am following this thread avidly.... and am wishing her a full recovery under your care.

I have been paying attention to her poops, and she hasn't so far, which is why I've decided not to feed her until she recovers that ability. She's plenty plump, and am sure she'll have no problem living for many months on her reserves. She does seem to be getting stronger. I nudged her bum today and she lifted herself up a good 1/4" before settling back down. She can move all but her back two legs in response to my touch. I'm betting she'll be walking again before the end of November. Fingers crossed for my little sweetheart!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Would tarantulas do better?or worse if Pepsi's wasps were exterminated? would bloodlines weaken or strengthen? Pepsi's wasps = dodo bird in places were natural T population is low, they die right?

Edit , Wasps are very fast I don't see how any spider could fight back. Although speed would be nice for escaping.

 

[Cavedweller]

No no no, the Pepsi wasp's natural enemy is the Coke beetle. That is a good question though. I'd imagine Ts aren't well equipped against aerial attacks. It is interesting that they reproduce in such a slow growing host, with each larva requiring it's own tarantula, you'd think the pepsis wasp population would be pretty small.

Edit: Now that I think about it, the amount of energy/risk invested in each egg is extraordinary. How many eggs does a single female lay???

Looking forward to updates on her condition, we're all rooting for this lil T!

 

[z32upgrader]

Here's a quick video update on her progress:

 

[ARACHNO-SMACK48]

Hope he/she gets better. Your doing a good thing.

 

[Disquiet]

Thanks for the update, I'm rooting for you two as well!

 

[MrsHaas]

Here's a quick video update on her progress:
[video=youtube;zjMsRFeWu3o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjMsRFeWu3o&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Amazing!! Such a lucky t to have you looking out for her bravo

 

[Sana]

She seems to be making steady improvement! Do you plan to keep her or release her if she recovers?

 

[MrCrackerpants]

Great work! I love to see you updates. Thanks!