Dirty water dishes ?? (Plz be kind)

[MrsHaas]

So, I went to take my son to Disneyland the past week and we were there for about 7 to 8 days. I made sure to feed and water and spray all of my spiders before we left and before we left, they all seemed completely content and happy.

But, when we got back, I went to go maintenance my babies, and two… yes, you heard it right… TWO of my adult females were dead. Mind you these were two of some of the most pricey and rare spiders I have. Needless to say I was heartbroken. But my sadness quickly turned to curiosity… And I just kept asking myself, “what the hell went wrong!?”

While trying to play detective, I realized that while I had certainly given them all food/water/lot of spritzing before LA, those two spiders had many dead crickets their dishes (more than any other’s) and thus the water was murky and had a stale smell. Those two spiders were on a top shelf, and I believe it was my mistake that maybe I just visually missed it?

Now, I live right next to a Taqueria and I steal their salsa cups and lids at any chance I get to use for new slings and/or replacement water dishes, so they do get water bowl changes semi regularly. I suppose I had not replaced a few dirty water dishes in the frenzy of getting an 8 yr old ready for the “greatest place on earth.”

Unless anyone can think of you have any other clues, it seems that there were no other reasons I could think of besides, maybe them drinking out of that dirty water dish possibly that could make sense as to why they both died.

We really weren’t gone that long and they were fine when I left, and all had water and food.

I mostly only feed crickets (person preference) but I do know that they always seem to have a tendency to want to commit suicide in the water dishes. And I can only assume, septic environment in the water dishes. And, due to good ‘ol biology and pathology, it’s possible that perhaps the dead crickets that were in the water dishes had decomposed and created a septic environment in the water dish from which my spiders may have drank and gotten sick/died.

I’ve been a hobbyist since probably 2010-ish (about almost 15 years) so it’s deeply disheartening that this sad occasion occurred. I am devastated.

By posting this, I just wish to “solve the crime,” so I never make this mistake again…

PLEASE BY KIND in your comments, I am already completely gutted, it even took me a couple of days to want to post this because I felt so guilty. I swear I did everything else right to the T (no pun intended) before I left for a week, except I guess change a few water bowls). That’s why I can only think that the dirty dishes may have had something to do with their untimely deaths.

 

[l4nsky]

Can you confirm they were eating a few weeks prior to your trip? What species were they and what are the temps in the room?

 

[kingshockey]

possibly you over watered and created a stuffy humid cage the deli cups also could have been exposed to chemicals

 

[viper69]

All of the above?

 

[Tentacle Toast]

No judgement. That timeframe seems suspect, though; 10ish days? Unless I'm gone for a month MINIMUM, I don't even want my "babysitters" LOOKING at my Ts; I feed before I go, replace with WAYYY oversized water dishes, & contend when I return.
Something happened in your situation, to be sure.
Is it possible you "over prepared" for your absence? Not being critical at all, because I honestly defer to ZERO when I'm gone for such short spells -which is frequent- & it's always like I've never been gone upon returning.
Two ADULTS... eesh, I'm SO sorry. I hate to even suggest this, but...did you have someone watching the rest of your house for you? How do they (or their spouses) feel about YOUR spiders? I've got a friend that I'd trust with everything, but if something happened to my spiders with him in charge during my absence, id immediately suspect his wife of doing something nefarious. That times three, being honest, & I even coined this little saying in my head for just such occurrence; "WIFE=WASP"... maybe it's a husband, but I'm a guy, & that's my experience.
What females? How old? Describe EVERYTHING, because that doesn't sound organic to me

 

[aprilmayjunebugs]

If that taqueria is the one with a 3.3 rating, I'd place the blame squarely on them.

I'm kidding and I know that's not helpful, so very sorry for your losses.

 

[Glorfindel]

Sorry for your loss.
So many unknown variables that could have happened in your absence?
Take solace that you didn't lose them all.
Best Wishes to You and Yours.

 

[fcat]

Any chance of sudden temperature changes? Where the AC would've been necessary and the power went out?

Direct sun on their enclosures?

Do you live in a house or apartment?

Species would help, but the chances that two adults decide to drink water in the same week seems unlikely to me...

It did just get very hot here in AZ abruptly and I had to water all 100 plus enclosures, I have containers so small that need frequent watering of course but I mean I can't remember the last time everyone timed up the same day.

Where do you get your water from?

What do you feed your crickets?

You wash the deli cups before using them?

My heartfelt condolences. Y'all will have to do a welfare check on me someday so I'll pay it forward in advance... if you need a judgement free place to cry your heart out, dm me.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

The type of Greenwater dish for the water dish fiasco where I lost a lP, and possibly more Ts lost . Because it would Evaporate or get spilled before next weeks maintenance.
Now I check almost daily but back then I wasn’t home as often . I switched to multiple dishes mostly, not possible on vacation.
Sometimes they will. Ruin one dish or Bury it .but crickets could die in both in your situation. It would probably take longer to stagnate .

 

[MrsHaas]

Can you confirm they were eating a few weeks prior to your trip? What species were they and what are the temps in the room?

They were both around 10 year old (AF) baboons… a very lovely certain someone consoled saying that thus is nature and sometimes stuff like that happens. I’m hoping that that is true in this situation.

Any chance of sudden temperature changes? Where the AC would've been necessary and the power went out?
-Actually, yes… since we were going to LA, we closed the door to our bedroom because we didn’t want the cat to get in while we were gone. I did think about that, but for some reason, my mind just went straight to “I poisoned them!!”

Direct sun on their enclosures?
-Never.

Do you live in a house or apartment?
-House (16,000sq”).

Where do you get your water from?
-same place I drink it from, the tap. I live in the Bay Area of California, so our water is extremely good.

What do you feed your crickets?
-I don’t breed so I don’t know what they’re fed. I just buy them from local pet stores or even sometimes places like Petsmart..

You wash the deli cups before using them
-Slight rinse, yes.

My heartfelt condolences. Y'all will have to do a welfare check on me someday so I'll pay it forward in advance... if you need a judgement free place to cry your heart out, dm me.
-thank you for your kindness and help… I’ll be reaching out to you… xo

Can you confirm they were eating a few weeks prior to your trip?
-we have so many I can’t keep track of which spider is eating… I can pay better attention next time.

All of the above?

Hope none of the above!!

No judgement. That timeframe seems suspect, though; 10ish days? Unless I'm gone for a month MINIMUM, I don't even want my "babysitters" LOOKING at my Ts; I feed before I go, replace with WAYYY oversized water dishes, & contend when I return.
Something happened in your situation, to be sure.
Is it possible you "over prepared" for your absence? Not being critical at all, because I honestly defer to ZERO when I'm gone for such short spells -which is frequent- & it's always like I've never been gone upon returning.
Two ADULTS... eesh, I'm SO sorry. I hate to even suggest this, but...did you have someone watching the rest of your house for you? How do they (or their spouses) feel about YOUR spiders? I've got a friend that I'd trust with everything, but if something happened to my spiders with him in charge during my absence, id immediately suspect his wife of doing something nefarious. That times three, being honest, & I even coined this little saying in my head for just such occurrence; "WIFE=WASP"... maybe it's a husband, but I'm a guy, & that's my experience.
What females? How old? Describe EVERYTHING, because that doesn't sound organic to me

Thanks for your input - honestly I could have “over prepped” - I sprayed, fed and watered them all very (maybe too) generously!?
Also, my husband is also a fellow hobbyist and knows how to take care of them correct correctly, though I usually do most of the husbandry my own self.
…also I never let other ppl babysit my Ts unless we’re gone over a month ish…
After reading your response, when I wrote this, I was a little flustered… But you have a good point that I may have not built a completely completely plausible timeline; honestly, when you have an eight-year-old who’s getting ready to go to Disneyland for the first time it’s hard to kind of keep track of the days and what we did each day to prepare or pack for the trip - we spend about a week “preparing” in all ways to go on the trip… my husband also went with us, so there was no one in the house having any contact with them whatsoever. Truthfully, I don’t know if I can remember the exact dates and times that. Tried to get our spiders ready for the week we wouldn’t be there.

Can you confirm they were eating a few weeks prior to your trip? What species were they and what are the temps in the room?

Oh! I can confirm that they were alive before I left. But when we got home, looking at the spiders and stuff was not really the number one priority. We still have to unpack and clean and stuff. So I’d say maybe almost a week after we returned was when we finally checked the tanks. My husband kept saying that he smelled some thing. But, being an embalmer and doing autopsies for a living, I am pretty “nose blind” to really gross odors. It was only until maybe three days after my husband said he had a smell did I discover the dead spiders. They seemed to be relatively the same state of decomposition which I found a little odd as well.
So, it’s like a couple days prepping, a week gone, then around another week until we discovered the sad scenes. so yeah, my timeline is probably super off, but like I said, when I wrote this, I was a little shook up because it is pretty devastating to have two adult females die mysteriously.

 

[l4nsky]

They were both around 10 year old (AF) baboons… a very lovely certain someone consoled saying that thus is nature and sometimes stuff like that happens. I’m hoping that that is true in this situation.

So, 10 years for most baboon species is starting to get up there. Natural causes due to age is entirely a possibility and at the very least is likely an aggravating factor.

 

[Brewser]

There's not a lot more You could of done. imho
Don't beat yourself up over it.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

I mostly only feed crickets (person preference) but I do know that they always seem to have a tendency to want to commit suicide in the water dishes. And I can only assume, septic environment in the water dishes. And, due to good ‘ol biology and pathology, it’s possible that perhaps the dead crickets that were in the water dishes had decomposed and created a septic environment in the water dish from which my spiders may have drank and gotten sick/died.

Tarantulas won't drink rancid water so it is highly unlikely they died from that. If you have a problem with crickets drowning and decomposing in the water cups, fill them up about half way with gravel so they can hop out.
For future reference, all tarantulas can go a week or more without water so long as they are properly hydrated. Part of my extended leave routine is to take out water containers and give the soil in the cages a good soak. Species who like it dry get about half of their soil soaked so they have dry areas to stand on if needed, species that need damp soil get all of the soil soaked. Kind of like watering the plants before leaving.

So, 10 years for most baboon species is starting to get up there. Natural causes due to age is entirely a possibility and at the very least is likely an aggravating factor.

That was exactly what my first though was after reading this post. I have a hunch there were missed signs of failing health before they actually died.

 

[Charliemum]

First i am sorry for your loss lossing any t hurts but ones you've had 10 years no wonder your upset and looking for answers.
As others have said at 10 n being baboons age could easily be a factor but just as a safety precaution next time you go away don't leave food in with the t's and put in much bigger water dishes . It may sound strange but I did a test put all my waterdishes full on the side with my t's n waited to see what took what for the water to evaporate, I have poor health and sometimes have to stay in hospital for a week or so so I did the test to make sure even if I was gone a week the dish would keep water in it . It may help to do such a test for future trips. Food you shouldn't worry about, t's go months without eating in the wild so waiting a week or 2 for an adult t won't make a difference.