- Joined
- Aug 2, 2010
- Messages
- 255
Hi guys, just wanted to reintroduce myself since it's been a while since I posted or since I was heavily into tarantulas like I use to be, but I've still kept a few T's around and I still care for them to the best of my ability. That and I go to the ATS conference whenever I have the money, although I don't think I'll have the funds this year. So I have always had one foot in this hobby, I just haven't posted much lately and my knowledge may be a couple years outdated.
Now for the question. I have had this Psalmopoeus Cambridgei displaying signs of DKS for a couple months now. She has had shaky legs and twitching motions whenever she moves. Although she has had a good appetite and always has accepted a roach, she hasn't put on any weight. She has become increasingly skinny and she is, I'm afraid, reaching her last hours, or days if she's lucky. I noticed today that she was looking curled up, and she wouldn't eat anything. I put her in an ICU, when it dawned on me that my parents are very cheap. I remembered that they turn down the heat in my house during the day when no one is home. Sometimes the temperature dips into the lower 50's even. I believe this to be the cause of my high tarantula mortality rate during the winters and I'll be doing something to fix that soon, but is DKS known to be caused by cold temperatures? I had a huge and beautiful Poecilotheria Ornata develop DKS when my parents put my house on "vacation mode" during a frigid Michigan February when we were on vacation for a week and my house got into the 40's. I would really like to prevent this in the future and hopefully get my tarantula's appetites up, and of course chat with you guys since it has been too long! :biggrin:
---------- Post added 05-06-2014 at 11:57 PM ----------
Oh wow! The ICU has worked wonders! I'm stupid and I underestimated her ability to squeeze through a small opening, so when I went to check on her, she was perched on top of the ICU. Haha. I put her back into her cage for now since she isn't curling. Maybe I'll even be able to get her to molt out of her DKS!
Now for the question. I have had this Psalmopoeus Cambridgei displaying signs of DKS for a couple months now. She has had shaky legs and twitching motions whenever she moves. Although she has had a good appetite and always has accepted a roach, she hasn't put on any weight. She has become increasingly skinny and she is, I'm afraid, reaching her last hours, or days if she's lucky. I noticed today that she was looking curled up, and she wouldn't eat anything. I put her in an ICU, when it dawned on me that my parents are very cheap. I remembered that they turn down the heat in my house during the day when no one is home. Sometimes the temperature dips into the lower 50's even. I believe this to be the cause of my high tarantula mortality rate during the winters and I'll be doing something to fix that soon, but is DKS known to be caused by cold temperatures? I had a huge and beautiful Poecilotheria Ornata develop DKS when my parents put my house on "vacation mode" during a frigid Michigan February when we were on vacation for a week and my house got into the 40's. I would really like to prevent this in the future and hopefully get my tarantula's appetites up, and of course chat with you guys since it has been too long! :biggrin:
---------- Post added 05-06-2014 at 11:57 PM ----------
Oh wow! The ICU has worked wonders! I'm stupid and I underestimated her ability to squeeze through a small opening, so when I went to check on her, she was perched on top of the ICU. Haha. I put her back into her cage for now since she isn't curling. Maybe I'll even be able to get her to molt out of her DKS!