DKS Question

Jacobchinarian

Arachnoknight
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Aug 2, 2010
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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 So I have always had one foot in this hobby, I just haven't posted much lately and my knowledge may be a couple years outdated.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!
 

darkness975

Latrodectus
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Aug 31, 2012
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Temps that low are not really good for a long term or repeated occurrence. They are hardy but not invincible. I don't think even my G rosea (the species always said to be really hardy) would last too long in such cold. Although it does get into the 40s according to a temperature chart I've seen on their country of origin, they burrow in nature and are able to seal up their burrows to help keep out the bitter cold. Most rosies don't seem to do that in captivity. Mine certainly hasn't.

Different species but same concept.
 

Jacobchinarian

Arachnoknight
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Aug 2, 2010
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255
Yeah, I'm definitely going to do something about it next winter. I'll probably set up a space heater in my room. I never realized it was happening until recently because I'm at school during the day when the temperature drops. No wonder my tarantulas get so much more active in the spring. I always assumed it was just different light patterns corresponding with the seasons, but this makes much more sense. I'll certainly fix the cold issue, but does anyone know if cold directly causes DKS?
 

korg

Arachnobaron
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Feb 24, 2013
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does anyone know if cold directly causes DKS?
I don't think anyone knows much for certain about "DKS." The term itself basically just refers to a set of symptoms (stuttering movement, etc) that could well have multiple causes... I question whether piling all these incidents together and treating them as a singular condition is a helpful practice.
 

Jacobchinarian

Arachnoknight
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Aug 2, 2010
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I don't think anyone knows much for certain about "DKS." The term itself basically just refers to a set of symptoms (stuttering movement, etc) that could well have multiple causes... I question whether piling all these incidents together and treating them as a singular condition is a helpful practice.
Gotcha, so we're still very uncertain about DKS. Damn, what a shame. It's affected 2 of my tarantulas now and that really makes me angry. It's just so sucky not to be able to do anything for a pet and watching it die. Sorry if any of what I'm saying sounds noobish. I've been out of the tarantula loop for a couple years, so, like I said, my information might be a little outdated.
 

LordWaffle

Arachnobaron
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Nov 20, 2013
Messages
451
Gotcha, so we're still very uncertain about DKS. Damn, what a shame. It's affected 2 of my tarantulas now and that really makes me angry. It's just so sucky not to be able to do anything for a pet and watching it die. Sorry if any of what I'm saying sounds noobish. I've been out of the tarantula loop for a couple years, so, like I said, my information might be a little outdated.
Very uncertain. As mentioned, we don't have any evidence to show that this is just one condition or one set of symptoms that occurs with many conditions. Think if we tried to treat every fever like the common cold. We'd end up with a lot of burst appendixes and rampant uncontrolled infections. The best way to treat your spider is to work backwards. What are the living and environmental conditions now? When did the condition start? Were there any changes before the symptoms started? How long ago? Could there have been parasites in a feeder? Etc. oftentimes you'll find a change in condition that you can remedy that in the end saves your tarantula. Good luck.
 

Jacobchinarian

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 2, 2010
Messages
255
Very uncertain. As mentioned, we don't have any evidence to show that this is just one condition or one set of symptoms that occurs with many conditions. Think if we tried to treat every fever like the common cold. We'd end up with a lot of burst appendixes and rampant uncontrolled infections. The best way to treat your spider is to work backwards. What are the living and environmental conditions now? When did the condition start? Were there any changes before the symptoms started? How long ago? Could there have been parasites in a feeder? Etc. oftentimes you'll find a change in condition that you can remedy that in the end saves your tarantula. Good luck.
Very informative, thank you! I'll keep all of that in mind. Like I said, the icu seemed to bring my tarantula back from near death. She's still shaky, but doing a lot better.
 
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