Emergency 911 Help!!!

[joshuapsgirl]

Emergency 911 Help!!!

I have an extremely urgent problem. I have a g. auriostriata (sp?). She was acting very strangle lately, webbing up her cage and huddling in the corner. We blew it off as irritation from the light since she seemed to do it when we were in the room with the lights on.

Last night, after close observation and what would be the equivalent of a 9.0 on the richter scale from a flashlight on the table her cage was on, we were sure that she was dead. We left her overnight so that we could take care of the burial in the morning.

This morning, much to our dismay, she had begun to molt. We were both happy and relieved by this. However, now it is 10 hours later and she has made little to no progress from where she was 10 hours ago. I'm not sure if it is the compramising position that she is in, or if it is just not meant for her to live. At 1:30 this afternoon she was making visible attempts to lift herself up out of her old skin, since she molted right side up. Her attempts ended up being in vein because it is 11 now, a full 9.5 hours later and she is only about 1/4 inch farther out of her skin than she was at 1:30. What should I do? I've attached pictures of her. Please respond asap! This is the prize of our collection and we are very close to this spider. She's been the best of all five and the easiest to care for! Thanks for you time.

 

[Jakob]

When you were shaking the cage...was she turned over or not moving? Could she have started molting already when you were moving the cage around? If so, that could have led to the problem. Only thing you can do at this stage is to increase the humidity and hope for the best!

From your post it sounds like you disturbed her a bunch, which you shouldn't do at any point, not to mention when a tarantula is about to molt or "acting strange"

Later,

Jake

 

[joshuapsgirl]

only one thud with the mag light.

No...it was just one jolt on the table with a flashlight. She normally moves a bit. Her legs were tucked under and she looked like our last T that died. We were sure that she was dead and that was a last resort test to see if she would move. After that one thud, we just went to bed and thought she was dead. She was upright as she is now, but back about 4 inches. It looked like she was standing up and then fell over onto her front right three and front left 1 leg. We didn't want to disturb her too much in case she was ok and just being strange or getting ready to molt.

 

[Sheri]

Don't feel too badly, its not often you see a T molting right side up.

How much of the spider is out? From the pic it looks as though it has only popped the carapace, and not made much progress beyond that.

If that is the case... all you can do is give it some more time. I think I've heard somewhere of a glycerine mix... perhaps give a quick search of the boards using that as a keyword.

When you say it's been molting for that long, do you mean it's been that long since you saw the carapace pop, or since it was laying flacid on the gorund?

Edit:
Has the abdomen split open?
I have a feeling this might not have a happy ending.

 

[Div1nE]

maybe you could turn her on her back?

 

[joshuapsgirl]

her carpace popped out 10 hours ago. Her legs started, but only made 1/4-1/2" progress before she stopped coming out all together. If you think flipping her over could do the trick, I'll try it. I don't see any movement from her at this point and am worried that she is already dead.

Her abdomen is coming out of it's skin, but it has not split yet. It is about half way down her back. It's the white line that you see in the picture I posted.

 

[Sheri]

I don't think a bang that hard is going to do much.
I have kids - monsters even - that bang the shelves, stumble into them...
and the dog barking... it's a madhouse... but not the cause of a bad molt.

Yes, doesn't sound good. Did you do that search?

 

[joshuapsgirl]

the 9.0 was an analogy. It was a dead weight drop from 6-8 inches off of the surface. All of our tarantulas respond to this, it's just not usually on purpose, it's usually because I'm clumsy. We only intentionally drop the light when we think that they are dead. We weren't aware that any kind of disturbance could cause major problems in a molt. Even more, we weren't aware that tarantulas did the "death curl" and collapsed on it's legs when it was getting ready to molt. I knew that they acted weird, but not dead. This really sucks.

"You might want to try putting a few drops of water on the chela(pincers) or anywhere the old molt is still stuck. The water may loosen the old molt from the new exoskeleton. If plain water does not work you can try a dilute solution of dish soap or glycerine and water as a last resort...I have not tried this last method myself but I have heard of people having some success with it...do not get the glycerine or soap anywhere else (mouth/spiracles)."

this is a post in the scorpion section of this site... Does anyone think that this might be a good last resort...that is if she's even still alive...

 

[joshuapsgirl]

no opinions on this?? She's still moving!!!!! What should I do!?!?!?! I'm mixing the soap/water solution now...2 drops soap, 1 cup room temp. water. Please give me your opinion on this measure.

 

[Mattyb]

Don't feel too badly, its not often you see a T molting right side up.

How much of the spider is out? From the pic it looks as though it has only popped the carapace, and not made much progress beyond that.

If that is the case... all you can do is give it some more time. I think I've heard somewhere of a glycerine mix... perhaps give a quick search of the boards using that as a keyword.

When you say it's been molting for that long, do you mean it's been that long since you saw the carapace pop, or since it was laying flacid on the gorund?

Edit:
Has the abdomen split open?
I have a feeling this might not have a happy ending.

Its not often you see a T molt right side up? have you had your head shoved up your butt for the past few months? I have seen many threads were people said, or posted pics of their Ts molting right side up. Infact my female Blondi molted right side up about a month ago. Sorry if i sound rude, but you must not have been paying attention to many of the posts. I know Ts usually don't molt right side up, but you talk as if its a solar eclipse...only happening once in a great while.



-Mattyb

 

[joshuapsgirl]

let's not start a fight about the frequency of right-side-up molting. I'm only concerned with the health and well being of my T. I'd like to keep the posts limited to help, if I could. I appreciate all of the feedback, but since she's still alive, time is of the essence. My wife(this is her account, I'm not a big "hello kitty" fan is fully prepared to perform her first T surgery if the soap/water mix doesn't help. I've also considered flipping her over and moving her away from the side of her cage, but haven't gotten any responses to those suggestions...help, anyone? Thanks.

 

[Sheri]

Its not often you see a T molt right side up? have you had your head shoved up your butt for the past few months? I have seen many threads were people said, or posted pics of their Ts molting right side up. Infact my female Blondi molted right side up about a month ago. Sorry if i sound rude, but you must not have been paying attention to many of the posts. I know Ts usually don't molt right side up, but you talk as if its a solar eclipse...only happening once in a great while.



-Mattyb

I've had well over 100 T's.
I've never had one molt up.

They have 5.
What do you think the chances are they'd seen it or knew it was coming?

Percent ratio - very low.
I said "not often"... I don't equate that with the rarity of a solar eclipse.

 

[Mattyb]

I've had well over 100 T's.
I've never had one molt up.

They have 5.
What do you think the chances are they'd seen it or knew it was coming?

Percent ratio - very low.

I apologise for my last post. I am just having a bad day. I didn't mean anything by it, i'm just alittle fustrated right now, having some family problems. Sorry :8o



-Mattyb

 

[Spider-man 2]

I have had several of my Ts molt right side up, it's what I consider to be uncommon. How is your T doing now?

 

[joshuapsgirl]

She's still moving. We've attempted the soap solution and are waiting for the results...in the meantime...off to Wal-Mart to get the equipment for surgery. We should be back in about half an hour and if she hasn't shown any improvement at all, we're going to the last resort... I appreciate all of your help. I'll check this again when we get home in case anyone has any last minute ideas like flipping her over..which still hasn't been commented on. Thanks again.

 

[shogun804]

well ive pulled the flip over one time and it was successfull however my T was a lot smaller and was not completely right side up like yours it was on its side...

the only problem you might run into is that it looks like a rather large T and all the legs from the old skin might not flip over with it...wich could cause problems....maybe since it is so big you could try using a rubber spatula thing from the kitchen like what you use to scramble eggs with or something and then pick it up with that and then flip over like an omlett.....i would only try this as a very last resort im only trying to throw out some options that might help you in this crapy situation and i thought since nobody else commented on the flip thing i would...just remeber when doing something this delicate it has to be done softly and with confidence and i think you could flip it successfully IMO...if nothing else works it really cant hurt to try. best of luck and keep us posted.

 

[joshuapsgirl]

We are currently working on freeing Pheobe from her shell. We have the left rear leg half free and we also have untangled the mess that her front legs and pedipalps were in. We're taking this slow and being patient. When I untangled one of her front legs she started pushing, trying to get out and she made a little bit of progress. Hopefully we'll get her free before dawn! hehehe I'll let you know how things are coming along with her.

 

[NYbirdEater]

Dropping things near your T's tank sounds like a sure way to stress them out. I'd never do it again. I try not to bump into the tanks at all. When my L parahybana had a molt where she seemed slightly stuck, I steamed up my bathroom, took her in for a few minutes and she was able to climb out, although if this happened hours and hours ago, she may have started to harden and wont be able to free her legs.

BTW I only have 12 T's and have seen several of them molt right side up, it's not strange to me, although Matty you seem a bit feisty tonight

Sorry to say but it sounds like your T is doomed. I'd try the steam treatment, and maybe light;ly mist the T itself from a distance with luke warm water but if the legs are stuck you can only sit back and wait for it to die. You may want to consider shading your tanks so your T's don't get overly stressed from birght lights, and the banging is probably not helping. If it is close to mature, it may lack the neergy needed to climb out of it's skin, plus the constant stress may not have helped as it could have used up energy hidinng from the light and noise. Usually when a T webs up it's tank it's time for it to molt, and you should keep it out of the light and away from disturbance. Sounds like you did none of this.

Where I have my T's I removed the lightbulb all together and prevent sunlight from hitting the tanks by propping up cardoard where the light would hit and i use a red light flashlight when looking at them, since red light doesn't really bother them. On occasion I will use a white light but I try to avoid it. And I avoid as much banging as I can. Sorry Sheri but having several million vibration sensitive hairs can't help with all the banging in your house although it may not be enough to cause a bad molt. I usually mist the tank or pour some warm water in the corners of the tank just prior to the molt to help them along and it seems to work, though not necessary in some people's opinion. From what I've done though, my T's seem happier, healthier and molt fine.

 

[joshuapsgirl]

we've got her first leg free and she is still moving from time to time. It's not looking too awfully bad. This is going to take all night, but I think it'll be worth the effort. She's still got a lot of fluid in between her old skin and her new so the old skin is coming right off!

 

[NYbirdEater]

we've got her first leg free and she is still moving from time to time. It's not looking too awfully bad. This is going to take all night, but I think it'll be worth the effort. She's still got a lot of fluid in between her old skin and her new so the old skin is coming right off!

That's good. Just be careful so as not to repture any of her soft parts. Did you try moistening the soil around the T or the T itself?