Is he dead or molting?

[Brookema90]

Is he dead or molting? Im pretty sure hes dead. I tried not to touch it but i very softly brushed his leg with a paint brush and he didnt even twitch. Also noticed his abdomen is really shriveled so I put him in the bathroom and turned on shower to add humidity to see if that help. My biggest concern is that he has been like this since last night when I found him. Seems too long too be molting imo.

He is a Costa Rican zebra. My first T ever. He had all the signs of preparing to molt . Not eating, clear extractions from his knee. Maybe a failed molt?

Tia

 

[Theneil]

Lookes like molting. Cant tell on my phone but it almost looks like it molted at least partially and the molt is just sitting on top of it. (Could just be me and tiny screen but looks like too many legs.)

Give it some time and just leave it alone.

 

[Brookema90]

That's exactly what it looks like. Like he is stacked on to of himself. I thought he looked like he had too many legs too

 

[Brookema90]

Top* excuse all the typos please

 

[Brookema90]

A few more pictures. He is wedged right by his heating pad. But as you can see his abdomen is really shriveled

 

[Rob1985]

A few more pictures. He is wedged right by his heating pad. But as you can see his abdomen is really shriveled

I can say with a high degree of confidence that you're T is molting. Make sure it has a full water dish, leave it be and check back in a few hours.

 

[Brookema90]

Thank you for the boost of confidence! I'm letting him sit on the bathroom and gave him fresh water last night

 

[Rob1985]

Thank you for the boost of confidence! I'm letting him sit on the bathroom and gave him fresh water last night

Yep, no problem. Just be sure it doesn't get to cold in the bathroom though.

 

[KezyGLA]

Is the heat pad on?

High possibility it has dehydrated your specimen and killed it mid moult when they need those fluids. Thats what I am thinking if abdomen completely shrivelled. I think he is dead.

 

[Brookema90]

Yeah the heat pad is on. I posted a second picture of the abdomen if you want to take a look and tell me what you think.

 

[Rob1985]

Yeah the heat pad is on. I posted a second picture of the abdomen if you want to take a look and tell me what you think.

Don't put a heat mat on an enclosure. All that is needed is ambient room heat. But if you're running a heat pad, it's likely dehydrated and remove that ASAP!

 

[Rob1985]

Is the heat pad on?

High possibility it has dehydrated your specimen and killed it mid moult when they need those fluids. Thats what I am thinking if abdomen completely shrivelled. I think he is dead.

I'm on my mobile device, so I couldn't see very well. As I already said, if there is a heat mat involved, and it was mid molt with that shrunken of an abdomen then yeah... it's not looking good.

 

[Belegnole]

Is the heat pad on?

High possibility it has dehydrated your specimen and killed it mid moult when they need those fluids. Thats what I am thinking if abdomen completely shrivelled. I think he is dead.

Look again. What I'm seeing is the exuvia on top of the still upside down tarantula. You might want to unplug that heating pad though.

 

[KezyGLA]

Look again. What I'm seeing is the exuvia on top of the still upside down tarantula. You might want to unplug that heating pad though.

Yeah I can see the abdomen very shrivelled and small underneath it in the second photo. I know it is normal to be smaller after moult. But the fact that the T is non-responsive along with the conditions it moulted in and the small abdomen, leads me to think it has passed

 

[RedVelvet]

Generally, if a tarantula has just died, it will display a death posture. Not from my experience but I've read up on the subject matter, as well I have gotten my information from Tom Moran of Tom's Big Spiders. The death curl generally means that the tarantula has curled it's legs underneath it, the abdomen looks very deflated and shriveled and it had displayed lethargic movement. Before even reading the comments on your post, I assumed that it was molting, but now, you're looking at lost money. Definitely DO NOT use a heat mat in the future unless you live in a place that is below 0 year round. Just go out and purchase a space heater if you're super worried about heat, I've got one that I generally let run until my temperature gauge hits around the 80f mark then I turn it off until the next day. Again, don't use a heat mat and if you absolutely must, place it on the bottom of the tank and make sure that there is plenty of substrate between the T and the heat mat. Also, don't run the heat mat constantly, it'll more than likely hurt the T if it goes to burrow. There's a whole other post about heat mats that I will link here.

arachnoboards.com/threads/heat-mat-question.114679/page-2

BTW I am not an expert, I have done my due diligence and have researched allot recently.

 

[Charlie69]

Hard to tell. But shriveled abdomen and not responding to touch, could just be the molt. Best to put it back in its place, and remove heatmat. Fill up waterdish and wait.

 

[PidderPeets]

The abdomen doesn't look that shriveled. It looks like a standard small abdomen that's fresh after a molt. There is the exuvia over top the spider, and the abdomen of the exuvia is in its typical shriveled state.

It's quite possible that the molt is stuck due to dehydration. I would unplug the heat mat and very carefully see if you can remove the molt or if it's stuck. If it is stuck, I would use scissors to carefully cut off the parts of the exuvia that aren't stuck, then use wet q-tips and tweezers to attempt to pull off the parts that are stuck.

For future reference, moving the enclosure to the bathroom with the shower running isn't a very effective way to resolve the issue. Ambient humidity is not what a tarantula needs, despite what many care sheets say. What they need is moist substrate and internal moisture. The species you have (A. seemanni) appreciates some moisture in their substrate, but yours looks bone dry. Did it at least have a water bowl?

I hope your T makes it, but if it does, your enclosure looks like it needs some serious adjustments.

Again, don't use a heat mat and if you absolutely must, place it on the bottom of the tank and make sure that there is plenty of substrate between the T and the heat mat.

Do not place the heat mat on the bottom. Tarantulas burrow to get out of the heat. They'll burrow because it's too hot on the surface, get closer to the heat because the heat mat's on the bottom, and instinctively keep trying to go further down (and closer to the heat mat) because instinct tells them to dig to get out of conditions that are too hot. They don't have the thought process to go up if the heat source is on the bottom. They'll unknowingly get closer to it and end up dying because they relied on instinct.

 

[RedVelvet]

Do not place the heat mat on the bottom. Tarantulas burrow to get out of the heat. They'll burrow because it's too hot on the surface, get closer to the heat because the heat mat's on the bottom, and instinctively keep trying to go further down (and closer to the heat mat) because instinct tells them to dig to get out of conditions that are too hot. They don't have the thought process to go up if the heat source is on the bottom. They'll unknowingly get closer to it and end up dying because they relied on instinct.

Right, my bad. Bit of misinformation on my part.

 

[Brookema90]

Ok I unplugged the mat. The reason I got it was because I room stays very cold and I really didn't know anything about Ts but a mat was suggested by a friend because we leave our fan on high and i was worried it would get too cold in its enclosed. He had a water dish that I keep fresh water in about an inch deep. I don't know if It makes an difference but the mat is on the side, not bottom. Never the less I can completely remove it if it's necassary. I personally think he got dehydrated should I love him back to my room with the heat pad?

 

[PidderPeets]

Right, my bad. Bit of misinformation on my part.

No problem, we're all here to learn