M. balfouri death.

[Theneil]

Hi everybody. Poopy day today. i just got home from work to find my new (Received 3 days ago) M. balfouri sling dead.

i was wondering if anybody has any ideas for cause of death different from mine.

Bacground. i recieved the sling wednesday morning (today is saturday). It was packed in a vial in the middle of a large, packing peanut filled box (Along with one other M. balfouri in a separate vial.) The pacing was less than ideal in my opinion as the vial was mostly filled with paper towel and the spider just put in the small space at the top instead of being completely surrounded with soft material, but it did have very limited space and about 4" of packing peanuts in any direction outside of the vial so it didn't seem terrible either. When i unpacked it, it looked very much in premolt to me so i put it in it's enclosure and left it alone for the most part. i did take a couple pictures and it showed that it was still very capable of moving about, though it did display very poor ability to clime smooth surfaces (which i attributed to premolt). It had been very sedentary the entire time i've had it unless provoked. Yesterday i noticed what appeared to be the beginning of a death curl so i opened the enclosure and when i did it stretched out and moved a little so i thought it might just be trying to scare me. I put a small amount of water into the sub near the sling incase it was dehydrated (in addition to the waterdish) and again let it be.

When i got home from work today i checked on it and found it sprawled out dead in it's water dish. Very disheartening.

My theory is that it got bumped around just a little too much in shipping plus being premolt and it caused some sort of damage. At some point today, it must have gone to get a drink and maybe slipped into the water dish and been unable to get out because it couldn't clime until it finally died. I am very pro waterdish so i hate giving a reason for anyone not to use one, but at this point i can't completely rule out drowning, as the immediate cause of death if the T was injured and couldn't maintain standing until it finally fell in/on the water. I don't know. But his week is turning out to be a little bit crappy and this is my way of venting.

Let me know your thoughs. I will answer any questions i can.


Here is the sling when i unpacked it. You can see how the sides had no cushon. neither did the lid. You can also see how large and dark the abdomen is.

Dorsal-ish view immediately after putting in enclosure. it had a little bit of a curl to its stance but it was able to stretch out and zip around if disturbed so i attributed it to premolt.


How and where i found it when i got home.


Full enclosure and lid. Yes the enclosure is a quite a bit larger than it needs to be but i prepped it befor they arrived and (as usual) pictured the specimen bigger in my mind. i assumednit was going to molt though so left it to grow into it a little. Sub to lid is right about 2x legspan right now. Also haed to see in the pic is a single row of holes all the way around the top of the enclosure spaced similarly to the spacing on the lid.

 

[AnObeseHippo]

I can’t tell, is the water dish flush with the sub?

 

[Gaherp]

You drowned it in my opinion. A smaller water bowl that is a bit shallower would be my recommendation.

 

[cold blood]

By far the fattest balfouri I have ever seen...looks gravid its so fat. Could have easily been damaged in that poorly packed vial.

Sorry for your loss

I highly doubt it drowned.

 

[Chelbelle]

I was going to say that's a pretty large/deep water dish for such a tiny sling. If it was weak already and needing the water it looks like it drowned.

 

[cold blood]

I was going to say that's a pretty large/deep water dish for such a tiny sling.

It certainly doesn't look like a tiny sling...looks like a juvie IMO.

 

[Theneil]

I can’t tell, is the water dish flush with the sub?

Not quite. It sticks up about 3/8" above the surface of the sub.

You drowned it in my opinion. A smaller water bowl that is a bit shallower would be my recommendation.

Perhaps. i obviously can't completely rule out the possibility, though this would be the first actual case i have seen or heard of for drowning. i know my smaller slings completely float on water and while i have never seen any of my adult or juveniles completely on water, i have seen them (different species) with multiple feet in their waterdish and they are always hydrophobic and don't break the surface tension. Obviously the same cant be said about mine, so perhapse it does not carry across the board for all sizes/species or perhaps prolonged exposure causes a loss of the hydrophobic characteristics. Usually i don't use such a large dish for such a small specimen so maybe i have just been lucky thus far.

 

[Arachnophoric]

Melodramatic

• Arachnophoric
• Jun 26, 2018
• 2
• cambodian blue tarantula chilobrachys chilobrachys sp. "cambodia blue" sp. "cambodia blue"

My Chilobrachys sp Cambodia Blue wasn't too excited about the rehouse today, and decided the...

This is my Chilobrachys sp. Cambodia blue, entirely submerged in his water dish. He stayed in there for nearly an hour. As you can see, there's a layer of air around him, formed by fine hydrophobic setae. AFAIK, all tarantulas have this. I sincerely doubt your T drowned. I'm more thinking it's death was likely attributed to potential internal damage that happened while shipping, especially since it was showing signs of weakness right out of the gate.

Very sorry for the loss.

 

[Chelbelle]

It certainly doesn't look like a tiny sling...looks like a juvie IMO.

"Tiny" to me. I've had a T come in so weak it definitely could have drowned if i left it near a bowl like that so it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Theneil]

I was going to say that's a pretty large/deep water dish for such a tiny sling. If it was weak already and needing the water it looks like it drowned.

It certainly doesn't look like a tiny sling...looks like a juvie IMO.

Estimated leg span is 2.5 inches so large sling / small juvenile. Depends on where you draw the line.

Melodramatic

• Arachnophoric
• Jun 26, 2018
• 2
• cambodian blue tarantula chilobrachys chilobrachys sp. "cambodia blue" sp. "cambodia blue"

My Chilobrachys sp Cambodia Blue wasn't too excited about the rehouse today, and decided the...

This is my Chilobrachys sp. Cambodia blue, entirely submerged in his water dish. He stayed in there for nearly an hour. As you can see, there's a layer of air around him, formed by fine hydrophobic setae. AFAIK, all tarantulas have this. I sincerely doubt your T drowned. I'm more thinking it's death was likely attributed to potential internal damage that happened while shipping, especially since it was showing signs of weakness right out of the gate.

Very sorry for the loss.

i have noticed that many times too (allt eh little air bubbles) however i see none of them around the abdomen on mine.

 

[Arachnophoric]

Estimated leg span is 2.5 inches so large sling / small juvenile. Depends on where you draw the line.



i have noticed that many times too (allt eh little air bubbles) however i see none of them around the abdomen on mine.

Perhaps because it was already dead when you found it? Can't rule it out entirely, however I'm still doubtful the water was the culprit, so don't beat yourself up over the water dish. That wouldn't have happened to a healthy spider, so I think you're correct in thinking something else was at play here. It doesn't even look to me that the water was far enough from the lip of the water dish that the T couldn't crawl out if it wanted, even if it was having difficulties climbing.

 

[ALBO2]

Having a tarantula drown is very unlikely, but it doesn't mean drowning can't happen. Healthy tarantulas, given they have water bowls they can easily get out of, have a very, very low risk of drowning.

In OP's case, their tarantula was in poor shape and weak because of less than stellar packaging. OP even said the spider could barely climb smooth surfaces. It was also given a water bowl it could not have possibly easily gotten out of in its current state. The T couldn't grip the bowl's sides to climb out once it fell in. And when it couldn't escape, its hairs finally got waterlogged enough and the T drowned. That's why its abdomen was submerged like that.

Really sucks to lose a tarantula either way, I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[Theneil]

Having a tarantula drown is very unlikely, but it doesn't mean drowning can't happen. Healthy tarantulas, given they have water bowls they can easily get out of, have a very, very low risk of drowning.

In OP's case, their tarantula was in poor shape and weak because of less than stellar packaging. OP even said the spider could barely climb smooth surfaces. It was also given a water bowl it could not have possibly easily gotten out of in its current state. The T couldn't grip the bowl's sides to climb out once it fell in. And when it couldn't escape, its hairs finally got waterlogged enough and the T drowned. That's why its abdomen was submerged like that.

Really sucks to lose a tarantula either way, I'm sorry for your loss.

Unfortunately i cannot come up with a much better explaination. Moving forward i will make a point of not using a water dish that exceeds the Ts legspan. Usually i use much smaller dishes compared to the T just out of practicality but i never considered the possibility this would happen so i didn't worry about how large the dish was when i put it in. Obviously not the best call on my part. Whether it drowned or not the Dish obviously played a role. I have heard bad things about people trying to keep M. balfouri slings on moist sub and them dying so if nothing else i imagine being stuck directly in top of the water for up to 24 hours could be pretty bad, especially for an already weak one.

 

[lostbrane]

Sorry for your loss. Something to keep in mind for sure. That being said, who knows if it would have been able to recover from the likely injury anyways...

 

[Teal]

So sorry for your loss ):

I completely agree with those who have said a healthy T would have been fine with that water dish, but your T was already showing unhealthy behaviour.

If possible, I would politely let the seller know that their packing could be improved.

 

[Theneil]

So sorry for your loss ):

I completely agree with those who have said a healthy T would have been fine with that water dish, but your T was already showing unhealthy behaviour.

If possible, I would politely let the seller know that their packing could be improved.

Yeah, i probably should.

 

[cold blood]

If possible, I would politely let the seller know that their packing could be improved.

this


I know when i first started shipping, i welcomed any suggestions for improvement and the bits of advice i recieved from a few of these buyers abdolutely changed my shipping ways for the better....a good seller should welcome advice that can improve their shipping ways.

If nothing else...show them examples of better packing ..

Shipping Vial

• cold blood
• Dec 4, 2017
• 4

mm versi

• cold blood
• Nov 1, 2017

on the way to a date

 

[Theneil]

this


I know when i first started shipping, i welcomed any suggestions for improvement and the bits of advice i recieved from a few of these buyers abdolutely changed my shipping ways for the better....a good seller should welcome advice that can improve their shipping ways.

If nothing else...show them examples of better packing ..

Shipping Vial

• cold blood
• Dec 4, 2017
• 4

mm versi

• cold blood
• Nov 1, 2017

on the way to a date

I already sent a PM letting them know and linking this thread and suggesting a more complete cushion for any future shipments. Hopefully it helps to eliminate any issues in the future.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

"Tiny" to me. I've had a T come in so weak it definitely could have drowned if i left it near a bowl like that so it wouldn't surprise me.

Yeah wow that fat probably got injured during shipping water bowl was just were it got stuck. How many hours til they drown 3? I’ve never had a T drown even if water dish was not flush.

 

[Theneil]

Yeah wow that fat probably got injured during shipping water bowl was just were it got stuck. How many hours til they drown 3? I’ve never had a T drown even if water dish was not flush.

it went basically 24 hours between the last check and when i found it.