I got my first tarantulas in July and everything was going good so I kept getting more. Everyone was growing and molting and eating with no problem. Then all of a sudden two day ago when I went to water all my spiders more then half of my collection was dead, and I have no idea why. My collection consisted of 10 P. regalis, 5 OBT, 2 A. versicolor, 2 P. irminia, 4 A. amazonica, 5 A. Minatrix, and 1 P. Vagans. I lost in a period of 24 hours 7 regalis, 1 OBT, 2 versicolor, 2 irminia, all the amazonica, vagans and 4 minatrix. My usual routine is that every thursday I would water and every monday feed. All of my conditions were right the room gets not cooler then 75 degrees at night and during the day is around 82. Nothing has change since I have had them. I dont know what happened but it sucks and now I'm just trying to keep the rest of them alive. All the ones that are still alive are doing fine. Does anyone have any ideas what might have happened?
Massive Die off in 24 hours
- Thread starter pturski
- Start date
Could it be a chemical taint? Was anyone in the house/neighborhood spraying insecticide?
I'm so sorry for your terrible loss.
+1 ... also had anyone sprayed any perfume, deodorant or airfreshener in the room or close vicinity? Also have you changed the feeders at all?
Also had they been displaying any unusual behaviour at all?
Also and sorry to ask this but could anyone have done anything to your T's as an act of malice?
I am very sorry for your losses
excuse me but I cant find anywhere in the post where the Op says they are on their back????
How can you be sure they are shedding?
PTURSKI ... that does also leave me to ask actually .... were any of them on their backs?
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Stop posting. Lurk for a few months until you have enough knowledge built up to make helpful posts...
Edit: OP we need some more information or at least pictures of the spiders.
It could be;
Chemical
Nematode
Something new we don't know about
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I am so sorry. That really, really sucks.
I hope you can figure out what happened in order to protect the others from the same fate. Good luck, and again, so sorry to hear
I hope you can figure out what happened in order to protect the others from the same fate. Good luck, and again, so sorry to hear
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Thats a pretty rude thing to say, he just lost half of his collection. I'm not sure how synchronistic molting can be in collections but to say that this many Ts are all molting at once and that HE may be the one to have killed them is stretching it to say the least.
It really sounds like it might have been pesticide/chemical related. Perhaps from the Monday feeding, Thursday watering, or some chemical in the air.
You say that the ones that are still alive are fine, if you were to touch one, are any movements slow, jerky, or somehow different? I'm not saying that you should try it, as stress might be the last thing you want on them, but it might be worth attempting.
And man, I'm sorry to hear about this
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wow so sorry for your loss i dont kno what id do if half of my collection died.
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depending on your setups that might be a little light for watering, especially for some of the avics
unfortunately, a lot of toxic chemicals don't produce immediate affect, so it might be hard to nail down if that is it
if you want to have any chance to get to the bottom of this you need to figure out EVERYTHING that went on in the bugs' room, your house (or whatver), with their feeders, etc
edit:
oh, and myles756... made the ignore list i know you are young... but your post was ridiculous and even a 10yo should have known better. hope you never need my help =P
unfortunately, a lot of toxic chemicals don't produce immediate affect, so it might be hard to nail down if that is it
if you want to have any chance to get to the bottom of this you need to figure out EVERYTHING that went on in the bugs' room, your house (or whatver), with their feeders, etc
edit:
oh, and myles756... made the ignore list
i know you are young... but your post was ridiculous and even a 10yo should have known better. hope you never need my help =PTruly Rare
Arachnopeon
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I agree, though they might have been shedding and he did not realize thats what they were doing, because when I got my first tarantula 8 years ago I didn't know that and was like aww man, and it was shedding LOL, luckly though I didn't mess with it and then realized how stupid I was lol.
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I honestly don't think so, he said his collection had been growing and molting just fine which indicates he knows exactly what molting is. I do not doubt he is telling the truth about his unfortunate Ts and knows what he is talking about.
I am very sorry for your loss! I certainly hope you find what caused it, or at the very least I hope you suffer no more losses. That is really tragic, to loose one is hard, but to loose so many at one time, I''m so sorry.
Good luck nailing down what caused it, I'm praying you suffer no more losses!!!
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My condolences for your loss. The only thing I can think of that would have contributed indirectly to their death would be the scheduled watering. Watering is something that has to be done when ever the dishes are near empty. T water is something that has to be checked daily. The humidity levels could have dipped between one Thursday to the next and they might have become too dehydrated.
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not really. i only watered once a week... but i had lower vent rigs that worked just fine with it. during winter i would only water once every two weeks or so, too. works just fine, as long as you know what you are doing
you probably would have to check daily if you had a massively (over?) ventilated cage and only gave it a spritz or two a day and had something like the more sensitive Avics in there
I am having a hard time believing any of this. If it is true, I am very sorry to hear about your losses. Where do you live? Do you use tap water. Chloramine levels in the water here in Cleveland tend to fluctuate a bit, so I use bottled water 99.9% of the time.
So, my point, if you are using tap water to water your Ts it could have been a spike in chemical levels.
Again sorry for your losses.
So, my point, if you are using tap water to water your Ts it could have been a spike in chemical levels.
Again sorry for your losses.
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^^^
Same here, in omaha we have to treat our water before given to most any exotics (reptiles, fish, inverts) otherwise its very toxic. We don't use bottled water though, because depending on where it came from, it too could carry those nasty chemicals.
Same here, in omaha we have to treat our water before given to most any exotics (reptiles, fish, inverts) otherwise its very toxic. We don't use bottled water though, because depending on where it came from, it too could carry those nasty chemicals.
reply
None of the T's were on there back so I know they were not molting. Also I do check them to make sure that they are humid through out the week so if one was a little dry before I watered on thursday I watered it. The food should have been fine I have no idea if that was the cause. Nothing was sprayed. I dont know if it is possible to have neurological issues but one of the versicolor was fine friday and yesterday was slow and sluggish and could bairly move. It wanted to strike but it tried and then fell to the side. Im lost for thoughts.
None of the T's were on there back so I know they were not molting. Also I do check them to make sure that they are humid through out the week so if one was a little dry before I watered on thursday I watered it. The food should have been fine I have no idea if that was the cause. Nothing was sprayed. I dont know if it is possible to have neurological issues but one of the versicolor was fine friday and yesterday was slow and sluggish and could bairly move. It wanted to strike but it tried and then fell to the side. Im lost for thoughts.