my Tapinauchenius violaceus fell !

[SonsofArachne]

I just had a weird thing happen with my adult female Tapinauchenius violaceus. First let me say this spider has habit of going walkabout. It randomly wanders around the walls of its cage (a 16 in. tall acrylic). I'm beginning to wonder if the dealer somehow misidentified a male as a female. I don't think it's a problem with temp/humidity as my A. metallica and P. metallica are right next to it and are acting normal.

Anyway, it decided to walk across the ceiling of its cage when it fell. It missed the Mopani branch and hit the bottom edge of the cork bark slab hard enough to make a thud. I ran over to check on it and saw the weirdest thing I've ever seen with a T. Its thorax and abdomen were jackknifed into a upside down V. It wasn't bleeding but was rubbing the area between it's thorax and abdomen with its two left back legs. needless to say I was shocked. I went get some thing to put it in but when I got back it was walking around the side and went into its hide. A little later it was back to wondering around the sides of the cage like nothing happened. Has anybody seen anthing like this? I'm wondering if their might any long term affects from this

 

[Dannica]

The most you can really do at this point is observe and try to see if there is any fluid leaking. I’d make sure you keep a full water dish, so she can re hydrate if she needs to. Pictures of your enclosure would also be nice, how far was the fall? How sharp is the cork bark? There is nothing you can do now that a fall has occurred, other than try to prevent future falls.

 

[SonsofArachne]

The fall was about 14 inches. I have a big cork slab (no sharp points) and mopani wood branch (sharp points sanded off) in a 8 X 8 X 16 arboreal cage. I'm not sure what else I could do to prevent falls, other than put it in a terrestrial cage. I have a lot of arboreal's, this the first time I ever saw one try to cross the ceiling of the cage.

 

[Jhawk023]

If you do notice any damage to the T’s abdomen superglue is your best friend if it’s bleeding or leaking a little dap of gel glue on the area will seal it up and prevent external bleeding not much can be done if internal. It’ll look weird for a bit but it’ll molt out. In larger enclosures like that I put silk plants in that way if a T happens to fall it’s softer landing.

 

[Dannica]

The fall was about 14 inches. I have a big cork slab (no sharp points) and mopani wood branch (sharp points sanded off) in a 8 X 8 X 16 arboreal cage. I'm not sure what else I could do to prevent falls, other than put it in a terrestrial cage. I have a lot of arboreal's, this the first time I ever saw one try to cross the ceiling of the cage.

I’m wary of superglue, though I’ve seen others use cornstarch or flour to help stop any hemolymph leaking. Hopefully the spider is just startled and returns to normal. I have noticed that arboreals lose some of their “grippiness” as they get closer to a molt, is your girl approaching a molt?

 

[scott99]

I just had a weird thing happen with my adult female Tapinauchenius violaceus. First let me say this spider has habit of going walkabout. It randomly wanders around the walls of its cage (a 16 in. tall acrylic). I'm beginning to wonder if the dealer somehow misidentified a male as a female. I don't think it's a problem with temp/humidity as my A. metallica and P. metallica are right next to it and are acting normal.

Anyway, it decided to walk across the ceiling of its cage when it fell. It missed the Mopani branch and hit the bottom edge of the cork bark slab hard enough to make a thud. I ran over to check on it and saw the weirdest thing I've ever seen with a T. Its thorax and abdomen were jackknifed into a upside down V. It wasn't bleeding but was rubbing the area between it's thorax and abdomen with its two left back legs. needless to say I was shocked. I went get some thing to put it in but when I got back it was walking around the side and went into its hide. A little later it was back to wondering around the sides of the cage like nothing happened. Has anybody seen anthing like this? I'm wondering if their might any long term affects from this

Just check up on her every so often, she might be alright. Although T's are pretty fragile, I've read stuff where t's survive longer falls.

 

[Dovey]

Whatever you do, no hospital cage! The hospital cage is the great myth of tarantula keeping these days. There are maybe three things that can go wrong with a spider that an intensive care experience might in any way be useful towards resolving. If you don't have a leaking abdomen, there is no reason to harass your spider further. She can take care of herself.

I have found that many of my arboreals lose the ability to climb as confidently as they normally do right before a molt. Could she be in pre-molt?

 

[cold blood]

post pics of the palps, preferably from the underside while its on the glass if you suspect it may be a MM.

 

[SonsofArachne]

First, thanks for all helpful replies. She is currently climbing around the walls again(!), after being in her hide for the past few hours. No sign of any bleeding. Now that I look at her, and not looking for injury, her abdomen does look like premolt. I wasn't entirely serious about her being a male - she just likes to wander around a lot like a male looking for females. She will go days or weeks without coming out, then start wandering again. None of my other females do this. I wonder if has anything to do with weather, there's a cold front coming and humidity is high. Tried to take pictures - she's not co-operating.

 

[NukaMedia Exotics]

Hopefully no internal damage, as you said its not leaking all you can do is wait and hope it turns out alright.

 

[SonsofArachne]

Yes, internal damage was what I was wondering about when I mentioned long term effects. Awhile back, when I first got into T's, I had a young B. emilia in a 10 gallon with to much cage furniture and to little substrate (newbie mistakes). It had climbed to the top, then it got startled and fell and landed on a piece of driftwood. It seemed okay for about three months then went into premolt. After waiting about a month I decided something was wrong and looked in on it. Sure enough it had molted - then died right next to the molt. I always have wondered if hidden damage from the fall could have killed it. Other T's kept in same room, same humidity molted just fine, so I'm not sure what else could have caused it.

 

[Orionoid]

If you do notice any damage to the T’s abdomen superglue is your best friend if it’s bleeding or leaking a little dap of gel glue on the area will seal it up and prevent external bleeding not much can be done if internal. It’ll look weird for a bit but it’ll molt out. In larger enclosures like that I put silk plants in that way if a T happens to fall it’s softer landing.

I have to disagree with the superglue. It can stop bleeding, but it can also cause molting problems (given that it's glue, there's the chance of getting the molt stuck/causing other troubles). Cornstarch can also stop bleeding. Or flour? Not sure on the flour, cornstarch is my go-to for basically every pet I have lol

 

[Sana]

Flour works just fine but your tarantula will not be amused. If you ever find yourself in a situation where that seems necessary be extra cautious. Also take pictures because a tarantula sprinkled with flour looks absolutely hilarious after the crisis has passed and you look back on it.

 

[Jhawk023]

I have to disagree with the superglue. It can stop bleeding, but it can also cause molting problems (given that it's glue, there's the chance of getting the molt stuck/causing other troubles). Cornstarch can also stop bleeding. Or flour? Not sure on the flour, cornstarch is my go-to for basically every pet I have lol

I have used the cornstarch but I have used the superglue on abdomen splits on 3 tarantulas with a high degree of success once during a mating catastrophe and the other two on falls that caused damage and as long as it’s not gooped on haven’t had any molting issues. A thin bit on quetip tend to do trick. All three tarantulas are still up and kicking

 

[LV-426]

When I had big female T. Stirmi she had fallen from the inside top of her 55 gal tank a few times, and escaped once. Nothing ever happened to her.

 

[awiec]

These are tree spiders, their weigh distribution is different compared to a terrestrial and they will leap from trees onto branches that could be much further down. While not ideal for it to be falling like that, it is most likely fine, sometimes when they are about to molt they fall due to their muscles attaching to the new exo skeleton.

 

[SonsofArachne]

Update: she has stopped wandering and went into her hide. She is currently sitting in the mouth of her web tube, looks to be okay. I won't stop worrying until after she molts though.

 

[SonsofArachne]

I know it's been awhile but she finally molted yesterday and appears to be just fine

 

[Dovey]

Excellent. Thanks for the update!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

post pics of the palps, preferably from the underside while its on the glass if you suspect it may be a MM.

I second this aboreal females tend to sit in the same spot a lot. Don’t got wandering and falling, even when I rehouse not much wandering.

Update: she has stopped wandering and went into her hide. She is currently sitting in the mouth of her web tube, looks to be okay. I won't stop worrying until after she molts though.

Did you check the molt too confirm sex,? It’s easy unless Aboreal destroys it wich happens a lot.