Not a good sign at all :(

[Falk]

Hope that "Burgundy" will make it

 

[Balkastalkman]

I think I know what happened. I have 2 ideas, the first being that the tarantulas gut has ruptured and it is causing this bulge, but I dont think Zilla would live that long after the rupture happened. My second idea is a problem with the circulation system. Its possible a cyst or something else has disrupted the collection of circulated hemolymph in a specific region of the abdomen .In a Ts circulation system Hemolymph (blood) is pumped from a main heart inbetween organs where it is absorbed and it collects in pockets at the bottom of the abdomen, and then recirculates back into the heart. If this collection was some how disturbed by some type of obstruction it could cause fluid build up, leading to a bulge in the abdomen. Unfortunately if this was really the problem there would be nothing you could do anyway which really sucks.

 

[andrews1]

could it be a natural acorence in a her anatomy? ive seen some strange bugs in my day. How is she reacting to the deformety? Is zilla eatting well and continuing to carry on?

 

[andrews1]

Does she seem to be showing any discomfort? anything diffrent in her natural nehavior?

 

[robc]

Does she seem to be showing any discomfort? anything diffrent in her natural nehavior?

Not at all, she is no differen't, I tested to see if she would eat with tongs and she would have, but I do not want to feed her and cause more pressure on that area. She has not consumed a lot of water either.

 

[robc]

hope that "burgundy" will make it

lolol!!!!:d

 

[GLaD0S]

(im raptiosaur on youtube)

Cancer has nothing whatsoever to do with bones. In cancer, cells mutate and stop responding to signals that tell them to stop dividing (along with other changes that occur in cancer cells, such as production of telomerase). So yes, a tarantula can have cancer-and for that matter so can sharks and rays.

The bones produce the red blood cells in the marrow. So yes, bones do have something to do with some forms of cancer. But this is definitely not the case in Zilla's problem.

 

[DrAce]

My personal thoughts are that these are herniations - little spots where the exoskeleton is weak, and which haven't formed correctly. This then allows a bulging of internal organs through, and which eventually just starts getting worse and worse, particularly at moult.

One of the attempts to fix this herniation would be to form scar tissue, which is difficult to break - this would then make for a difficult moult, eventually tearing though the newly forming exoskeleton, leaving the spider with an open wound.

I don't know how you might hope to fix it though.

 

[PhobeToPhile]

Hmm...if that's the case then would underfeeding the spider-so that the abdomen shrinks-be of help?

 

[andy375hh]

That sucks, this has happened and to the most famous Blondi in the arachnoworld Sorry to hear about this Rob

 

[Falk]

lolol!!!!:d

Lol??!! Do you know the difference between them or are ju just being defensive as usual?
I cant see those long patella hairs on your Zilla

 

[bee67]

The bones produce the red blood cells in the marrow. So yes, bones do have something to do with some forms of cancer. But this is definitely not the case in Zilla's problem.

In 'some' forms of cancer (primarily leukemia) yes. But red blood cells reproduce differently than most cells, which reproduce by division/mitosis. Other types of cancer in mitotic tissue (like lung cancer, breast cancer, etc) are caused by ceaseless and rapid overgrowth/division of cells and tissue. This could certainly be possible for Zilla.

Someone also mentioned that the reason we might not see as much cancer in spiders/inverts could be related to their lifespan- and while yes, they have a comparatively shorter lifespan than humans, many spiders live on much longer than mammalian pets like dogs, in whom we see cancer quite frequently.

I think it might have more to do with lack of research, and natural selection- there aren't many/any documented cases in the wild since they would have a hard time surviving it. I certainly seem to be noticing a few cases of "cysts", "growths" and "hernias" in the hobby, but I've only been around for a year or so. Could be it crops up more often in captivity because of captive breeding of a possibly genetic cancer, and the fact that there are owners around to help them out of difficult molts, feed them prekilled food with tongs, etc etc when they are helpless.

 

[Spyder 1.0]

Lol. No they cant get cancer.

Any living organism can get cancer.... Its just a buildup of mutated non-functional cells.

 

[PhobeToPhile]

I've been thinking about this, but just how big is the genepool for captive tarantulas anyway? Line and inbreeding can cause stuff like this to show up more frequently-it's caused that in budgies and cockatiels at any rate. Was zilla wildcaught of captive bred?

 

[xhexdx]

Zilla was wild-caught.

 

[ThreeStarsLoki]

I'm so sorry about Zilla. I've always enjoyed your videos on YouTube of her. I hope everything turns out ok.

 

[robc]

Lol??!! Do you know the difference between them or are ju just being defensive as usual?
I cant see those long patella hairs on your Zilla

No, I know the difference, I was just laughing. Besides, it's not really the point here and I was not being "defensive as usual"....though now I am. LOL Just kidding!!

 

[robc]

My personal thoughts are that these are herniations - little spots where the exoskeleton is weak, and which haven't formed correctly. This then allows a bulging of internal organs through, and which eventually just starts getting worse and worse, particularly at moult.

One of the attempts to fix this herniation would be to form scar tissue, which is difficult to break - this would then make for a difficult moult, eventually tearing though the newly forming exoskeleton, leaving the spider with an open wound.

I don't know how you might hope to fix it though.

Sounds logical to me.

 

[xhexdx]

As stated in the ATS thread, her next molt will be critical and, in my opinion, very likely her last. Hopefully you'll be around when it happens and be able to assist if necessary/possible.

 

[robc]

As stated in the ATS thread, her next molt will be critical and, in my opinion, very likely her last. Hopefully you'll be around when it happens and be able to assist if necessary/possible.

Thanks...and I have to agree, Joe. I'm keeping a very close eye on her and I'll be there when she molts to help in any way I can. I hate to say it but I think the molt will likely cause a huge rupture that will most likely kill her.