Severely Dehydrated Poecilotheria Metallica any advice?

[Ccall3]

I'm not believing that conclusion. Why ever would you get the idea that the ICU is working? Because you put it in an ICU and it seems to you it may be doing better? Ever heard of confirmation bias? Ever considered that your dying sling may just be desperately trying to get out of that thing and therefore be moving more? But that's not even it, that's just a minor point. Main point is, you put a spider in a highly unhealthy environment. What do you think it will get out of it? Moisture? You could have done that better in it's enclosure just by moistening the substrate, but from what you are saying I see no reason at all to conclude that lack of moisture was the problem to begin with.

In another thread you posted that said sling hasn't been eating for 5 months except for 2 crickets (that were actually seriously oversized if your pic is anything to go by) and hasn't molted. Then you come home one day and it looks very thin and the enclosure happens to be dry and you conclude 'dehydration'.

Other, more likely scenarios:
- The sling got attacked by one of the comparably huge crickets you left in there and sustained a microscopic, but nevertheless serious, bite wound.
- The sling is seriously malnourished and weakened because it just couldn't tackle the oversized crickets. That would explain why it couldn't molt either. This seems actually very likely.

An ICU, especially one as ridiculously wet as yours, is generally a good way to kill a spider. If you really wanted to give it water you could always drop something on his fangs. It needs to drink, not soak.

The size of the cricket and leaving it there could definitely be the issue. What would you suggest I do in the meantime if he is this malnourished? Have no where to get pin head crickets, but I did place a small cut piece of meal worm in there. Do you think he will eat this? If not, I do not know what else I can do to make him eat and see if this is the issue.

 

[Ccall3]

The size of the cricket and leaving it there could definitely be the issue. What would you suggest I do in the meantime if he is this malnourished? Have no where to get pin head crickets, but I did place a small cut piece of meal worm in there. Do you think he will eat this? If not, I do not know what else I can do to make him eat and see if this is the issue.

Also, the ICU did seem to do something, as his abdomen is definitely less shriveled today than it was last night.

 

[boina]

Also, the ICU did seem to do something, as his abdomen is definitely less shriveled today than it was last night.

Ok, what the ICU may be doing is allowing the sling to drink from the soaked paper towels. That's definitely good (but could have been achieved in a less stressful and dangerous way). They do take up water by drinking and they cannot absorb it through the skin - that's physiologically impossible. The high humidity in the ICU, together with the moss you put in there, is, however, an excellent breeding ground for bacteria and your sling is in no shape to deal with them.

Ergo: Take the sling out and place it's mouth parts in water. I'd think it may be to weak to actually eat. Therefore I'd mix cricket or mealworm guts with water to make a thin slurry so it can take in some nutrients and calories with the water.

 

[Venom1080]

Don't bother mixing mashed bug guts. Those will probably go bad before the spiders even done eating.

Just crush a prey item and put the sling on top of it. Or leave it near the spider.

 

[Toddydog]

I read that some things slings can eat:
-Cut up cricket (give him a leg or the head)
-crush the head of the cricket and let him eat as much as he can in 24h
- part of a mealworm
- small pieces of roach (roach head)
-flightless fruit flies
I would suggest for you a head of the cricket. The sling looks like it could use something small and killed. Remove it after 24h.
I also heard that an issue new people have with slings is overwatering their environment.
I was told to do it 1-3 times a week letting it completely dry off in between. The water should be droplets on the sides not soaking or dripping down the sides. T's get a lot of their water from their food so they don't need A LOT of water.
I'm not an expert and have no real experience except for the sling I currently own (for 3 days). I just did a lot of research.

 

[cold blood]

I have been leaving the cricket in there. Maybe i should not do that? He hasn't eaten about about 2 months and Im not quite sure what the problem is thats why I left the cricket in there because I never knew when he might get hungry

This reinforces my initial thoughts. Not only do ts kept in damp stuffy conditions often mimic dehydration with extreme lethargy and even curling, but the first thing that usually occurs in these conditions is a t that refuses to eat.

Pokies are excellent eaters, if it were healthy and in good conditions it would be drilling prey. Sounds like things have been on the downward slide for a long time.

 

[cold blood]

If you really wanted to give it water you could always drop something on his fangs.

+1

 

[awiec]

This reinforces my initial thoughts. Not only do ts kept in damp stuffy conditions often mimic dehydration with extreme lethargy and even curling, but the first thing that usually occurs n these conditions is a t that refuses to eat.

Pokies are excellent eaters, if it were healthy and in good conditions it would be drilling prey. Sounds like things have been on the downward slide for a long time.

Agreed. The only picky pokie I've ever had was a P.regalis who required some cycling/mimicking of a wet and dry season for her to eat and molt regularly, the P.metallica would eat whenever or would kill the prey she didn't want. My thoughts would lean towards too damp of a cage as well since I have let my cages dry out for a few days without any issues. Those cages from several popular spider seller sites are little death traps for aboreals, while 2 small dozen holes in a 32 oz deli cup does the job better and cheaper.

 

[Venom1080]

I've kept pokies bone dry with a water dish and very humid also with a dish. The difference is the amount of ventilation.

Most if not all of my enclosures have very high vent.

These spiders experience dry and monsoon seasons. They're quite hardy.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

+1

Ah ah the + 1. Are you on Poec54 'copycat' mode on?

Ops, there's 'cat' in the word 'copycat', ih ih ih

jok

 

[cold blood]

Ah ah the + 1. Are you on Poec54 'copycat' mode on?

Ops, there's 'cat' in the word 'copycat', ih ih ih

jok

Its a common denotation on the internet...indicating an agreement.....it doesn't belong to anyone...its as much everyone's as "hello".

You Italian

 

[lateapexpredator]

Have no where to get pin head crickets

https://www.amazon.com/Pinhead-Band...d=1516072388&sr=8-1&keywords=pinhead+crickets

 

[Ccall3]

Update. Unfortunately, the T died this morning. He was doing a lot better than came back home this morning and found him in a death curl. Tried to make him move but it was pretty evident he was not going to. Thank you everyone for the advice and hopefully I can learn something for the future if I decide to get another one of these species.

 

[Venom1080]

Be sure to do research on here before getting another spider, let alone a Poecilotheria.

 

[Mjb30]

Update. Unfortunately, the T died this morning. He was doing a lot better than came back home this morning and found him in a death curl. Tried to make him move but it was pretty evident he was not going to. Thank you everyone for the advice and hopefully I can learn something for the future if I decide to get another one of these species.

Thanks for the update.

I hope you are able to move on from this, do thorough reasearch on Arachnoboards and get yourself another T and stay in the hobby. There is so much useful information on here in order to keep a T healthy and safely.

There are plenty of other Theraphosidae that are better genera and species to start off with in the hobby.

I wish you the best of luck and hope you come back.

MJ

 

[spookyvibes]

Sorry to hear you lost him/her