Sling in death curl, anything I can do?

[UralOwl]

I recently came home to find one of my Euathlus sp. "red" slings in a death curl. It's still alive since I noticed it moving its legs slightly when I tried gently stroking it with a small paintbrush. I've moved it to a small ICU, though the sling is far too tiny for a water dish (it's less than half a cm in legspan) so it's just on a damp piece of kitchen paper.

I've had it (as well as its siblings) for a few months now and it's been fine up to now. It was never a big eater (fed it on cricket legs) and was quite skinny compared to most of its siblings. It's also never molted, whereas some of the other slings have already molted 3+ times since having them.
For the past week I noticed it was acting a bit strangely as well, it become a bit aggressive and gave me a few threat poses when feeding/watering it. It also started to walk strangely, waving its legs around horizontally to move, and doing a rather poor job of it.
I guess it may have been dehydrated, but I noticed it drinking a droplet of water on the side of its container just a few days ago, so I'm uncertain.
I'm assuming that the sling is already as good as dead, but I was just wondering if there is anything else I can do to save it?

 

[goodoldneon]

Unfortunately, it sounds like you've done all there is to be done. Hopefully the little guy/gal will pull through - they are such a gentle little species.

 

[UralOwl]

Unfortunately, it sounds like you've done all there is to be done. Hopefully the little guy/gal will pull through - they are such a gentle little species.

I just checked on the sling again and he now seems pretty completely fine. His legs are uncurled and I even saw him walking around a bit.
I have to say, I'm really amazed as it's only been about 2 hours since I put him in there, and he's acting like nothing ever happened.
Fingers crossed that it's not just some false alarm and that the little guy really has recovered.
I think I'll leave him in there for today though and see how he gets on. If he's still fine tomorrow, I guess I'll move him back to his container.

 

[friendttyy]

Nice now just hope it recovers well.

 

[captmarga]

Keep it well watered, and offer a crushed food item. If it's dis-coordinated, the sooner you can get it to molt, the better, IMO.

Good luck!

Marga

 

[Storm76]

Despite the saying that these should be kept like G. rosea, I keep mine 1/3 moist substrate and they do frequently sit on that part of their enclosures. I can only suggest other people try the same - mine are still slings, too btw! Their mother, however, is kept the same way. I was actually given this hint from the breeder who owns her.

 

[Poec54]

Sounds like dehydration. Slings should have fresh water available at all times. I give mine small water bowls.

 

[UralOwl]

I noticed the sling walking around in the ICU about an hour and a half ago, somewhat awkwardly. It looked like his claws were getting caught somewhat on the towel, so I decided to just move him back to his container.

I poured some water into the container, which has made about a 1/4 or so of the container damp/wet. I also crushed a cricket leg and put it on the drier side.

The sling has been chillaxing on the wet side for about an hour now. He seems just fine, his legs aren't curling up at all now, he's just behaving like a regular tarantula. Fingers crossed that he's in the all clear now.
Many thanks to everyone's replies and suggestions.

EDIT: Also, just wanted to add that the sling's abodomen looks black/dark, so I think it may be in pre-molt.

 

[845BigRed]

Dare I say he may have just been resting like that, my Rosea likes to freak me out sometimes and curl up similar to a death curl and just sits there. Shes perfectly fine and healthy, she just sits like shes in a curl. First time I saw her hunched up like that I spazzed and opened the cage and went to gently sweep her into a catch cup and she attacked the paintbrush (shes not nice).

It very well might have been dehydrated but just food for thought if you see it happen again and everything seems fine an hour or so later.

 

[UralOwl]

Well, it looks like the sling has passed. I woke up this morning to see him trapped in his molt. His legs are somewhat halfway out, but his carapace didn't pop open, he also didn't flip onto his back before molting, he was sitting upright. There is no sign of movement or life.
It's a real shame, I honestly thought he was perfectly fine now and was going to live. He had been drinking quite a bit after his death curl incident, so I'm not sure why this happened.

Anyway, thanks again for everyone's replies, it's just a shame the sling ended up dying anyway.

 

[friendttyy]

Well, it looks like the sling has passed. I woke up this morning to see him trapped in his molt. His legs are somewhat halfway out, but his carapace didn't pop open, he also didn't flip onto his back before molting, he was sitting upright. There is no sign of movement or life.
It's a real shame, I honestly thought he was perfectly fine now and was going to live. He had been drinking quite a bit after his death curl incident, so I'm not sure why this happened.

Anyway, thanks again for everyone's replies, it's just a shame the sling ended up dying anyway.

Sorry about your loss RIP to the sling