T. blondi dying... help!

[proper_tea]

I have a blondi with a ruptured abdomen. I've tried to seal the rupture (about 1.5") with nail polish.

I have it on it's back, waiting for the polish to dry, before I move it to the ICU. I am thinking of trying to give it fluids with a syringe (no needle) into the mouth. What do you all think?

It's alive, but just barely.

Here's a link to more background. I initially posted that it was dead.

Here's a link to when I first noticed it getting sick.

 

[Kris-wIth-a-K]

That is little. I am sure once it dries it might be okay. I would stick it in ICU for and spray the ICU down. I wouldn't give it water just yet unless it has been like this for a while. All it will do is stress the T out more. Let it it dries up completely. It is harsh to say but if it dies it dies and there isn't much you can do in this situation but wait you have patched it and now it's a waiting game.

 

[ctsoth]

How do you think the abdomen split? I think it is possible it split from internal pressure. Did you try an see inside at all? If you really think a parasite is a problem the abdomen could likely be split for that reason.

Or it fell off of something.

 

[proper_tea]

I'm pretty sure it was internal pressure... I think it was a cyst.

I'm gonna post some pics in a minute...

The other links have pretty detailed descriptions of the problems I'd been having with this spider prior to the abdomen rupture.

 

[Arachnosold1er]

Superglue works better than nail polish and dries a lot faster.

 

[proper_tea]

Here are some before and after pics.

The before pics are from when I first noticed the abdomen deformity. It got much much worse over the next couple months, until it ruptured.

The after pictures a pretty graphic. You are warned.

before:

After:

 

[crpy]

Not good, uumm do I see a chicken bone:?

 

[proper_tea]

No... that's a plant...

Although I had that same thought when I looked at that picture. My partner and I are both vegetarians though, so there are no chicken bones in the house... unless someone's been trying to feed chickens to our spiders.

 

[crpy]

No... that's a plant...

Although I had that same thought when I looked at that picture. My partner and I are both vegetarians though, so there are no chicken bones in the house... unless someone's been trying to feed chickens to our spiders.

wow, I hope you get the answer to administering fluids, I have heard it being done but have not witnessed it.

 

[hardlucktattoo]

I think you are right about the cyst thats what it looks like anyway

 

[proper_tea]

wow, I hope you get the answer to administering fluids, I have heard it being done but have not witnessed it.

I tried to administer fluids... gently... but I also don't want to burst any internal organs. So I've actually just taken the spider and placed its mouth in the water dish.

A little back story. I found this spider near dead in a pet shop... death curled in a bone dry critter keeper with no water.

I helped the guy working there transfer it to an ICU, and did the same thing... gave it a water dish and put it's mouth in the water. I was pretty sure the thing was too far gone to recover, but when I came back a week later, it looked fine.

The guy working there sold it to me at a ridiculously low price, since I had saved its life, and I brought it home. That was around 6 months ago.

So I guess I'm trying the same thing I tried before.

The nail polish is dry, and hopefully has sealed the rupture. Honestly though, I don't have a lot of hope for this spider.

 

[xhexdx]

I don't have anything to suggest to help the spider, but I would like to suggest you consider putting it in the freezer should you lose hope completely.

I hope you can save it, but I agree that there doesn't appear to be a lot of hope.

 

[clam1991]

ok that looks bad best of luck but a responsible owner knows when to pull the plug
we have confidence in you

now i want to know something
for further prevention
if we see our ts getting a huge cyst like this one
is there a way to prevent a rupture like just a little cut to relieve pressure
or maybe a pin prick
just want to know in case i run into this problem in the future

 

[proper_tea]

I don't have anything to suggest to help the spider, but I would like to suggest you consider putting it in the freezer should you lose hope completely.

I hope you can save it, but I agree that there doesn't appear to be a lot of hope.

Yeah... the freezer has definitely gone through my head... but I also just had a cat attacked by a pitbull, and the vet kept suggesting that we put it down, but we decided to take a chance and it's doing fine.

Since it's already this close to dead, I think that it will either die in the next couple hours, or start to recover. I think I'm gonna let it play itself out. I don't know how much spiders actually experience suffering, but I know that crickets don't seem to exhibit too many symptoms of it. I frequently feed my slings crickets from whom I have removed the jumping legs. As soon as its over the crickets act as if nothing has happened to them, and go about looking for food and acting like crickets.

I think pain operates very differently with inverts than it does with people... or even small mammals or reptiles.

 

[Daniel_h]

wow keep us updatd

 

[Kris-wIth-a-K]

idk man. Maybe a Miracle Molt will arise. Best of luck. As I said before there isn't much you can do for the poor thing. The freezer would be a good idea if it looks worse.

 

[proper_tea]

wow keep us updatd

will do....

 

[Mina]

I'm so sorry!!! The only thing you can do is an ICU, and make sure you put a water dish in with it and that the spider knows it is there.
Goodl luck to both you and that poor blondi!!!!!!!!!!

 

[proper_tea]

I really wish that I had been a little more gutsy about this situation, and tried an operation similar to the one Ryan did, where he lanced the cyst before it burst... but I was just hoping that it was close to a molt, and that it might just molt out of the problem.

I think it might be dead at this point. No movement. But I'm going to leave it alone for a day and see if there is any change. You can't hurt a dead spider.

Thanks everyone, for your replies and your concern.

 

[Tarangela]

That is extremely sad

I have been thru lots of issues myself w/ blondis. I have had 2 lose fangs, and had to hand feed them for over a year...not fun.

At least you tried w/ the nail polish, and she was comforted as much as possible....maybe you will receive a miracle tonight...either way, she lived 6 months more than she was supposed to....

Keep us posted on what the absolute final outcome is.