Tarantula in weird critical condition?

[SpiderGuyJake]

About three days ago, I fed my Chilean Rose Hair and it was active and everything. Ate, moved around, perfectly normal. The following day, it had what kinda gets tossed around but “DKS” like symptoms, it kept having spasm like activity and poor coordination, and later was on its back. So I kind of figured it was going into molt which is really odd because

A.) It doesn’t typically eat right before it molts

B.) No webbing or anything before molt

It’s been over a day and it’s still on it’s back just moving it’s legs every now and then. I have no idea what could’ve been wrong with it as this was not gradual and happened within 48 hours. If anyone can provide any sort of information and help, that would be wonderful. I’d really like to help my T

 

[PidderPeets]

The symptoms that people call DKS are generally attributed to some type of pesticide/chemical exposure. There are a few other possibilities as well (I think sometimes dehydration and infections are a cause, but I'm not positive).

Was the prey item wild caught? Could the prey have been exposed to pesticides? Would anyone in your family or neighbors spray any type of pesticide or chemicals that could reach your T through the air? Do you have any dogs or cats that you've recently applied a flea and tick treatment to?

 

[SpiderGuyJake]

The symptoms that people call DKS are generally attributed to some type of pesticide/chemical exposure. There are a few other possibilities as well (I think sometimes dehydration and infections are a cause, but I'm not positive).

Was the prey item wild caught? Could the prey have been exposed to pesticides? Would anyone in your family or neighbors spray any type of pesticide or chemicals that could reach your T through the air? Do you have any dogs or cats that you've recently applied a flea and tick treatment to?

No, all good items given to the spider have always been storebought and never from the outdoors because of the risk of parasites and other harmful effects. As for the chemicals go, I’ll have to check with the family because I don’t spray anything near the spider but perhaps something could have been. It just doesn’t add up that this could happen in such a short timespan.

 

[PidderPeets]

No, all good items given to the spider have always been storebought and never from the outdoors because of the risk of parasites and other harmful effects. As for the chemicals go, I’ll have to check with the family because I don’t spray anything near the spider but perhaps something could have been. It just doesn’t add up that this could happen in such a short timespan.

The fact that it took such a short time is part of why I'm strongly questioning pesticide exposure. Pesticides/chemicals would affect it rather quickly. Even if your family didn't spray anything, do you keep your T near any open windows where it could be exposed to outdoor chemicals? Pesticides, air fresheners, perfumes/cologne, and other similar aerosols are all things I would consider risky if used close enough to the tarantula.

There's a thread on here somewhere about using heat therapy to potentially help a tarantula that definitely exhibits diskinetic behavior, but it's not always effective.

But I would also wait on some more experienced people to chime in, because there may be some points that I'm missing

 

[SuzukiSwift]

Doesn’t sound like it’s moulting, I would hop on the pesticide train too. See what your family says, it’s even possible that something else was sprayed with pesticide and then that item came in contact with the food source or the enclosure on some way.

Do what you can to increase humidity in the enclosure but don’t disturb it just in case it is moulting, although I still find that unlikely considering the circumstances.

 

[SpiderGuyJake]

Well the windows have been closed for over a month and it’s a good 20 feet or so from a window and the angle of the window is facing away from its tank. Nothing was sprayed near it’s tank except for the water misting bottle I use to humidify the enclosure. I put more and more water on the sides of the tank to humidify it more. For over a year this spider has had exceptional care and everything it needs. It’s troubling because I’ve never had this problem with ANY of my previous arachnids. Let’s say that it IS pesticides, do any of you know any ideas on how to go through with possibly helping? Forgive me, since this is the first time I’ve dealt with anything like this, I’m not necessarily sure what to do

 

[InvertAddiction]

Truthfully, there's not much you can do except play the waiting game. Normally though, if a T gets exposure to chemicals of the sort, the outlook is quite grim. Normally the T goes into a death curl and not on it's back. I lost a GBB to dks which was later to be found from flea bombing. Oddly enough it was the only one who was affected :/ I have a friend who had an A. genic that had dks but hers managed to molt out of it and is alive and well to this day. How big is your T?

 

[SpiderGuyJake]

It’s about 4” or so long and has not molted since July of 2017, so I’d say it’s due for one. I’m done bothering it, tried to increase its humidity by spraying the enclosure, and it flinched a few times. Also, when I first noticed it on its back, it was moving its legs so I figured it was trying to flip back over. It was not and felt like an idiot and when I pushed it back up, it immediately fell back on its back. The waiting game is the only thing I can do at this point. I’m hoping it molts out of this and everything goes back to normal. So far my guess is that someone who really didn’t think anything of it was using a cleaner spray or something near the crickets at the pet store and the chemicals worked its way on them and got to the spider. Because I don’t know how else that could’ve happened

 

[cold blood]

Never spray, add moisture or....ugh....humidity...to a rose hairs enclosure...this is an arid species that despises moisture....in fact mousture can be detrimental to them.

Bone dry with a water dish is how it should be kept.​

 

[SpiderGuyJake]

That’s how I usually keep it, but a lot of suggestions came up with adding humidity because it may be dehydrated

 

[PidderPeets]

Humidity is irrelevant to tarantulas (except for in the case of humid, stuffy enclosures with too little ventilation which is universally bad for all species), so you shouldn't be misting at all. Humidity is an incorrect term used in tarantula keeping that actually refers to how much moisture is needed in the substrate. Species that like "high humidity" like more moisture in their substrate, and species that like "low humidity" like dry substrate. Unfortunately the use of the word "humidity" makes it very confusing for newcomers and people in the reptile hobby and such.

That being said, the species you have absolutely detests moisture. You shouldn't be adding moisture to the substrate and you shouldn't be misting. Just leave the substrate dry with a water bowl (no sponges or pebbles in the bowl, the T won't drown).

A 4" inch rosie honestly probably isn't about to molt any time soon if it just molted about a year ago. So I think it'll be more important to try and identify the source of the problem, eliminate it if it's still present, and just using a bit of heat to try and boost the metabolism of the spider to try and work any toxins through it's system. I'll try and find the thread about DKS symptoms I'm thinking of that should have more information. (Edit to add: here's the link to the thread I was talking about. http://arachnoboards.com/threads/treatment-for-dks.306385/)

Have you added anything to or changed anything about the enclosure recently? New substrate, new decor, etc? Is it possible it was climbing, fell, and did some type of internal damage that would explain the behavior?

If you could provide pictures of the tarantula, the full enclosure, and maybe even a video of the behavior if you have it, that might help us figure out more keys to the puzzle

 

[SpiderGuyJake]

Yes I can do that later after work today. It’s enclosure has been set up the same way for the year it’s been here. Gets fed like normal, everything. It’s just odd this has happened suddenly with absolutely nothing even close to this ever being present

 

[PidderPeets]

Yes I can do that later after work today. It’s enclosure has been set up the same way for the year it’s been here. Gets fed like normal, everything. It’s just odd this has happened suddenly with absolutely nothing even close to this ever being present

Tarantulas can be incredibly hardy, even if conditions are atrocious (I'm not saying your conditions are, I'm just making an example), so even if it was a long term issue, it might not be apparent until the tarantula just can't handle it anymore. There's been people on here that ask for help because their tarantula is suddenly in a death curl and they don't understand why, and then when more experienced keepers look at the enclosure it's almost a miracle that the tarantula survived as long as it did.

In the case of pesticide or chemical exposure, that stuff kills fast. So honestly it could be incorrect husbandry finally taking it's toll (again, not saying your care is definitely wrong, but lots of the information that's readily available online and in pet stores is incorrect so it's possible) or some type of chemical did it in. In either scenario, it could seem perfectly fine one day and in terrible shape the next.

Another thing I just thought of: has it been pooping? If by some chance it's impacted, it wouldn't poop, would have a bloated abdomen, and it could eventually start developing diskinetic symptoms as the toxins build up in it's body. I'm not trying to make you any more worried for it, but I'm just trying to cover all the bases I can think of

 

[cold blood]

Yes I can do that later after work today. It’s enclosure has been set up the same way for the year it’s been here. Gets fed like normal, everything. It’s just odd this has happened suddenly with absolutely nothing even close to this ever being present

are you by chance adding supplimental heat to the enclosure?

 

[SpiderGuyJake]

There’s a heating pad underneath one of its burrows that’s been running since it’s been with me

 

[lostbrane]

Oh no. Poor lil critter may have cooked itself. Would it always go to that burrow?

 

[Greasylake]

Heat pad might have dehydrated it. I believe DKS symptoms have been reported in cases of dehydration before.

 

[AngelDeVille]

Heat pads are bad...mmmkay....

 

[cold blood]

There’s a heating pad underneath one of its burrows that’s been running since it’s been with me

a rose hair is fine even in the 60s

 

[SpiderGuyJake]

No, the pad takes up a very small corner of the tank, it rarely goes in that burrow anyways. It was just to keep a stable warm temperature around 75-77. It rarely stayed in that corner