Tarantulas dying after molting.

[PalWalken]

So I have a lot of slings of varying sizes and they keep dying after molting.
The majority were under 2 inches so I think you'd expect them to be more fragile. I didn't think too much of it.
But most recently, I had an incredibly healthy, active, 5 inch (guessing), psalmopoeus cambridgei die right after molting.
I need to know if I'm doing something wrong or if it's just nature being a cruel bitch.
Tarantulas were fed often, kept in room temp, kept on coco-fiber, and misted every few days.
This is the 4th or 5th tarantula I lost following a molt.

Thanks!

 

[sasker]

I need to know if I'm doing something wrong or if it's just nature being a cruel bitch.

It is not normal for tarantulas to die that easily. It may happen, of course, but it sounds like something is wrong with the way they are kept, I am afraid. Could you post some pictures of the terrariums?

Tarantulas were fed often, kept in room temp, kept on coco-fiber, and misted every few days.

Could you send some pictures of your tarantulas? Just to see how often is often. Room temp should be alright and coco-fiber is used by many. Misting is not necessary, just dampen the substrate of species that require a bit more humid environment by pouring water directly onto the substrate. For most tarantulas, a water dish is enough, though. Species from more arid areas do not appreciate moist substrate.

'Damp', 'moist', 'humid', these are not terms that make things clearer. A picture says more than a thousand words

 

[Frogdaddy]

Picture of the enclosures please.
Why are you misting? Are you providing a water dish or only misting?

 

[PalWalken]

No water dish. I will provide one when they are larger.
Misting is their water source. I do see them drink when I mist.

 

[sasker]

I don't know what you keep exactly (I see an GBB) but I would not house terrestrial species in arboreal enclosures.

So far, what species have died? Tarantulas 'under 2 inches' sound like juvies to me, not slings. They could (almost) be kept in their final enclosures. Perhaps their enclosures were not the right size?

 

[Smotzer]

No water dish. I will provide one when they are larger.
Misting is their water source. I do see them drink when I mist.

To be honest these all do not look very well set up and dirty and humid......and the misting leads me to believe there are too stuffy stangant condidtions. What all species are in this photo?

 

[PalWalken]

Be a little more specific. What do you mean by not well set up? Not pleasing to the eye? Because they have their substrate and they made their own burrows/webbed up everything.
By dirty, I assume you mean the coco-fiber particles on the wall. Tarantulas don't really give a <edit>. Lol.
Humid though, that could be a valid concern. I did do some misting recently. Not saturating, but enough on the walls for them to drink. They are pretty small, so dehydration is a concern.

From left to right:
Acanthoscurria geniculata
Poecilotheria regalis
Harpactira pulchripes
Psalmopoeus irminia
Ceratogyrus darlingi
Poecilotheria metallica
Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens (the big one in photo)

2x Chilobrachys fimbriatus
Psalmopoeus cambridgei
Psalmopoeus pulcher
Cyriopagopus schioedtei

I think these are all the ones that died following a molt. The psalmopoeus cambridgei was such a big, healthy, active boi, so I was sad to see him go. Sucked.

And I should say that by misting, I mean getting some water droplets in a small area on the substrate and some on the walls. I didn't turn the enclosures into a tropical rainforest.

 

[Smotzer]

Okay as in not well set up, I mean like not well set up based off of needs of the species, and thhey need waterdishes and not to be misted, misted just makes things humid in stuffy. and your enclosures with mostly only one vent hole do not have much airflow, they are not Aviculariinae but they still need some air flow at least I always give more and i never have a problem like this happening. Also it looks like they are all set up exactly the same and you have different species from different regions of the world, you do have to slighhtly tailor your set up based on how the live or where they are from (moisture )

you have two species that are arboreal that besides the container are not really set up for their needs, corkbark plant cover. They also need a water dish and not to be misted and kept of slightly moist substrate during some life stages with room for burrowing some, with drying out more as adult.
example of a psalmopoeus spp. enclosures

Psalmopoeus spp. Enclosure

• Smotzer
• Feb 17, 2021
• 9
• enclosure juvenile psalmopoeus terrarium

A flip top Better Homes & Gardens container from Walmart. I use these for my juvie arboreals...

then you have the Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens that is set up as an arboreal but they are indeed a terrestrial and it is not set up with any adequete enviornment like anchor points or hide, just substrate. Also they abhor misting, they should be kept done dry with a water dish and never misting.
heres an example of a GBB set up where they feel comfortable.

Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens Enclosure

• Smotzer
• Feb 22, 2021
• chromatopelma chromatopelma cyaneopubescens cyaneopubescens enclosure new world terrarium vivarium

An example of set up for a juvenile C. cyaneopubescens.
Enclosure is an Mdesigns container...

Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens

• Smotzer
• Feb 22, 2021
• 2
• chromatopelma chromatopelma cyaneopubescens gbb terrestrial web webbing

Groops living in his web cloud castle! (2.75in)

You say you lost two Chilobrachys, be. honest were thhey set up like all these, or were they set up with the ability to create large burrow?

 

[sasker]

And I should say that by misting, I mean getting some water droplets in a small area on the substrate and some on the walls.

Aren't C. fimbriatus supposed to be kept quite humid? Perhaps you have been given enough water, but if they were given only a few drops of water and no dish, that would not suffice.

I agree with @Smotzer that they should all be provided with a water dish. The tiniest of slings are the only ones I personally do not give a water dish. Juvies and adults always have access to water.

 

[Smotzer]

Aren't C. fimbriatus supposed to be kept quite humid?

Yes if you mean deep moist substrate, I think the humid part will be confusing to OP as its a by product of soil moisture levels and doesnt need to be measured, they are moisture dependent.

 

[Frogdaddy]

Most likely a husbandry issue since so many T's have died needlessly.
Definitely need water dishes and misting won't suffice. Any pictures of the T's? Are their abdomens shriveled and dehydrated?

 

[PalWalken]

All live T's are very healthy. There is only one I have a LOT of concern about. That's a whole other issue.
Thank you for the detailed responses.

Don't know if you guys watch any YouTubers, but I basically just follow advice from Dark Den and ExoticsLair.
Dark Den just lightly mists every once in a while for smaller T's and then when they are bigger, gives them a water dish.
The C. fimbriatus were pretty small. I would say that the substrate could have been deeper though.
Where do you get your enclosures? I have a hell of a time finding true terrestrial enclosures.
Where do you get your corkbark?
Also, since I have a lot of slings and they are in small enclosures, what would I use for a water dish? Can't fit a lid in there.

 

[Frogdaddy]

Don't know if you guys watch any YouTubers, but I basically just follow advice from Dark Den and ExoticsLair.

Yeah. That's the problem right there.
They are killing your tarantulas. Please read a lot on this forum. Much better information.

 

[Smotzer]

Don't know if you guys watch any YouTubers, but I basically just follow advice from Dark Den and ExoticsLair.
Dark Den just lightly mists every once in a while for smaller T's and then when they are bigger, gives them a water dish.

This is a horrible place to get your information on how to keep tarantulas from, thhey hhave a lot of bad practices, and for me is cringeworthy!!! To be frank you should ignore what they do and how they keep them and what they say and only watch for entertainment purposes. I long suspect those two have 'unexplained' deaths like you do, they are in some respects pretty damn terrible keepers especially the Exotixs guy, and are only in the hobby for clickbait views. If you want info on husbandry and how to keep them or set them up, all you can ever need to know is all here on AB. Utilize this forum you are on, it will save your animals lives! The search function can be used to find out just about anything you need to know.

All live T's are very healthy. There is only one I have a LOT of concern about. That's a whole other issue.
Thank you for the detailed responses.

Im not sure that with your unexplained deaths that you can completely claim that they are all perfectly healthy.

about the enclsoures, I cant link ads into threads its against the site rules, but the C. cyaneopubescens container I got off of Amazon called Mdesigns. I will send you a PM with the link to the product. Im not sure if you are in the US or what country you are in. There are so many options to use plastic storage containers for terrestrials. the enclosures you are using should really only be used for arboreals.

 

[PalWalken]

Yeah. That's the problem right there.
They are killing your tarantulas. Please read a lot on this forum. Much better information.

They sound like genuine guys who care about doing things right. Do you assume that since they are YouTubers, they must be idiots who don't know anything or is there something they said that you disagree with in particular? Just wondering.

This is a horrible place to get your information on how to keep tarantulas from, thhey hhave a lot of bad practices, and for me is cringeworthy!!! To be frank you should ignore what they do and how they keep them and what they say and only watch for entertainment purposes. I long suspect those two have 'unexplained' deaths like you do, they are in some respects pretty damn terrible keepers especially the Exotixs guy, and are only in the hobby for clickbait views. If you want info on husbandry and how to keep them or set them up, all you can ever need to know is all here on AB. Utilize this forum you are on, it will save your animals lives! The search function can be used to find out just about anything you need to know.

Im not sure that with your unexplained deaths that you can completely claim that they are all perfectly healthy.

about the enclsoures, I cant link ads into threads its against the site rules, but the C. cyaneopubescens container I got off of Amazon called Mdesigns. I will send you a PM with the link to the product. Im not sure if you are in the US or what country you are in. There are so many options to use plastic storage containers for terrestrials. the enclosures you are using should really only be used for arboreals.

What would you say they get so wrong?
And as for healthy, I mean all the live ones. They have fat abdomens, movement is good, and they eat regularly. There is one I know for a fact, something is wrong. I will post on here. I've been looking for answers, but haven't found anything helpful.

 

[Blueandbluer]

I have been keeping Ts for almost 30 years; the advice given to you above is sound. I don't care if the youtubers sound genuine, they probably are -- doesn't mean they can't be wrong.You came here looking for help, we have offered it, but it sounds like you've decided we're wrong and you already have the answers. I'm sorry, but if you did, your spiderlings would not be dying.

It's your choice -- keep doing what you're doing and suffer high mortality rates, or try to improve.

 

[Smotzer]

What would you say they get so wrong?
And as for healthy, I mean all the live ones. They have fat abdomens, movement is good, and they eat regularly. There is one I know for a fact, something is wrong. I will post on here. I've been looking for answers, but haven't found anything helpful.

For one, he has multiple bad unexplained deaths I looked on youtube just now, cause I give him zero support by watching his videos, and two videos came up with deaths that hes confused about, and bad practices like riling them up to get responses/threat posture, and handling (which is dangerous and can be fatal, im sure hes droopped one and killed it and not said anything, we have seen it happen on here...), and enclopsures not set up safely or correctly., horrible practices with rehousings (like dude put your camera on a tripod and rehouse with both hands ) , multiple avoidable escapes, misting, terrestrials set up with way too much height which is a fall risk ,which can be fatal (I had this same issue with yours, which you learned from them clearly....). I see a video of an escape, of what I am assuming is a venomous, centipede escaped and near his dog and the clickbait title is "I hope he didnt get bit" ......I am not telling you to stay away and that his practices are bad for no reason, that dude has no idea what he is doing and he influences people who are new into the hobby to copy, unknowingly, his bad practices, and then people obviously have issues, like you are now, who then come here asking for help.

I am telling you, get all your husbandry here on Arachnoboards for legitimate reasons and only watch stupidtube for its entertainment value, because at the end of the day, most of the time, that is the only substance it has, they are there to make money off getting as many views as they can, not about true blue correct keeping, correct keeping is so much less risky and flashy and entertaining, I have never had issue that he has, but mine stay all alive cause I learn to filter what is good vs. outdated and bad, there is though a guy on youtube named Tom Moran who is there to try and better the hobby more than anyone else on there.

 

[PalWalken]

A lot of that is for entertainment value, of course, and isn't a representation on their ideas about correct husbandry (not endorsing it, fyi). I'm looking for things that pertain to bad advice about actually caring for the animals. The bit about misting and enclosures you mentioned are good examples.

I have been keeping Ts for almost 30 years; the advice given to you above is sound. I don't care if the youtubers sound genuine, they probably are -- doesn't mean they can't be wrong.You came here looking for help, we have offered it, but it sounds like you've decided we're wrong and you already have the answers. I'm sorry, but if you did, your spiderlings would not be dying.

It's your choice -- keep doing what you're doing and suffer high mortality rates, or try to improve.

No, not at all man. I'm just having a back and forth discussion. Not saying I disagree. Not being hostile either. Just giving feedback and learning.

 

[Sterls]

They sound like genuine guys who care about doing things right. Do you assume that since they are YouTubers, they must be idiots who don't know anything or is there something they said that you disagree with in particular? Just wondering.

They upload content to entertain, whether they claim it's educational or not. Just look at how sensational and clickbaity their titles/thumbnails are. YouTube pages should not be a primary source of info, let alone the sole source. Search these boards for the best information available on the internet. If you're incredibly lazy and can't be bothered to do that, at the very least watch Tom's Big Spiders instead. He's the only reputable channel around, but he should still not be your only source of information. He won't make you laugh, but he will help teach you how to stop killing half of your collection. Tom's only goal is to teach - he doesn't even monetize his videos.

But again, and I cannot emphasize this enough, search these boards for the best information available on the internet. There is something like 20 years of information on here, including from keepers that have been doing this for 30+ years with success. If you don't find the information you're looking for, ask us. Know in advance that people here have a tendency to be direct, don't take it personally.

ExoticsLair has a solidly bad reputation. There have been numerous threads on here pointing out mistakes he's made, some of which are frankly animal cruelty. I do not have the time, nor the will, to search for specific examples to give you. I haven't seen his videos myself, but you don't earn a reputation like his without due cause.

I'll admit to watching Dark Den videos in the past; while he isn't as bad as ExoticsLair, he's still not a good source for husbandry. He never uses water dishes, is careless with rehousings and often has escapes, and has more "mysterious" deaths than can be attributed to coincidence.

If you want to watch them for entertainment, fine, we can't stop you. Just don't base your care off them.

 

[Blueandbluer]

No, not at all man. I'm just having a back and forth discussion. Not saying I disagree. Not being hostile either. Just giving feedback and learning.

I'm not a man, but thank you. I hope you are able to curb your mortality rates.