Worried about this one! Help!

[sethnewbs]

This is my girl Coco, she is a Avicularia avicularia. I got her a few months back from a pet shop. She(From what the petshop owner told me) is my very first T and she isn't doing very well, I have her in an ICU right now trying to recover her but she'll barely walk or do anything. When I first got her she would eat normal but always seemed extremely calm for her species and she never really seemed to have much life. Being my first I am extremely worried about her as it's clear she isn't doing well but I want to know if there's anything I can do. I haven't seen a death curl but the only movement she will do is at most a couple inches and it's very slow and rare when it happens. Please help.. I've really tried so hard to help this poor girl find life and I want her to be a long lasting pet, I just don't know what more I could do.

 

[Dannica]

First things first, please get that tarantula out of an ICU. Moist, stagnant air will kill your tarantula faster than whatever you think is wrong. Post up some photos of your enclosure as well. How long have you had her, and when is the last time she ate or molted?

 

[sethnewbs]

I took her out of her ICU and placed her back in her enclosure(I have attached pictures.) I also attached pictures of her enclosure. Moving her back into her enclosure is the most I've seen her move, She instantly climbed up her branches and moved faster then I've seen her move in a couple of weeks. She hasn't eaten in a couple of weeks and I've never seen her molt after owning her for about 4-5 months. I had her in the ICU as she was showing signs of dehydration(which I've always kept water for her) from another well experienced T owner. I really only want what's best for her and moving her back into her home is the most lively I've seen her in a long time. Thank you for pointing that out right away. however, she doesn't seem 100%, which anymore I'm not sure what that should look like as the experience friend told me everything the pet shop told me was wrong.

 

[Dannica]

You’d do better with a taller enclosure, something taller than it is wide, as these are “tree spiders”. More foliage towards the top, will give her something to anchor some webbing too and give her a place to feel more secure. Also, are you sure she’s a female? If you could post some photos of the pedipalps, that could be helpful. Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get some information to hopefully help out your girl!

 

[sethnewbs]

You’d do better with a taller enclosure, something taller than it is wide, as these are “tree spiders”. More foliage towards the top, will give her something to anchor some webbing too and give her a place to feel more secure. Also, are you sure she’s a female? If you could post some photos of the pedipalps, that could be helpful. Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get some information to hopefully help out your girl!

Thank you! That's definitely some information I did not know. The pet shop owner literally told me she likes to be on the ground. The sticks(After being baked to kill any bacteria) were added after a friend told me this species likes to climb. I will try and get that picture of her pedipalps, I only refer to her as a female as I was told that by the pet shop owner.

Another thing I noticed now that she's back in her enclosure is she does move very slowly, and her legs move kind of randomly, not controlled like she use to walk

 

[Dannica]

Avicularia are arboreal, so they rarely are found on the ground, and an avic on the ground isn’t usually a good sign. They like to climb, and need lots of ventilation, preferably from all sides. If you can get some cork bark, or some fake leaves and put them in the top of the enclosure, she will be able to find a happier place to settle in. I personally use the container I’m uploading a photo of, I melted tons of holes on all sides at the top, and stuffed the top with foliage, added a water dish, and had a very happy avic. My girl is currently sitting on a sac with @cold blood and seemed to be thriving in her set up. There are people who prefer a front opening enclosure for their arboreals, but this has worked for me thus far.

 

[sethnewbs]

Avicularia are arboreal, so they rarely are found on the ground, and an avic on the ground isn’t usually a good sign. They like to climb, and need lots of ventilation, preferably from all sides. If you can get some cork bark, or some fake leaves and put them in the top of the enclosure, she will be able to find a happier place to settle in. I personally use the container I’m uploading a photo of, I melted tons of holes on all sides at the top, and stuffed the top with foliage, added a water dish, and had a very happy avic. My girl is currently sitting on a sac with @cold blood and seemed to be thriving in her set up. There are people who prefer a front opening enclosure for their arboreals, but this has worked for me thus far.

I will definitely get these things added and get her a taller enclosure ASAP! I'll keep watching her closely and see if there's any improvements as this is her first hour back in her cage, so hopefully she pulls through! Thanks for your help, I hate to see her in such a down state and I definitely hate to have let her get here! I always care for my animals and creatures but this little one just isn't doing well but I will do everything I can to get her in a better place.
Edit:She's not co-operating to let me get that picture of her pedipalps, so I will try another time as i don't want to add more stress to her

 

[Dannica]

I will definitely get these things added and get her a taller enclosure ASAP! I'll keep watching her closely and see if there's any improvements as this is her first hour back in her cage, so hopefully she pulls through! Thanks for your help, I hate to see her in such a down state and I definitely hate to have let her get here! I always care for my animals and creatures but this little one just isn't doing well but I will do everything I can to get her in a better place.
Edit:She's not co-operating to let me get that picture of her pedipalps, so I will try another time as i don't want to add more stress to her

No worries, I hope to see your post within the next few days that’s shes back to normal! I’m nowhere near an expert, I’m still asking a million questions all the time, but if I have even a small bit of knowledge I’m glad I could help. Any of y’all experts out there please feel free to let me know if anything I said is off base!

 

[sethnewbs]

I do have another question about feeding her, I have all food out of her enclosure right now as she was showing a stress curl when I intially noticed what was going on but that's been about a week, I had her in the ICU for about 24 hours and now have her back in her enclosure. Should I wait to feed her or continue to try?

 

[Dannica]

I do have another question about feeding her, I have all food out of her enclosure right now as she was showing a stress curl when I intially noticed what was going on but that's been about a week, I had her in the ICU for about 24 hours and now have her back in her enclosure. Should I wait to feed her or continue to try?

Personally I’d wait. Make sure there is access to water, and then leave her alone in a quiet, dark place to hopefully let her settle in.

 

[cold blood]

Are the ends of the palps pink, like the feet? When a male matures, it loses the pink ends on the palps, which makes it easy to see mature males.


Those sticks are not what you want...you want wider pieces of wood, something that can provide a platform to hunt from and stretch out on...on top of that, the top of the wood needs to be surrounded by plants...this encourages webbing and helps the t feel secure as it can hide easier.

What you describe, sounds more like too much moisture than it does dehydration. Are you keeping her enclosure damp or dry? It should be kept predominantly dry.

See the enclosure here...this is @Dannica 's female in the enclosure I set up for breeding. See how the wood is wide and the tops of the wood are all surrounded by foliage.

avic housing-adult

• cold blood
• Mar 13, 2018
• 1
• avicularia enclosure pinktoe tarantula

 

[sethnewbs]

Are the ends of the palps pink, like the feet? When a male matures, it loses the pink ends on the palps, which makes it easy to see mature males.


Those sticks are not what you want...you want wider pieces of wood, something that can provide a platform to hunt from and stretch out on...on top of that, the top of the wood needs to be surrounded by plants...this encourages webbing and helps the t feel secure as it can hide easier.

What you describe, sounds more like too much moisture than it does dehydration. Are you keeping her enclosure damp or dry? It should be kept predominantly dry.

See the enclosure here...this is @Dannica 's female in the enclosure I set up for breeding. See how the wood is wide and the tops of the wood are all surrounded by foliage.

avic housing-adult

• cold blood
• Mar 13, 2018
• 1
• avicularia enclosure pinktoe tarantula

Yes they are pink like the feet. Oh my! Thank you! I SERIOUSLY appreciate the feedback. I'll get her something that's more of a platform and a taller enclosure with the foliage. I generally keep it dry but her water dish.

 

[Arachnophoric]

Oof, no offense friend but that's definitely not a good setup for an Avic. Dannica's advice is pretty sound on moving your T into something like those canisters - you can find them at walmart, usually around the kitchenware sections. Instead of using thin stick like those, something more broad like a slab of cork bark will likely make your T feel far more secure and offer a lot of webbing anchor points. You can also hot-glue-gun some plastic foliage to it to decorate, that's always fun!

Buying from a pet store has so many unknowns attached to it, assuming you just bought from a dime-a-dozen store where they usually have no clue on how to properly care for most exotics, let alone something like a tarantula. Your T looks to be a decent size, which means unless it's a male it's anyone's guess on how old it is. I can't tell for sure because the pictures aren't great angles, but going with Dannica's suspicion that you may have a MM who's at the end of his rope, I don't think that's the case. They don't seem to have emboli in the first image you posted, but again, not the clearest image. Which means it could just be an adult female who's time is coming soon. I've never experienced it myself yet, but iirc from other users, Ts tend to slow down considerably in their final months.

I'd leave her be as far as feeding for now. The abdomen doesn't look worryingly small and you've messed with her quite a bit already, I don't think she'd be willing to eat right now honestly.

Question though - you say "all of the food out of the enclosure" - you don't leave multiple crickets or feeder insects with there 24/7, do you? Feeder insects can be the devil to Ts if left in there with them, more so if there's multiple of them - I had a frog eaten by crickets when I was much younger and hadn't known any better.

I sincerely hope we get to the bottom of what's ailing your T. It'd be nice for her to pull through, seems to me that too many people have their Ts passing these months.

 

[Thekla]

You already got great advice, but please read these two threads as well!

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/avicularia-care.291340/
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/avicularia-husbandry.282549/#post-2461396

That will tell you all you need to know about husbandry for avics.

 

[sethnewbs]

Oof, no offense friend but that's definitely not a good setup for an Avic. Dannica's advice is pretty sound on moving your T into something like those canisters - you can find them at walmart, usually around the kitchenware sections. Instead of using thin stick like those, something more broad like a slab of cork bark will likely make your T feel far more secure and offer a lot of webbing anchor points. You can also hot-glue-gun some plastic foliage to it to decorate, that's always fun!

Buying from a pet store has so many unknowns attached to it, assuming you just bought from a dime-a-dozen store where they usually have no clue on how to properly care for most exotics, let alone something like a tarantula. Your T looks to be a decent size, which means unless it's a male it's anyone's guess on how old it is. I can't tell for sure because the pictures aren't great angles, but going with Dannica's suspicion that you may have a MM who's at the end of his rope, I don't think that's the case. They don't seem to have emboli in the first image you posted, but again, not the clearest image. Which means it could just be an adult female who's time is coming soon. I've never experienced it myself yet, but iirc from other users, Ts tend to slow down considerably in their final months.

I'd leave her be as far as feeding for now. The abdomen doesn't look worryingly small and you've messed with her quite a bit already, I don't think she'd be willing to eat right now honestly.

Question though - you say "all of the food out of the enclosure" - you don't leave multiple crickets or feeder insects with there 24/7, do you? Feeder insects can be the devil to Ts if left in there with them, more so if there's multiple of them - I had a frog eaten by crickets when I was much younger and hadn't known any better.

I sincerely hope we get to the bottom of what's ailing your T. It'd be nice for her to pull through, seems to me that too many people have their Ts passing these months.

Wow thank you! I'm taking all this in! I will be making a stop by the store tomorrow! To answer your question, no I don't leave them in there 24/7 I put them in 1 at a time and take them out if she doesn't accept them.

You already got great advice, but please read these two threads as well!

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/avicularia-care.291340/
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/avicularia-husbandry.282549/#post-2461396

That will tell you all you need to know about husbandry for avics.

Thank you, I am reading them now! I appreciate the help from all of you!

 

[Dannica]

Oof, no offense friend but that's definitely not a good setup for an Avic. Dannica's advice is pretty sound on moving your T into something like those canisters - you can find them at walmart, usually around the kitchenware sections. Instead of using thin stick like those, something more broad like a slab of cork bark will likely make your T feel far more secure and offer a lot of webbing anchor points. You can also hot-glue-gun some plastic foliage to it to decorate, that's always fun!

Buying from a pet store has so many unknowns attached to it, assuming you just bought from a dime-a-dozen store where they usually have no clue on how to properly care for most exotics, let alone something like a tarantula. Your T looks to be a decent size, which means unless it's a male it's anyone's guess on how old it is. I can't tell for sure because the pictures aren't great angles, but going with Dannica's suspicion that you may have a MM who's at the end of his rope, I don't think that's the case. They don't seem to have emboli in the first image you posted, but again, not the clearest image. Which means it could just be an adult female who's time is coming soon. I've never experienced it myself yet, but iirc from other users, Ts tend to slow down considerably in their final months.

I'd leave her be as far as feeding for now. The abdomen doesn't look worryingly small and you've messed with her quite a bit already, I don't think she'd be willing to eat right now honestly.

Question though - you say "all of the food out of the enclosure" - you don't leave multiple crickets or feeder insects with there 24/7, do you? Feeder insects can be the devil to Ts if left in there with them, more so if there's multiple of them - I had a frog eaten by crickets when I was much younger and hadn't known any better.

I sincerely hope we get to the bottom of what's ailing your T. It'd be nice for her to pull through, seems to me that too many people have their Ts passing these months.

I didn’t think I could see any indication that it’s a MM, but I figured better safe than sorry, easier to rule that out as an option before attempting to change things needlessly! I’m going to have to agree with you though in that you truly never know what you’re getting at a pet store. I got lucky with my Avicularia avicularia that I purchased from a pet store. I figured with how dirt cheap it was, it was probably a male being sold as “unsexed”, but I took the leap and ended up getting a gorgeous female.