# L. nigerrimum-DKS?



## Stella Maris (Apr 16, 2021)

I have a L. nigerrimum spiderling that molted probably last week. Visually she looks healthy “on the outside”...except for the fact that she doesn’t seem to have control of her limbs. This is new behavior that I haven’t seen in this specific spiderling and more than likely is a result of the molt itself or post-molt.

Her jerky limb movement isn’t as intense as I’ve seen in a lot of “my tarantula has DKS” videos but they tend to be continuous. She tries to “walk” but really can’t. No skittering from this one.

I don’t really interact with this species as they are very reclusive anyway, so I rarely if ever see them out of their burrows (I have 2 individuals). I don’t really bother them unless it’s to feed pre-killed prey or refill water dish. So whenBy accident, saw her hanging out of her burrow it looked like she was “sticking” herself to the substrate in her kritter keeper.

I thought maybe at first, she may have been dehydrated (her water dish is always full or 3/4s full), so I moved her to a smaller container for observation. I put her up on a bottle cap with water but I’m not sure she was actually drinking. That’s when I really noticed that she seemed to have “motor skills” issues.

I’m not quite sure what to do or think. Her sucking stomach and esophagus are present in her old exuvium (I have no clue whether that has to do with anything other than the fact that she should be able to eat) and her fangs are black. She will not eat pre-killed prey when offered. All of her limbs, chelicerae, fangs, and spinnerets are present. Despite her current condition, she looks like any normal, ordinary spiderling.

I have no clue how she could have come in contact with any pesticide or toxin because I haven’t seen this animal for more than a week, haven’t stepped into the bedroom she’s in. In my 4+ years of maintaining my sizable menagerie, I haven’t seen any “DKS” type symptoms in any of my animals other than this individual.

I have attached a short video of her limb jerking behavior. I don’t think you can see it in the video but one of her chelicerae has the same “unsheathing” movement of the fang, then hidden again.

I don’t know if it’s possible to save this animal or not, or if it’s impossible to recover. I figure if she would take an interest in food, she would probably have a higher chance of surviving. I don’t know what the next step should be.


----------



## emartinm28 (Apr 16, 2021)

Unfortunately they don’t all make it. This is one of those species that people just lose out of nowhere from time to time. Could be some sort of toxin that you didn’t know about, could be something internal that went wrong during the molt. Tom Moran has a video talking about one of his _Phormingochilus arboricola _that he hypothesizes had a bacterial infection of some sort just from little bits of food and whatnot in the burrow since they do like it moist. Not sure if that’s actually what happened to his but it’s worth considering since his spider was actually able to recover over time. I’ll link the video in a moment. Other than these explanations I have nothing else to offer since I don’t keep many asian arboreals so hopefully someone else can chime in. Hope your spider pulls through!


----------



## viper69 (Apr 17, 2021)

Stella Maris said:


> I have a L. nigerrimum spiderling that molted probably last week. Visually she looks healthy “on the outside”...except for the fact that she doesn’t seem to have control of her limbs. This is new behavior that I haven’t seen in this specific spiderling and more than likely is a result of the molt itself or post-molt.
> 
> Her jerky limb movement isn’t as intense as I’ve seen in a lot of “my tarantula has DKS” videos but they tend to be continuous. She tries to “walk” but really can’t. No skittering from this one.
> 
> ...


Had a T that did this- it died


----------



## Stella Maris (Apr 17, 2021)

Should I just consider euthanizing this poor spiderling then? Or should I just monitor for continuing symptoms to see if there’s some improvement?


----------



## emartinm28 (Apr 17, 2021)

Stella Maris said:


> Should I just consider euthanizing this poor spiderling then? Or should I just monitor for continuing symptoms to see if there’s some improvement?


That’s not a decision I or anyone else can really advise you on. I don’t think either are necessarily wrong, you’ll have to make a judgement based on your own observations. If it were me, I’d probably keep hope alive for longer, but someone else might consider it time to euthanize. I’m sorry about your T  ....


----------



## viper69 (Apr 17, 2021)

Stella Maris said:


> Should I just consider euthanizing this poor spiderling then? Or should I just monitor for continuing symptoms to see if there’s some improvement?


 No- given how little we know about them- it’s worth waiting it out.

Reactions: Agree 1


----------

