# In death curl, but still moving?



## UralOwl (Jan 10, 2013)

A week ago, my subadult female Euathlus truculentus had a bad molt - She lost one leg during the molt (ironically, she had a leg missing when I got her, but this grew back with said molt) and her bottom right leg was very bent/deformed.

I never had an adult T have a bad molt on me so I was of course very worried. I checked her over to make sure nothing was bleeding and while she seemed a bit wet where she had lost her leg, she seemed fine so I left her alone.
About a day ago, I noticed that some of her legs were curling underneath her body. I thought she may have just been grooming so didn't take too much notice. As from this morning though, I noticed she was laying around with most or all of her legs curled underneath, like a death curl. I tried touching one of her legs, and she did move, and she was able to walk to the other side of her enclosure, albeit awkwardly and slow.

She continued to go into death curls however, so I decided to put her in a ICU with a small water dish. She was still moving around a bit in her ICU earlier, but I just checked on her recently and she's in a death curl and hasn't appeared to have moved, though I don't want to keep disturbing her by touching her to get a reaction, so I've left her alone for now.

I know posting this thread might be a bit futile, but is there anything else I can do to help her? I'm not sure why she's suddenly dying on me, she was mostly fine up to now since her molt; much slower, less responsive and clumsier than her usual self, but very much alive nonetheless. As I said before, nothing seems to be bleeding and the socket where she lost the leg  is dry now, and it looks like a scab might have formed there...?
Once they go into a death curl, is it a sure sign that they are going to die?


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## tmcv (Jan 10, 2013)

UralOwl said:


> A week ago, my subadult female Euathlus truculentus had a bad molt - She lost one leg during the molt (ironically, she had a leg missing when I got her, but this grew back with said molt) and her bottom right leg was very bent/deformed.
> 
> I never had an adult T have a bad molt on me so I was of course very worried. I checked her over to make sure nothing was bleeding and while she seemed a bit wet where she had lost her leg, she seemed fine so I left her alone.
> About a day ago, I noticed that some of her legs were curling underneath her body. I thought she may have just been grooming so didn't take too much notice. As from this morning though, I noticed she was laying around with most or all of her legs curled underneath, like a death curl. I tried touching one of her legs, and she did move, and she was able to walk to the other side of her enclosure, albeit awkwardly and slow.
> ...


Well... It's a bad sign for sure, but the curl is not a sure of death. The curl is nothing more that a lack of hemolymph in the members. Remember that legs extention and abduction is made by hemolymph pressure (hidraulic mechanism). This lack of hemolymph in the members can be a result of a variety of causes. The most commom is dehydration caused by low humidity levels or very high temperatures, and other cause can be some infection (the animal stop to plump hemolymph for the members and concentrate it on the vital organs, because the hemolymph contain the deffence cells and other celular kinds). In the first case you can correct the hydratation (rising the humidity levels, giving fluids or correcting exoskeleton ruptures) and the animal keeps fine. In the second case, is a little more difficult. First you should indentify the cause (bacterial, fungal) and them estipulate the treatment. Usually spiders do well against infections, but when the T is already presenting curly legs, the stage is advanced. I recomend get the animal to a veterinarian ( i know it's very dificult to find one that  trats  invertebrates, but they exist!!!) So my recomendation if you dont find a veterinarian, is to increase the temperature in one side of the enclosuro and increase the humidity, the temperarature will help the animal make a comportamental fever, and this will help IF its a infection cause.
Good luck with your T.


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## Quazgar (Jan 10, 2013)

Unfortunately, all you can do at this point is wait and hope for the best. Just keep it in the ICU and disturb it as little as possible. I hope things turn around, but I would not necessarily hope for that to happen.


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## UralOwl (Jan 11, 2013)

Thanks for the replies.
Unfortunately, it looks like the T might be dead.  I checked on her again earlier today and she hasn't moved at all since last night and is still in the death curl position. I've placed the ICU in a drawer to keep disturbance minimal, but to be blunt, it looks like it's probably too late. I'll keep her until she starts to smell, just to be 100% certain she is dead.


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## alpine (Jan 11, 2013)

UralOwl said:


> Thanks for the replies.
> Unfortunately, it looks like the T might be dead.  I checked on her again earlier today and she hasn't moved at all since last night and is still in the death curl position. I've placed the ICU in a drawer to keep disturbance minimal, but to be blunt, it looks like it's probably too late. I'll keep her until she starts to smell, just to be 100% certain she is dead.


I am very sorry


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