A. Avicularia upside down in water bowl. Newbie, help!

Lerica

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I haven't moved her in case she is molting, i opened the door once but only for a second. She seemed fine yesterday and i put a cricket in there the other day and its gone now. She is upside down in the water bowl, very still. I fear i may have murdered her. I only have one other T, a G. rosea and she molted regularly. I dont know when my A. avicularia went into the bowl, I've only ever seen her go on the floor a couple of times. Is this normal? Have I murdered her? The back legs are all curled toward the top of her body. I love her I'm so sad.
 

Venom1080

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they dont molt in their bowls, id remove asap. she is most likely dead already IMO. post a pic of the spider and cage, that will help a ton.
 
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chanda

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I haven't moved her in case she is molting, i opened the door once but only for a second. She seemed fine yesterday and i put a cricket in there the other day and its gone now. She is upside down in the water bowl, very still. I fear i may have murdered her. I only have one other T, a G. rosea and she molted regularly. I dont know when my A. avicularia went into the bowl, I've only ever seen her go on the floor a couple of times. Is this normal? Have I murdered her? The back legs are all curled toward the top of her body. I love her I'm so sad.
You are doing the right thing by leaving her alone, just in case she is molting. I remember the first time I found my B. albopilosum on her back - I was sure she was dying and freaked out! Fortunately, I resisted the temptation to open the cage and poke or prod her. My "freak out" manifested as 1) go online and figure out just what's going on and 2) buy a "backup" tarantula (G. rosea) a few days later, "just in case." And that was what launched me down the slippery slope of multiple tarantulas...

If you post pictures of your spider and her enclosure, that will help people to figure out what's going on with her. Upside down is generally a normal molting position, whereas the dreaded "death curl" is typically right-side-up, so that's a good sign.

How much water (if any) is currently in the water bowl? I've had my B. albopilosum molt in her water bowl before - but she emptied it out, filled it with substrate, and webbed over it first. (Then again, she does that to her water bowl even when she's not molting.)

I hope all turns out ok for you and your girl!
 

cold blood

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You are doing the right thing by leaving her alone, just in case she is molting!
Its floating in the water dish on its back...even if it is molting, it needs to be removed from the water pronto.

As the book lungs are on top, it should be alive.
 

Lerica

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I haven't moved her in case she is molting, i opened the door once but only for a second. She seemed fine yesterday and i put a cricket in there the other day and its gone now. She is upside down in the water bowl, very still. I fear i may have murdered her. I only have one other T, a G. rosea and she molted regularly. I dont know when my A. avicularia went into the bowl, I've only ever seen her go on the floor a couple of times. Is this normal? Have I murdered her? The back legs are all curled toward the top of her body. I love her I'm so sad.
 

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cold blood

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Judging by that little sliver of a pic, I would say there is some serious husbandry issues. First, you cant just leave it in the water dish, get it out. Second, that substrate is not appropriate for tarantulas.

Can you post a pic of the enclosure? IMO its fallen back into the dish....could be any number of reasons for a fall.
 

Venom1080

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She just moved so she isnt dead. There is some water in there.
what kind of sub is that? looks bad, you should def switch over to coco fiber, peat moss, or topsoil. post a pic of thw whole cage. it doesnt look like you have any sort of hide in there for it.
 
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KezyGLA

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Remove from the dish carefully and slowly and place on the substrate(which will need swapped out)

My guess is that its trying to moult. Take it out the dish and keep it on its back. Leave it alone and dont disturb until finished.
 

Lerica

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She came out of the dish and is hiding in the corner. She is just in what i got her in. I took the hide out because my tarantula book says she doesnt need one and that she doesnt even need substrate just a water bowl. She doesnt look good, she is just lying on her side now.
 

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KezyGLA

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She is trying to moult please leave alone undisturbed for 24hrs. It is very important you dont disturb her
 

cold blood

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They don't need a ground hide, this is true...but having wood to climb on and cover surrounding it for the t to create its web tube is of the utmost importance. They don't want to feel exposed.

Don't need sub, huh...that's a load of crap. No sub, or hard potentially sharp sub like is in there will not cushion a potential fall.

A pic of the entire enclosure would really help us to help you improve its habitat.
 

Lerica

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I dont think she is molting because she climbed out of the water dish and is on her side now. We are preparing an ICU for her right now.
 

Lerica

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They don't need a ground hide, this is true...but having wood to climb on and cover surrounding it for the t to create its web tube is of the utmost importance. They don't want to feel exposed.

Don't need sub, huh...that's a load of crap. No sub, or hard potentially sharp sub like is in there will not cushion a potential fall.

A pic of the entire enclosure would really help us to help you improve its habitat.
 

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