Amblypygi/ Tailless Whip hasn’t moved for days, possibly dead???

montbummery

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Nov 27, 2020
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Hi everyone. This is my first time posting here, but I’ve had a TWS for a little over a year now. Looks like a damon, but I’m not sure. A few days ago, I noticed it was out just sitting on the back wall of its tank. A day later it was still there, not moving at all. I thought maybe it was going into molt, because I haven’t seen it do that in the time I’ve had it, so I made sure to mist the enclosure really good. It’s been four days now, and I’ve been misting it every day to keep the moisture up but it still hasn’t moved at all, not even its whips. I’m gonna give it another day or two but is it most likely dead? I thought it would like curl up or something, not just freeze in place. Seemed to be doing just fine so I don’t know what happened :(((

The enclosure is a 12x12x18 Exo-Terra with plenty of wood for climbing and hiding and coconut substrate. I usually mist really good one day, then let it dry for a few days so it doesn’t get moldy or anything, before misting heavily again. Feed 3 crickets once every week or two and they’re always gone within a day, so it has no problems eating or hunting usually and seemed generally calm and happy before this.

Here’s a pic of it how it’s been sitting, and also a shot of the enclosure. A5B3F393-7947-41F2-85D7-839B4B948D2F.jpeg
1CAE723C-6F1D-4A68-BA0B-C83FA1DE9C19.jpeg
 

Albireo Wulfbooper

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Looks alive to me. Are the whips being held up away from everything or are they sagging on something? They'll never let their whips droop if they're alive. Have you tried gently blowing on it or touching a leg or whip?

Also, is that substrate dry or does it just look that way?
 

mantisfan101

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Dec 26, 2018
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Give it a poke, although medius ime are really stationary, and they only move around at night...my male stays in the exact same position on his piece of cork bark but when the lights go out, he moves to the styrofoam wall and returns to the same spot, and the cycle repeats
 

schmiggle

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If it's dead it will eventually grow mold. If it doesn't grow mold, it wasn't dead.
 

Liquifin

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Not trying to be harsh, but I'm just trying to help here as there is a lot of problems to me. First, it's not a good enclosure to me. Too much wood at the bottom which will cause feeder insects to hide in them which will make catching prey much more challenging. Second is that your enclosure is too dry, so you need to literally pour water into that enclosure substrate as it's way too dry and misting is useless as it only adds little to the surface which dries to quickly.

You need to add something for the specimen to hang upside from to molt properly as these guys need a lot of height and something horizontal to hang onto to molt upside down properly. I would add a taller piece of wood into the enclosure as the ones currently in them are too short to me, which provides little coverage. I would've add a taller piece of wood and also use some fake plant coverage on some of the wood as well to help cover a bit more towards to the top to help it feel secure. I highly suggest feeding that specimen as it looks very, very, very starved. Its abdomen is so thin, it could literally die any second just looking at it. I hope this information helps.

Here's something I created as a "sort-of" beginner guide example of a good Damon species enclosure. It's not perfect as I made this long ago, but it gives you a general idea of a proper enclosure.

Damon Care Picture Guide.JPG
 

montbummery

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Nov 27, 2020
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Thanks for all the info y’all. I moved the wood around so it could have more climbing space, open hunting ground, and a flat spot to hang from; saturated the substrate, and misted the whole enclosure really well once again. I tried poking it when I moved everything but no response. The stiff upper part of the whips are raised, but the whips themselves are resting on the substrate, although it seems to have maybe raised them up a little since I first posted. There’s only one dead cricket on the bottom of the tank, so I’m pretty sure it’s been eating. Like I said, I usually toss 3 crickets in there once every week to two weeks when we get them for our lizards and I’ve seen it chow down before. Usually pretty active at night too. I’ll get some fake plants to put in there too if it does start moving again. 7A0D09F7-6DCE-4A45-88D7-ADED550BD9BD.jpeg 5E5049FC-7B6C-4C1B-B207-EEB15E27F359.jpeg 641AB90D-56C6-4E49-8EC0-71700AF2A768.jpeg
 

mantisfan101

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That’s not a good sign, nor should any whipspider have its whips stretched out like that. That’s not a resting position either, does it smell bad??
 

montbummery

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Nov 27, 2020
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That’s not a good sign, nor should any whipspider have its whips stretched out like that. That’s not a resting position either, does it smell bad??
I didn’t smell anything when I moved the wood around. I was hesitant to really push it in case it was trying to molt or something because that can damage it, right? It’s been like 4 days now though, so I guess I’ll pull it out tomorrow morning and really see :,( They usually molt over a night or two right?
 

Edan bandoot

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Sep 5, 2019
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I didn’t smell anything when I moved the wood around. I was hesitant to really push it in case it was trying to molt or something because that can damage it, right? It’s been like 4 days now though, so I guess I’ll pull it out tomorrow morning and really see :,( They usually molt over a night or two right?
Mine don't tolerate getting water sprayed on them, yours looks sickly
 

Albireo Wulfbooper

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Aug 1, 2019
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Molting, once it begins, generally takes half an hour or so. Whips resting on the ground is not normal at all, nor is an animal sitting still while you rearrange their entire universe. This animal is either dead or very close to it. As Liquifin pointed out, it is an *extremely* skinny amblypygi, which seems impossible if it was eating as much as you say and hadn't moulted very recently.
 
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