another tarantula gone

[scarkro]

im sad now..... my white collar that i got about month ago who took a spill from about an inch and was lying upside down when i found her ..that was a couple days ago and i helped get on her front ...well she just died ....what am i doing wrong?

 

[mebebraz]

I may be wrong but from what I have learned about tarantulas, they very rarely die on their backs, it might have been trying to molt.

 

[Raveness]

My Curly hair died and then fell on it's back off it's cork bark. Not as if it were trying to molt at all.

 

[Code Monkey]

I think the difference with your case, Raveness, was it died then fell onto its back. An inch is really a short distance for even the fattest, largest of Ts to fall, and I'm guessing you're talking a sling here. I don't even blink if a sling falls a few inches, they just don't have the mass to injure themselves falling onto soft substrate. And, unless the fall was such that it immediately ruptured or ruptured enough internal organs that it couldn't move at all, it would almost certainly have righted itself anyhow.

I've seen Ts who were extremely ill who would flail and get themselves upright no matter how bad off they were. Instinctually, they do not want to be on their backs unless absolutely necessary. I hate to say it, but the disturbed a moult and killed your T sounds the most likely scenario to me.

I have seen exactly one T that voluntarily rolled onto its back after an injury. I had a female B. smithi whose kritter keeper got knocked off of the desk it was on by my brother and fell about 4' to the floor. She didn't burst, but immediately and on her own rolled over onto her back and stayed that way. All she could manage afterwards was some very slight wiggling of the toes. She stayed like this for weeks. Then, one day, righted herself and went back to the living. She didn't moult for more than 2 years after this the injury had been so severe but she was always my miracle T.

I've never seen one die on its back.

 

[belewfripp]

I had a mature male Pterinochilus murinus rcf "Usumbara" die on its back. I suspect it was trying to attempt a postultimate molt, but if that is the case, he didn't make it very far.


Adrian

 

[scarkro]

i would normally agree with u on the whole molt thing but.... this spider is 2 maybe 2 and 1/2 inches big and just molted 2 weeks ago maybe less
she was on her back for about an hour on sunday when i put my fingers to her front legs and she climbed herself over

tonight (4 days later) because she hasn't moved much i blew on her with no resppnse from her i picked her up and she slightly moved

2 hours later she would not move at all legs curled under herself

 

[Code Monkey]

Don't know what to say then beyond it doesn't sound like an injury death to me because of the height you give. Then again, can't really rule it out; people die just falling and striking the curb with their head, so anything in possible. Sorry for your loss - if it's not the moult thing, probably nothing at all you did wrong.