I haven't seen a lot of positive posts dealing with avics that were in bad shape, so I wanted to post up a detailed diary of exactly what I did with my sling and pics I took along the way to it's recovery.
Avicularia purpurea sling at 0.5"DLS
May 3rd, 2023:
Sling arrives alive from seller. Rehoused into 3"x3"x6" arboreal enclosure. Noticed sling was somewhat frantic in the new enclosure, running around at random and falling. I figured it was slipping from the panicked movement and left it over night to settle in the new space.
May 4th:
Realized sling was not doing well at all.
Symptoms: lethargic, lying on substrate, curled legs, struggling to climb
-Moved it into a smaller vial to keep it from falling while I worked on setting up something as an ICU tank.
*NOT AN APPROPRIATE AVIC ENCLOSURE* I just stuck it in here for a minute to prevent more falls while I set up the ICU tank and to record the concerning behavior.
View attachment 20230504_100739.mp4
ICU set up: I put a small bit of dry sub in the bottom of a 2" tall vial and added a slanted piece of bark. Vent holes on all 4 sides and two more vent holes in the lid. Deep water dish that is more narrow than the legspan of the spider for humidity.
Goals: -rehydrate spider
-I was also concerned it may have fallen in its first day panic and damaged the hairs that help them stick when they climb, so limit space to remove the risk of further injury from falling. Also possible it may have been shipped in premolt and couldn't climb well enough to build a normal web nest.
- get it through a molt alive, by providing an environment as similar to what it would have in its web nest as possible
What I did: •Twice or three times a day I used a syringe and needle to place a drop of water directly in the slings mouth. I did not need to open the enclosure or disturb the sling, I could insert my syringe through the vent holes and place a drop of water directly on the mouthparts. Sometimes it drank and sometimes I think I just made its face wet.
ICU tank:
May 5th:
No change. I thought the sling was dead this morning, but when I got home after work it had moved slightly. Continued to use syringe to place a drop of water twice or three times daily directly in the slings mouth.
May 6th:
Sling was slightly more active, still looked pretty bad. Continued with water in mouth t
View attachment 20230506_135254.mp4
wice daily.
May 9th:
Sling is slightly more active. Have reduced the forced watering to once or twice daily. Offered a pre-killed pinhead cricket. Sling not interested. Sat in a somewhat normal posture on the bark for the first time today!
I started offering prey every few days at this point and removing after a couple hours if the sling showed no interest. Abdomen was still quite large, not too concerned about feeding. A few days later the sling started to web on the bark.
May 20th:
Noticed sling drinking on its own from the water dish. Still offering one or two drops of water daily on webbing near where the sling is sitting. Sling accepted a live fruit fly today- not a very hearty meal, but a sign that it might be ready to eat.
May 22nd:
Offered a live adult black soldier fly, which was subsequently eaten! Sling has webbed up the bark pretty well at this point, and spends most of its time sitting there, like a normal arboreal spider.
May 25th:
Sling is looking pretty dark, hopefully premolt. At this point I am waiting on a molt in the ICU enclosure before I move it into the bigger enclosure I had originally set up. If the slipping was due to damage to the hairs on the feet I wanted to make sure those were replaced before I put it in a tall enclosure. It has not shown interest again in food, so I stopped offering while waiting for it to molt.
May 27th:
Another pic with a tape measure for scale and the sling showing much more normal behavior.
At this point I was treating it pretty much like I do my healthy arboreal slings. I drip one or two drops of water on the webbing every two to three days, and keep the water dish full at all times.
June 24th:
Sling molts successfully!
I waited for it to harden up for 6 days, and offered it a housefly as it's first post molt meal. It ate!
July 4th:
I moved it into the 3x3x6 acrylic enclosure I had set up for it originally. It started webbing it up that same day, and took a meal later that night. I watched the movement and climbing carefully, and it is normal, with the high step exploring walk that is typical for avics. It has been webbing enthusiastically, and that makes me feel like a fall will be less and less likely. I am pretty confident it is now a normal, healthy sling!
July 7th, 2023
Avicularia purpurea sling at 0.5"DLS
May 3rd, 2023:
Sling arrives alive from seller. Rehoused into 3"x3"x6" arboreal enclosure. Noticed sling was somewhat frantic in the new enclosure, running around at random and falling. I figured it was slipping from the panicked movement and left it over night to settle in the new space.
May 4th:
Realized sling was not doing well at all.
Symptoms: lethargic, lying on substrate, curled legs, struggling to climb
-Moved it into a smaller vial to keep it from falling while I worked on setting up something as an ICU tank.
*NOT AN APPROPRIATE AVIC ENCLOSURE* I just stuck it in here for a minute to prevent more falls while I set up the ICU tank and to record the concerning behavior.
View attachment 20230504_100739.mp4
ICU set up: I put a small bit of dry sub in the bottom of a 2" tall vial and added a slanted piece of bark. Vent holes on all 4 sides and two more vent holes in the lid. Deep water dish that is more narrow than the legspan of the spider for humidity.
Goals: -rehydrate spider
-I was also concerned it may have fallen in its first day panic and damaged the hairs that help them stick when they climb, so limit space to remove the risk of further injury from falling. Also possible it may have been shipped in premolt and couldn't climb well enough to build a normal web nest.
- get it through a molt alive, by providing an environment as similar to what it would have in its web nest as possible
What I did: •Twice or three times a day I used a syringe and needle to place a drop of water directly in the slings mouth. I did not need to open the enclosure or disturb the sling, I could insert my syringe through the vent holes and place a drop of water directly on the mouthparts. Sometimes it drank and sometimes I think I just made its face wet.
ICU tank:
May 5th:
No change. I thought the sling was dead this morning, but when I got home after work it had moved slightly. Continued to use syringe to place a drop of water twice or three times daily directly in the slings mouth.
May 6th:
Sling was slightly more active, still looked pretty bad. Continued with water in mouth t
View attachment 20230506_135254.mp4
wice daily.
May 9th:
Sling is slightly more active. Have reduced the forced watering to once or twice daily. Offered a pre-killed pinhead cricket. Sling not interested. Sat in a somewhat normal posture on the bark for the first time today!
I started offering prey every few days at this point and removing after a couple hours if the sling showed no interest. Abdomen was still quite large, not too concerned about feeding. A few days later the sling started to web on the bark.
May 20th:
Noticed sling drinking on its own from the water dish. Still offering one or two drops of water daily on webbing near where the sling is sitting. Sling accepted a live fruit fly today- not a very hearty meal, but a sign that it might be ready to eat.
May 22nd:
Offered a live adult black soldier fly, which was subsequently eaten! Sling has webbed up the bark pretty well at this point, and spends most of its time sitting there, like a normal arboreal spider.
May 25th:
Sling is looking pretty dark, hopefully premolt. At this point I am waiting on a molt in the ICU enclosure before I move it into the bigger enclosure I had originally set up. If the slipping was due to damage to the hairs on the feet I wanted to make sure those were replaced before I put it in a tall enclosure. It has not shown interest again in food, so I stopped offering while waiting for it to molt.
May 27th:
Another pic with a tape measure for scale and the sling showing much more normal behavior.
At this point I was treating it pretty much like I do my healthy arboreal slings. I drip one or two drops of water on the webbing every two to three days, and keep the water dish full at all times.
June 24th:
Sling molts successfully!
I waited for it to harden up for 6 days, and offered it a housefly as it's first post molt meal. It ate!
July 4th:
I moved it into the 3x3x6 acrylic enclosure I had set up for it originally. It started webbing it up that same day, and took a meal later that night. I watched the movement and climbing carefully, and it is normal, with the high step exploring walk that is typical for avics. It has been webbing enthusiastically, and that makes me feel like a fall will be less and less likely. I am pretty confident it is now a normal, healthy sling!
July 7th, 2023
But I agree that it's easier to monitor in a smaller space. 
Would you get up off the couch if you had someone dropping drinks off in your hand?
