Avicularia purpurea probelm

[Lostkat]

My new Avicularia purpurea spiderling arrived yesterday. It seems absolutely fine and is mega active. However, yesterday when it arrived, I noticed a small blob of faeces stuck on it's abdomen. I thought that it had probably happened in transit and thought nothing more of it. However, when I looked in on him this morning, I noticed a rather large clump of peat stuck to his abdomen. It doesn't seem to be affecting him as he's still very active, but I'm worried that it might damage his spinnerets and could be blocking his anus.

Is this something serious, or will he clean it off in time? I can't really attempt to clean it myself because he's so tiny (about 1cm legspan), so I don't want to damage him. He doesn't stand still for 5 seconds either so it would be pretty difficult.

I've attached a picture so you can see what I mean. The white bit is a piece of cotton wool left by the cotton wool stick I unsuccessfully used to try and remove it. I'm not sure if I'm over reacting or whether it's a real problem, it's just better to be safe than sorry.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

 

[sunnymarcie]

Cotton wool, cotton bud, q-tip, what ever you want to call it~:0)
Was it wet when you tried to remove the waste and dirt?
Try again with a wet swab, use distilled or purified water if
you can.
Since this little one needs to be in a moist environment, the
dirt may come off on its own.

 

[LCDXX]

NICE SLING!!!!!!!

I've just been emailing Art at midwestexoticpetcenter.com about acquiring one of his A. Purpurea slings! I've been dying to find one for a couple of months now - they turn out to be incredibly gorgeous Ts!!!!

You'll have to keep us up to date about his/her development - they are kinda rare and there isn't a whole lot on the web about them in particular (most place tend to make a number of assumptions and comparisons based on A. Avicularia or Versis).

But regarding your issue with the clumped feces/dirt - take Marcie's advise and use a Q-tip dipped in purified/distilled water. A little moisture isn't gonna harm it, but I would be just a teensy-bit concerned about the clump affecting future defications or webbing.

Sounds like he's quite the romper, though - CONGRATS!

LCDXX

 

[skadiwolf]

i'm not sure, but i know that with reptiles and often mammals, feces sticking to the anus is not a good sign.

perhaps someone with more 'ill' T experience could lend you some advice in this regard. have any books to refer to?

good luck regardless.

the pic didn't work for me. alas.

 

[skadiwolf]

i take it back, the pics did work.

hmmm...well, i don't think that's a good sign personally. why don't you call the place you got it from and ask advice? better to let them know NOW if there is a problem after all in case you lose the T. just to be sure, and that way they'll be aware.

 

[Lostkat]

Well I'd already tried to remove it with a cotton wool bud, but he's just too small, even for the really fine-ended one. He wouldn't stop moving either, so I gave up on that.

In the end, I decided to remove him from his tank and put him in a completely empty one for half an hour. Sure enough, he stomped around that for a while and the dirt just came off eventually. I've compacted the peat in his tank really hard now so hopefully it won't happen again

LCDXX - he is a lovely little sling, just like a darker version of a versicolor sling. I saw a sub adult purpurea at the BTS show. I wanted a spiderling though so I decided to send off for one. Hopefully this will turn out as beautiful as the one I saw at the show

 

[TheSpiderHouse]

hiya LostKat! Great looking sling ya got there mate. Glad the clump came off. I had a similiar experience with a 4 inch T. blondi that was VERY tempermental. It had poop stuck to the spinnerettes. It wouldn't let me get anywhere near it for about 4 days. I finally decided that I had to do something about it, so I used distilled water and a q-tip. Amazingly enough, the nasty little bugger (so nasty, that I named it Nasty) actually held still for me while I cleaned its rump. It was really weird how docile it became while I cleaned it. As soon as I cleaned it though, it was right back to its pissy self. It didn't really get back use of the spinnerette that was pinned down until after it molted again. After that molt it was fine though. Anyway, again I'm glad it worked out for you, and I'm jealous of your sling.. I want one of those!

 

[SpiderTwin]

Did all of the "poop" come off also? Keep an eye on your little sling, hopefully it will all come off soon.

The reason I say keep an eye on it is that the abdomen looks to be kinda thin, try feeding the sling it should fatten up. If it dosen't want to eat, it may be close to a molt by the looks of it. Good luck with your sling.

 

[Lostkat]

Yeah the poo came off too.

He's EXTREMELY thin I know Not too happy about that but my crickets supplier let me down so I won't have any food for him until tomorrow, and he's too small to take mealworms. He doesn't seem ill or anything though as he's bouncing around his tank like a mad thing.