B. Hamorii not moving in very strange position

[Althecreature]

Hi!

I’ve had my juvenile Brachypelma Hamorii for a year now, and she’s molted twice most recently was August 8th - I waited until her fangs were ready and then resumed feeding and she stopped eating surprisingly quickly (end of September) and has not accepted a meal since. I tried not to worry about this and just kept her water dish full because that’s what the people say to do, on Saturday I noticed she was unable to hold herself up on her legs and appeared off balance / weak - kind of stumbling around. the weather is getting colder and dryer so I got worried she was dehydrated and ordered a humidifier - her abdomen is a healthy size so although I was worried I thought she may be nearing a molt. I set up the humidifier and got the humidity up to a healthy level and came back from work today and she was in this very strange position and has not moved in hours and hours. I am worried because her legs are just kind of dangling?

Does anyone know if this is cause for concern? I don’t want to touch her in case it’s a molt but I’ve never seen her looking like this and I can’t SLEEP I’m so worried

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Does it respond to stimuli ? Possible dehydration?

 

[Althecreature]

Does it respond to stimuli ? Possible dehydration?

I haven’t wanted to poke at her or disrupt her too much just in case she’s going into a molt - but I did shift the enclosure a little which she usually responds to and she didn’t move at all

 

[Gevo]

They sometimes sit in weird positions for long periods of time, and the fasting soon after a molt can happen. Were you feeding her frequently? The description of her movements is a little concerning.

I’m not much more experienced than you, so others may have more helpful things to suggest, but in these cases, there’s often not much more you can do than wait to see if anything changes. If it is a molt, you’ll find out soon enough (though it’d be very strange to molt like that).

If you can get video of the movements once she starts moving again, that may help people, as would pics of the entire setup. From these photos, everything looks fine to me, at least.

 

[Althecreature]

They sometimes sit in weird positions for long periods of time, and the fasting soon after a molt can happen. Were you feeding her frequently? The description of her movements is a little concerning.

I’m not much more experienced than you, so others may have more helpful things to suggest, but in these cases, there’s often not much more you can do than wait to see if anything changes. If it is a molt, you’ll find out soon enough (though it’d be very strange to molt like that).

If you can get video of the movements once she starts moving again, that may help people, as would pics of the entire setup. From these photos, everything looks fine to me, at least.

I appreciate your response! I’ll certainly try and catch some movement.

I fed her every 4-5 days, she’s typically been a good eater but with both of her previous molts she also fasted prior. Yeah the movement was very sad and scary, I did look into DKS and she was not exhibiting any of the jerky movements but I’ve never seen her sluggish like that before

 

[fcat]

Heavy feeding can lead to fasting and longer premolt periods. He doesn't look like he is in danger of starving.

Can you dribble a few drops of water near him to see if he responds? Just a few.

Heating winter air dries it out even further. A humidifier isnt going to do much...the humidified air needs to be at their book lungs/substrate level. The easiest/cheapest way to achieve that is keeping the substrate moist. You can dampen the area near the water dish by "overflowing" it. So make a bit of a mess by letting some of it spill out onto the soil, just don't go crazy.

Can't tell from the pics, is there any webbing near the abdomen? Like a measly attempt at a molt mat? Does he have a bald spot, if so what color is showing?

Their movements can be a little wobbly as an impending molt approaches. I've been assauged after posting jerky movements that it wasnt out of the ordinary.

No chance it fell onto something sharp and got impaled or injured? No one handles him, right?

No bad smells coming from his enclosure?

 

[viper69]

Pics seem to show a vertical T- normal

Your words would be aided better by a video

 

[darkness975]

I don't see anything concerning in those images.

 

[Althecreature]

Heavy feeding can lead to fasting and longer premolt periods. He doesn't look like he is in danger of starving.

Can you dribble a few drops of water near him to see if he responds? Just a few.

Heating winter air dries it out even further. A humidifier isnt going to do much...the humidified air needs to be at their book lungs/substrate level. The easiest/cheapest way to achieve that is keeping the substrate moist. You can dampen the area near the water dish by "overflowing" it. So make a bit of a mess by letting some of it spill out onto the soil, just don't go crazy.

Can't tell from the pics, is there any webbing near the abdomen? Like a measly attempt at a molt mat? Does he have a bald spot, if so what color is showing?

Their movements can be a little wobbly as an impending molt approaches. I've been assauged after posting jerky movements that it wasnt out of the ordinary.

No chance it fell onto something sharp and got impaled or injured? No one handles him, right?

No bad smells coming from his enclosure?

She didn’t respond to the water drops.. and is now completely on her back - but it doesn’t look like she moved into that position is looks more like she just tipped backwards

no bad smells, we don’t handle her and id say very unlikely she got injured in the enclosure - I had a pretty good view of the abdomen and there weren’t any punctures or anything

There’s no molt mat over by the water dish and there was no bald spot but her abdomen was certainly plump especially considering she hadn’t eaten in so long.

 

[Althecreature]

Hi!

I’ve had my juvenile Brachypelma Hamorii for a year now, and she’s molted twice most recently was August 8th - I waited until her fangs were ready and then resumed feeding and she stopped eating surprisingly quickly (end of September) and has not accepted a meal since. I tried not to worry about this and just kept her water dish full because that’s what the people say to do, on Saturday I noticed she was unable to hold herself up on her legs and appeared off balance / weak - kind of stumbling around. the weather is getting colder and dryer so I got worried she was dehydrated and ordered a humidifier - her abdomen is a healthy size so although I was worried I thought she may be nearing a molt. I set up the humidifier and got the humidity up to a healthy level and came back from work today and she was in this very strange position and has not moved in hours and hours. I am worried because her legs are just kind of dangling?

Does anyone know if this is cause for concern? I don’t want to touch her in case it’s a molt but I’ve never seen her looking like this and I can’t SLEEP I’m so worried

she’s now still in the same exact position but looks to have tipped backwards - based on the positioning of her and her legs I don’t think she’s repositioned with much effort. She’s not responding to any stimuli, water droplets and a slight brush against the leg is all I’ve really tried out of fear I’ll disrupt a molt - if she is molting I’m worried she may be stuck?

 

[birdonfire]

Sorry, but I think your spider is deceased. Hope I'm wrong. Please keep us updated.

 

[fcat]

Set your camera up on top of his enclosure and record a video for a good 30 minutes. Then go back and fast forward looking for any micro movements.

At his size molts will not be a hasty event.

If he is molting, this won't do much but place a droplet of water in his mouth parts. Just one and make sure it doesn't roll off, you want to see if he absorbs if. If he is actively molting the exos have already separated and he probably can't drink. If he is dead that droplet will sit there a while as well.

Do the recording and let us know.

Also....rule out the extreme...no chance he got cooked by the heater, not sitting in direct sun?

 

[Althecreature]

Set your camera up on top of his enclosure and record a video for a good 30 minutes. Then go back and fast forward looking for any micro movements.

At his size molts will not be a hasty event.

If he is molting, this won't do much but place a droplet of water in his mouth parts. Just one and make sure it doesn't roll off, you want to see if he absorbs if. If he is actively molting the exos have already separated and he probably can't drink. If he is dead that droplet will sit there a while as well.

Do the recording and let us know.

Also....rule out the extreme...no chance he got cooked by the heater, not sitting in direct sun?

Nothing extreme could explain it except for the low humidity but I thought that I noticed quickly there has been construction in the unit next to me but I haven’t noticed any unusual smells or dust. I’ll try the recording thank you

 

[Althecreature]

Sorry, but I think your spider is deceased. Hope I'm wrong. Please keep us updated.

I think so too

 

[Althecreature]

I appreciate the help and suggestions from everyone. I don’t know what went wrong but she has certainly passed away feeling pretty devastated

 

[Gevo]

I'm so sorry. Things happen sometimes, and we don't always know why. As with everything else, sometimes individuals are with us for a shorter time than we expect. My condolences.