Bad molt. What can I do?

[Emmaalyse]

When I come home from work tomorrow I will post updated pictures of her butt and all the stuff I use for her treatment. Let me know how i can improve this post. I added a nightly routine that i am doing with her.

I made a post 4 days ago after I noticed that my pink toe had a bad molt. Regardless of all the conditions being normal this still happened. This was my pink toe Boots who was also my first tarantula ever and started my absolute love for this hobby. I first noticed her abdomen looked very strange and looked "wet". Her legs also looked deformed a little bit. I just immediately that something was not right at all. I immediately took pictures and went on here and posted and asked people on my Instagram. As people were helping me we figured out she had a wet molt and not only that but we also think her butt hole is blocked which will make it impossible for her to poop therefore she will become impacted. I did a ton of research on any website I could find. Ultimately Toms big Spiders was the most helpful. After what seemed like hours of helping Boots she is now today very perky and is webbing and climbing the walls of her enclosure. there is not a lot of success stories about this subject and we still don't know for sure if hers will be but its look like it might be. It was suggested I make a timeline post about what I did to bring her back to health. I was constantly a crying mess over seeing my baby girl like this. I am normally a very hands off person with my tarantulas especially after they molt. I will keep posting updates on Boots and see what happens after her first meal and see if we see any poop. To be realistic I don't think she is going to survive this but because I caught it so early there is a slight chance she might. I hope this can be a success story but even so this post can hopefully help people who might have this happen to there tarantula. I will be attaching photos in order of what has been going on.

Day 1: I noticed that Boots looked off. After finding out what was wrong it was suggested I take q-tips and warm water and wipe her butt. Me and my boyfriend did that for about 15 minutes with really no luck though I think I saw a little bit of poop on my hand from her. I put her in my bedroom and made it 75-80 degrees. I took out all her decorations except her cork bark and two water dishes (her regular one and a shallower dish). I took her cork bark and placed it sideways like a terrestrial set up. This way she wont fall off trying to grip.

Day 2: I left her alone most of the day, I kept checking on her. That night i made her go over to her water dish and she drank for about 2 minutes before I moved her to make sure she wasn't stuck there. she definitely had trouble getting over there and tried to climb and fell on her back and then had substrate stuck on her.

Day 3: She started moving around in her cork bark a lot more by adjusting her position rather than sitting in the same spot all day. All dad I did research on how to put a tarantula under anesthetic and decided that was what I was going to try to do. Though it did not work as well as I would have hope it did slow her down enough to work with her. We were able to wipe the area more, dropped and used a syringe to put warm water on the area and finished of with putting some glycerin there to help lubricate and loosen up the area. After that I led her to the water dish on the table we had her on and I let he drink as long as she wanted (about 5 minutes). Immediately after she was done drinking she was so much stronger and ran almost up my arm. This was a huge change from the first day where she would have to drag her body on my hand/arm. She was barely able to hold her self up to now running. I put her back in her enclosure.

Day 4: I found her this morning on the wall climbing and in general exploring her enclosure and webbing. This is amazing improvement and it has been so emotional for me to have this happen. She is showing signs that she can't poop, Just like in article below she is scratching her butt with her back leg. She is webbing and climbing still. I will continue to put glycerin on her and warm water through the week and see if that helps.

My Nightly Treatment Routine:
1. I make sure i have everything set up to save time. I gently get Boots out of her enclosure and let her go onto the table, cupping my hand in front of her front so she doesn't try and run away.
2. I first take the WARM water and take the dropper or syringe and poor the water over the area. Next I will take a q tip that was dipped into the warm water and wipe the area as best i can while she tries to get away.
3. After that i take the glycerin and add very little bit from a q tip to the area.
4. Next I make sure she drinks some water so I try to get her to walk over to her water dish and wait for her to finally settle and drink some water. I want to keep her hydrated.
Notes: Make sure everything is setup before you get the tarantula out. Depending on you tarantula this could take 5 minutes or 15 minutes. Boots is quiet skittish so I try to be very gentle and slow with her. I give her mini breaks in between each step if she seems to be very upset.


Anesthetic Link:

http://www.theraphosidae.be/en/vogelspinnen/first-aid/
Toms Big Spiders Article: https://tomsbigspiders.com/2017/05/27/tarantula-impaction-revisited/
Helpful Links: http://arachnoboards.com/threads/tarantula-information-for-beginners-and-more.318718/

These are the tools I use. This is also updated pictures of her butt as of last night. I cant edit my post anymore (?). I will continue to update you guys. I will be giving her the first meal today. Im nervous but we will see how it goes.

 

[Ungoliant]

These are the tools I use. This is also updated pictures of her butt as of last night. I cant edit my post anymore (?). I will continue to update you guys. I will be giving her the first meal today. Im nervous but we will see how it goes.

Active Members can only edit their posts for 24 hours, but you can continue to reply to this thread.

 

[Emmaalyse]

Active Members can only edit their posts for 24 hours, but you can continue to reply to this thread.

Okay i can do that

Little update: I am still doing treatments on Boots. I have tried feeding her and she strikes at the cricket but does not actually get it. I can't tell if she is striking to protect herself or not because she stands up tall looks like she is in threat posture it could just be because she is still wonky from the molt and catching it is hard. Really hard to tell. I did put her cork bark diagonal is in her normal set up and she has been doing great in that.

 

[Andrea82]

Little update: I am still doing treatments on Boots. I have tried feeding her and she strikes at the cricket but does not actually get it. I can't tell if she is striking to protect herself or not because she stands up tall looks like she is in threat posture it could just be because she is still wonky from the molt and catching it is hard. Really hard to tell. I did put her cork bark diagonal is in her normal set up and she has been doing great in that.

Good to read she's doing okay. Refusing food could also be because it is too early to feed yet

 

[Emmaalyse]

Good to read she's doing okay. Refusing food could also be because it is too early to feed yet

I was thinking that too but her fangs have been black for days now. Ill leave her be a couple days and see!

Boots ate!!!! She took the cricket finally like she normally does. Now we wait...

Little update! Boots is doing great! She has had three crickets since. There is no signs of poop that i have seen but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. She does not have any weird bloating or swelling in her abdomen. She is active and webbing. Very glad top see her doing well! She still has the weird look to her but overall she is seems okay. I stopped doing to treatments since she would get so stressed.

 

[Andrea82]

Little update! Boots is doing great! She has had three crickets since. There is no signs of poop that i have seen but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. She does not have any weird bloating or swelling in her abdomen. She is active and webbing. Very glad top see her doing well! She still has the weird look to her but overall she is seems okay. I stopped doing to treatments since she would get so stressed.

Good to read! Thanks for the update!