C. Elegans just passed - was it something I did/did not do?

[lrt75914]

Hi guys,

unfortunately my 3 y.o. c. elegans just passed away. I rehoused her a couple of weeks ago and she seemed to do just
fine. She was creating new borrows, laying down a ground net, re-sculpting her surroundings and ate without any
problems. I usually don't keep a water dish in her enclosure because I never noticed her to never have any use for it.
However I would always spritz the artificial plants near her burrow so she could get at some water droplets in case
she was thirsty. Diet consisted of lateralis roaches that I keep for all my tarantulas; I tried some other feeders but for some
reason none of my tarantulas care to much for a varied diet.
I kept the substrate damp with exception of the topmost layer so she could chose the humidity level that suited her best.
All this seemed to work out perfectly well up until a week ago when I noticed that her movements became fairly sluggish.
I tried to provide her with a small water dish but nothing seemed to help. I was wondering if she suffered from impaction
but other than her sluggishness nothing else indicated that she did; she pooped fairly recently, didn't have misshapen
opisthosoma and there was no white recidue around her spinnerets.
There is one addition that I had made to her new enclosure. I put some clay granulate ontop of the soil to keep it from
drying out to quickly.



So, of course, I am wondering if I inadvertently caused the death of my pet spider. Could you give me a hint on what
might have been the cause? Or was it just her time to go - as dumb as that may sound?

Maybe, if you would be so kind, you could have a look at my other terrariums and give me tips on how to improve them.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

View attachment 466764
Hi guys,

unfortunately my 3 y.o. c. elegans just passed away. I rehoused her a couple of weeks ago and she seemed to do just
fine. She was creating new borrows, laying down a ground net, re-sculpting her surroundings and ate without any
problems. I usually don't keep a water dish in her enclosure because I never noticed her to never have any use for it.
However I would always spritz the artificial plants near her burrow so she could get at some water droplets in case
she was thirsty. Diet consisted of lateralis roaches that I keep for all my tarantulas; I tried some other feeders but for some
reason none of my tarantulas care to much for a varied diet.
I kept the substrate damp with exception of the topmost layer so she could chose the humidity level that suited her best.
All this seemed to work out perfectly well up until a week ago when I noticed that her movements became fairly sluggish.
I tried to provide her with a small water dish but nothing seemed to help. I was wondering if she suffered from impaction
but other than her sluggishness nothing else indicated that she did; she pooped fairly recently, didn't have misshapen
opisthosoma and there was no white recidue around her spinnerets.
There is one addition that I had made to her new enclosure. I put some clay granulate ontop of the soil to keep it from
drying out to quickly.

View attachment 466765

So, of course, I am wondering if I inadvertently caused the death of my pet spider. Could you give me a hint on what
might have been the cause? Or was it just her time to go - as dumb as that may sound?

Maybe, if you would be so kind, you could have a look at my other terrariums and give me tips on how to improve them.

View attachment 466766

View attachment 466767

First I'm sorry you lost your T, it's happened to me and it's always very upsetting.

The other thing is it is essential to always provide a water dish whether you see them drink or not. My best guess is your T died of desiccation. No water dish and I don't know if you were misting the side or webbing. The lack of water/moisture is more than likely the culprit.

We all make mistakes myself included.

 

[lrt75914]

First I'm sorry you lost your T, it's happened to me and it's always very upsetting.

The other thing is it is essential to always provide a water dish whether you see them drink or not. My best guess is your T died of desiccation. No water dish and I don't know if you were misting the side or webbing. The lack of water/moisture is more than likely the culprit.

We all make mistakes myself included.

I did provide a small water dish for the longest time but she kept knocking it over or filling it with dirt quicker than I could keep it
topped off with clean water. However she would drink water droplets from her webbing, the artificial plants or the side of the glass.
That's why I ultimately decided to remove the water dish altogether and mist the terrarium instead. Maybe she just didn't have enough
webbing in her new enclosure to provide enough water droplets for her and the water dish I added to the enclosure this week was
too little too late...
If only I could turn back time.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

I did provide a small water dish for the longest time but she kept knocking it over or filling it with dirt quicker than I could keep it
topped off with clean water. However she would drink water droplets from her webbing, the artificial plants or the side of the glass.
That's why I ultimately decided to remove the water dish altogether and mist the terrarium instead. Maybe she just didn't have enough
webbing in her new enclosure to provide enough water droplets for her and the water dish I added to the enclosure this week was
too little too late...
If only I could turn back time.

Moisture is essential I had and still have some T's that fill their water dish. I clean them up and refill. You also want to overflow the water dish once in a great while.

The other thing is there is too great of distance from the lid to the surface. It's also possible your T climbed and fell.

Outside of those two issues it's difficult to say what else could of happened.

 

[viper69]

No way to know

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I did provide a small water dish for the longest time but she kept knocking it over or filling it with dirt quicker than I could keep it
topped off with clean water. However she would drink water droplets from her webbing, the artificial plants or the side of the glass.
That's why I ultimately decided to remove the water dish altogether and mist the terrarium instead. Maybe she just didn't have enough
webbing in her new enclosure to provide enough water droplets for her and the water dish I added to the enclosure this week was
too little too late...
If only I could turn back time.

I’ve lost Ts due to spilled water dish fiascos and ones that evaporated early. Back when I had a much larger collection. a few dis mystery losses, that could possibly be attributed to dehydration. Water dishes are a must for spiders over an inch.

 

[MariaLewisia]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Cyriocosmus are wonderful little fellows so it's always sad to see them go. Did you get her as a sling or adult? These are not long lived spiders and if you got her as an adult and kept her for a couple of years, she might just have lived out her life and it was time for her to go.

Other than that, it could be dehydration, or internal injuries following a fall, or something entirely different. It's very hard to say for sure.

 

[lrt75914]

I bought a couple of water bowls for my large tarantulas that are magnetically anchored to the sides the enclosure and a smaller water bowl for my other c. elegans. There's also a new batch of substrate on the way so I can raise the floor level in my enclosures to make sure falls are less dangerous for the little buggers. I'm a bit hesitant to add substrate to my "established" g pulchra enclosure since that tarantula seems to be perfectly comfortable with current substrate and doesn't climb on the side panels - we see how it goes, though. Let's hope that this tragedy can benefit all my other pets and I can use the lessons learned to help keep them safe.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Cyriocosmus are wonderful little fellows so it's always sad to see them go. Did you get her as a sling or adult? ...

When I bought my c. elegans they had a legspan of ~ 0.2 inches. I don't know how old that would have made them but they still were slings.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the kind words and the constructive criticism .

 

[cold blood]

Maybe, if you would be so kind, you could have a look at my other terrariums and give me tips on how to improve them.

Well we cant really see the entire enclosure on the one that died, but if its anything like the other 2, it could have been a fall....your other enclosures offer way too much vertical space with hard things to fall on....it only takes one fall onto the right (or wrong) spot. IMO you are using arboreal enclosures to house terrestrial species.

 

[DaveM]

I was thinking along the same lines as cold blood. The spider does not look dehydrated at all, but it could have been a fall in enclosure with too much height above ground, too far to fall. Of course, it could also be something else that no one could know about or prevent. Sorry that this happened.

 

[spideyspinneret78]

I'm sorry for your loss. My guess would probably be either dessication or a fall/ injury. Unfortunately there's no way to find out for sure. Sometimes during winter especially things dry out much faster than you'd expect. I admit that when I first moved to a colder, drier climate I lost several spiders this way. But no need to beat yourself up about it.... we're all human and make mistakes. It gives us a chance to learn and grow as keepers. I hope that you have better luck in the future.