C Elegant Sling Death Curl?

[babybug]

Can anyone knowledgeable here please please help me out ? My C Elegans looks like she's been in a death curl? Im extremely worried, she's been like this for two days now and she kind of just wriggles, doesn't respond much to a tickle on the butt with a paint brush, i made sure she has moisture in her little enclosure since it looked like it was dry when i checked. i usually went to my bf about this kind of stuff since he was the one who got me into keeping tarantulas and he knew more than me, but he literally just broke up with me and i have no one to ask and im super worried about her and i don't know what to do. any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. thank you

 

[Ratmosphere]

Does she have a water dish?

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Possibly dehydration does it have a wet corner ?

 

[babybug]

Does she have a water dish?

she didn't have a water dish but i always made sure to keep it moist in there, she was one of the ones that i couldn't fit a water dish in her enclosure, i took her out and put her on her back, gave her some water on her mouth, and let her sit in my hand for a while like that, now she's in a container with a moist paper towel and a water dish, in a warm spot

Possibly dehydration does it have a wet corner ?

she had pretty much the whole bottom layer of substrate wet, i took her out and put her on her back and got some water on her mouth for a while. she would wriggle but sometimes go very still, but then all the sudden at the end she would wriggle a lot and move her legs towards her mouth and then back out again, i ended up actually reaching back out to my boyfriend and asking for help because i just wanted some advice on what to do for her, he told me to do that and then we concluded after a while to put her in a container in moist paper towel with a water dish, in a warm spot

she didn't have a water dish but i always made sure to keep it moist in there, she was one of the ones that i couldn't fit a water dish in her enclosure, i took her out and put her on her back, gave her some water on her mouth, and let her sit in my hand for a while like that, now she's in a container with a moist paper towel and a water dish, in a warm spot

here's what she looks like now

here's what she looks like now

when i put her on her back and give her water she kind of opens up like this. should i keep her in the moist paper towel with the water dish or in a container with damp substrate, a water dish, with her carapace in the water ? i read online that some people recommended that over the moist paper towel option

 

[goofyGoober99]

should i keep her in the moist paper towel with the water dish or in a container with damp substrate, a water dish, with her carapace in the water ?

Second option is better but don't make the substrate too wet. You want to avoid stagnant air so good ventilation is important.
With slings that are too small for a bottle cap I used pill blister packs (sanded down the cut edges so not too sharp). Some people have also used tattoo ink caps.
I hope she's ok!

 

[Gevo]

I'm a new C. elegans keeper, so my experience is very limited, but the moist paper towels are usually not a good idea. This species does like some additional moisture, but that needs to come with lots of ventilation, and those boxes with moist paper towels get stagnant easily and can do more harm than good. The suggestion above for a water dish out of a pill blister pack is a good one, or you can even dribble bits of water on the webbing or on the decor in there for her to drink from. Moistening the substrate a bit (coupled with good ventilation) creates the overall conditions they like, but it doesn't help them get crucial moisture into their bodies when they need it, which is why a water source they can actually drink from is still necessary.

I see you were posting yesterday evening. Do you have any updates on how she's doing today?

 

[babybug]

I'm a new C. elegans keeper, so my experience is very limited, but the moist paper towels are usually not a good idea. This species does like some additional moisture, but that needs to come with lots of ventilation, and those boxes with moist paper towels get stagnant easily and can do more harm than good. The suggestion above for a water dish out of a pill blister pack is a good one, or you can even dribble bits of water on the webbing or on the decor in there for her to drink from. Moistening the substrate a bit (coupled with good ventilation) creates the overall conditions they like, but it doesn't help them get crucial moisture into their bodies when they need it, which is why a water source they can actually drink from is still necessary.

I see you were posting yesterday evening. Do you have any updates on how she's doing today?

i moved her out of the moist paper towel container last night, into a ventilated container with substrate and a bottle cap with water. i rested her fangs/carapace in the water. in the middle of the night i found her entirely in the water dish, i took her out and she was still alive. i found her there again this morning but she has passed. i feel so horrible, like i killed my little baby all of my other slings are doing fine, same thing with my other spiders. i thought i was doing a halfway decent job of caring for them but this feels like such a failure. i feel like i failed my little baby and i don't really know what to think. i wanna thank everyone here for their help, though. i truly sincerely appreciate it.

 

[Gevo]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[goofyGoober99]

i moved her out of the moist paper towel container last night, into a ventilated container with substrate and a bottle cap with water. i rested her fangs/carapace in the water. in the middle of the night i found her entirely in the water dish, i took her out and she was still alive. i found her there again this morning but she has passed. i feel so horrible, like i killed my little baby all of my other slings are doing fine, same thing with my other spiders. i thought i was doing a halfway decent job of caring for them but this feels like such a failure. i feel like i failed my little baby and i don't really know what to think. i wanna thank everyone here for their help, though. i truly sincerely appreciate it.

I'm so sorry to hear she didn't make it. Try not to jump to conclusions and immediately blame yourself. Unfortunately it's usually difficult for us to truly know 100% what the cause is.

If you're not feeling confident in your husbandry rn, the pinned beginner guide post has a bunch info and links that I go back to whenever I'm feeling unsure.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Very sorry to hear of the loss of your sling. If you want to post pics of the enclosure maybe someone will see something to advise for future. You aren’t alone in raising your T’s. You have T keepers the world over on here with decades of experience.