CAN I SAVE THIS SPIDER?? (HELP)

[Drake20]

Hi there,

I was in the garage and noticed a spider. I walked over and noticed it was missing the front two legs on one of its sides. It wasn’t moving much and when it did it was hobbling around and looked severely troubled.

My family hates spiders and so the usual protocol is to cup them and release them outside however with its condition I thought that’d surely be a death sentence so I thought to come here to ask people with knowledge if there’s any chance I could revive it.

Originally it was moving around a bit but now it isn’t moving much at all. I slid a piece of paper under it with the thought of putting it in a container or something and when I did so it hardly moved at all as the paper went underneath it. Only small movements in the legs but no walking.

Is this fella beyond saving or can it be saved? If so, how would I go about doing this? Ie. what kind of DIY enclosure could I put it into.

Any imminent advice would be greatly appreciated as I’m not sure it has long without any intervention.

By the way the other thing you can see was a dead bug I found that I put there to see if it’d eat it. (I have no idea if even a healthy spider would eat that but I thought it was worth a shot).

Thanks

 

[rock]

There isn’t much you can do for it. Try giving it a tiny water dish ( like a bottle cap) and see if it drinks. You’ll have to put the water right under its mouth, but don’t submerge the abdomen. I’ve heard of spiders surviving with no legs if water and food was provided until the next molt but there’s no guarantee of course, yours could’ve been exposed to pesticides or it could just be dying from injury or old age. Personally I would just put it out of its misery, maybe I’m not compassionate enough.
If you want to put it in a small Tupperware or condiment cup you can, just poke some holes in it for ventilation.

 

[Drake20]

There isn’t much you can do for it. Try giving it a tiny water dish ( like a bottle cap) and see if it drinks. You’ll have to put the water right under its mouth, but don’t submerge the abdomen. I’ve heard of spiders surviving with no legs if water and food was provided until the next molt but there’s no guarantee of course, yours could’ve been exposed to pesticides or it could just be dying from injury or old age. Personally I would just put it out of its misery, maybe I’m not compassionate enough.
If you want to put it in a small Tupperware or condiment cup you can, just poke some holes in it for ventilation.

Thanks for the reply. I got a bottle cap and attempted to slide it up to it at an angle where it could reach it. The spider made no movement at all when I did this. Unfortunately after doing this as I lifted the paper it is sitting on it started to move a bit and that movement combined with my movement of the paper caused it to fall off the paper. It landed upside down and made very small movements until I flipped it back over. It’s clearly in a real bad way but I just don’t know if it could make a recovery or if it’s definitely going to die no matter what. I don’t know really anything about spiders so I don’t know what the normal signs are of a spider that is going to die.

 

[NMTs]

Looks dead to me. Good on you for trying, though!

 

[Drake20]

Looks dead to me. Good on you for trying, though!

It’s definitely not dead as if I nudge it slightly it will move its limbs a tiny bit sometimes. But it’s movement is so slow and with such small mobility. I don’t know anything about spiders so I don’t know if this means it is 100% going to die no matter what I did or if it could still be nursed back to health. I love animals and would love to be able to help it if I could.

 

[NMTs]

It’s definitely not dead as if I nudge it slightly it will move its limbs a tiny bit sometimes. But it’s movement is so slow and with such small mobility. I don’t know anything about spiders so I don’t know if this means it is 100% going to die no matter what I did or if it could still be nursed back to health. I love animals and would love to be able to help it if I could.

Oh, I didn't see your reply after the first post. You're in Canada, and from what I know about the north, it's still cold there, yes? You may try getting it into a little container with a little bit of clean (pesticide and fertilizer free) dirt and a little water dish, then bring it inside where it can warm up for a day or 2. I'm guessing that it made it's way into your home to seek out shelter & heat and was exhausted to near death from the effort. That's really all you can do at this point, so let us know if it recovers at all.

 

[Drake20]

Oh, I didn't see your reply after the first post. You're in Canada, and from what I know about the north, it's still cold there, yes? You may try getting it into a little container with a little bit of clean (pesticide and fertilizer free) dirt and a little water dish, then bring it inside where it can warm up for a day or 2. I'm guessing that it made it's way into your home to seek out shelter & heat and was exhausted to near death from the effort. That's really all you can do at this point, so let us know if it recovers at all.

In some places in Canada it is very cold still but in British Columbia where I am it isn’t really warm yet but it also isn’t bad temperatures at this point. It was around 10 degrees today. Currently sitting at 7.

When you mention the soil, would it work if I took soil from a houseplant? That might be a dumb question, I know nothing about gardening or anything, maybe potting soil comes with fertilizer in it.

And thanks for the suggestions. I’ll bring it inside to see if that helps.

Would it need any food left near it?

 

[rock]

I love animals and would love to be able to help it if I could.

Good on you man, your doing what you can. NMT had a good suggestion

You're in Canada, and from what I know about the north, it's still cold there, yes? You may try getting it into a little container with a little bit of clean (pesticide and fertilizer free) dirt and a little water dish, then bring it inside where it can warm up for a day or 2.

I didn’t even think of it being cold, we hit 90 degrees today where I live

 

[rock]

When you mention the soil, would it work if I took soil from a houseplant? That might be a dumb question, I know nothing about gardening or anything, maybe potting soil comes with fertilizer in it.

Don’t use old potting soil. It would be better off on a paper towel

 

[Drake20]

Good on you man, your doing what you can. NMT had a good suggestion

I didn’t even think of it being cold, we hit 90 degrees today where I live

Sorry to clarify that’s 10 degrees Celsius. So 50 Fahrenheit.

And thanks man appreciated.

 

[rock]

Oh that’s not cold. You should still take it inside if you want to give it a better chance at survival, room temperature will be better. Just don’t get your hopes up, you’ve already provided more care than it could’ve hoped for

 

[Drake20]

Oh that’s not cold. You should still take it inside if you want to give it a better chance at survival, room temperature will be better. Just don’t get your hopes up, you’ve already provided more care than it could’ve hoped for

Just brought it in. It does seem pretty lifeless I have to say.

Could trying more to give it water be useful? If it is on the brink of death could drinking something kickstart it a bit? I’m not sure how I’d really go about giving it water due to the fact it’s not moving much at all however is that something worth trying to figure out do you think?

 

[rock]

Just brought it in. It does seem pretty lifeless I have to say.

Yeah, once they start curling up like that there isn’t much hope you could feed it to another wolfie
Circle of life and all that jazz...

 

[Drake20]

Yeah, once they start curling up like that there isn’t much hope you could feed it to another wolfie
Circle of life and all that jazz...

Ah, very sad.
I just edited the my last reply to you, what’re your thoughts on the water situation.

 

[rock]

Ah, very sad.
I just edited the my last reply to you, what’re your thoughts on the water situation.

Go ahead and wait until the morning to see if it’s too late. Leave the water right next to the spider so it doesn’t have to search for it... I really wish I knew more to do