Chile Rise behaving really strangely

spmack

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 4, 2010
Messages
5
Hi, I'm new and mostly a lurker on here, great site to improve your knowledge on.

Got a potential problem with my 2 and a half year old Chile Rose. It's been doing some very strange things lately and I cant find any refferences anywhere online to what it's doing.

It started 2 weeks ago with it going ballistic and looking like it was trying to climb the side of the habitat, but it never gripped only frantically scraping it's feet on the plastic habitat. It never had trouble climbing the wall before when it wanted to, so I assume it was doing something else.

This week it has started stumbling round the tank at times, then it does a weird backwards forward step motion always keeping one leg on each side off the floor, whislt keeping it's knees as close together as possile over it's carapace and abdomen. I've tried cooling and heating the tank, addin extra moisture to the soil incase it's a shedding thing?

Anyone out there familiar with this kinda behaviour?
Cos I'm at a complete loss....

Cheers in advance if anyone has any suggestions.
 

spmack

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 4, 2010
Messages
5
How big is the T in question?
It's approx 3.5 to 4" now, when I bought it it was already full grown according to the shop. They said it was roughly a year old and I got it about a year and a half ago. It hasn't shed once in the time I've had it.
 

curiousme

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
1,661
It's approx 3.5 to 4" now, when I bought it it was already full grown according to the shop. They said it was roughly a year old and I got it about a year and a half ago. It hasn't shed once in the time I've had it.
If it is that size, it is not the age they told you. Pet stores lie to make themselves seem knowledgeable, you aren't the first and you won't be the last that it has happened to. We have a 3 year old G. rosea that is still about the size of a half dollar. They grow very slooooooooowly, so it is an impossibility for their information to be true.

At the size your T is, they normally molt about once a year, so the fact yours hasn't in a year and a half makes me think that you might have a M(ature)M(ale) on your hands that is nearing the end of his days. That would account for the slippage and odd movement, but it will take some verification from you to determine that.


Now, did your T have a tendency to wander around its enclosure?
Does it have tibial hooks on the back of its front 2 legs?

And to check for dehydration:
Has it had a full water dish available and does its abdomen looks plump and normal, not wrinkly?
 

0siris

Arachnosquire
Joined
Nov 9, 2010
Messages
127
Think you can procure a few pictures? I think it would help in the further diagnosis of your problem
 

Stan Schultz

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 16, 2004
Messages
1,677
Hi, I'm new and mostly a lurker on here, great site to improve your knowledge on.

Got a potential problem with my 2 and a half year old Chile Rose. It's been doing some very strange things lately and I cant find any refferences anywhere online to what it's doing. ...
This won't help you with your specific questions, but may help a lot in the long run.

Read http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/stansrant.html. Pay particular attention to the four recommended books. Note that you need not buy them. Your friendly, local, public library already has one or two on its shelves and can order any of the missing ones for you through the Interlibrary Loan System. Of course, if you see one or more that you particularly like you can buy them from a local pet shop or order them from a local bookstore or over the Internet. Checking them out from the library gives you an advance look with little or no cash outlay. It can often produce the information you need faster too.

Then, read http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/roses.html. It'll explain a lot of the basic little idiosyncrasies displayed by Chilean roses, but certainly not all.

Lastly, the symptoms that you are describing could also be the beginnings of a condition called "dyskinetic syndrome" or DSK in the hobby. No one knows what causes it. There is no treatment. We're not even sure if it's one disease or several. There have been a few cases where it appeared to be contagious between tarantulas, but we're not sure if those cases were really related or just accidental. It's universally fatal to the tarantula.

I would place the tarantula in an ICU (http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/icu10.html) for two or three days. If it gets better, clean the cage, reinstall the tarantula and make sure it has a water dish and has constant, 24/7 access to clean water. If it doesn't get better within three days be sure to get back to us for further advice.

And, of course, photos, photos, photos! (But you already knew that.)

Best of luck.
 

spmack

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 4, 2010
Messages
5
Thanks very much for the helpful replies folks.

He always had plenty of water, I checked that every day, and he was always quite active too.

Unfortunately he croked sometime in the last 24 hours. Friday night he sat on his legs when they were curled in underneath him. Didn't move all of saturday, I've just moved him onto his back and got no reaction, no signs of it being a shed, and there's the smell too....

RIP my first T...
 

curiousme

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
1,661
Thanks very much for the helpful replies folks.

He always had plenty of water, I checked that every day, and he was always quite active too.

Unfortunately he croked sometime in the last 24 hours. Friday night he sat on his legs when they were curled in underneath him. Didn't move all of saturday, I've just moved him onto his back and got no reaction, no signs of it being a shed, and there's the smell too....

RIP my first T...

Condolences on your loss. I do wonder if it was a MM, but there is no need to verify that, unless for your own curiosity. It would have little black 'hooks' on the back of the front 2 legs(not pedipalps) if it was. Once again, condolences on your loss. :(
 

spmack

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 4, 2010
Messages
5
Condolences on your loss. I do wonder if it was a MM, but there is no need to verify that, unless for your own curiosity. It would have little black 'hooks' on the back of the front 2 legs(not pedipalps) if it was. Once again, condolences on your loss. :(
I've taken the chance to get some photos of him,( I assume it's a he?)

This is him doing his weird walk keeping his knees as high as possible.


dead in the tank


& being measured. Have I used the correct points to measure from?


He does appear to have hooks, the picture's not great though, sorry.
 

curiousme

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
1,661
I've taken the chance to get some photos of him,( I assume it's a he?)

This is him doing his weird walk keeping his knees as high as possible.
We have only had one MM die and it was walking funny, similar to what you described.

& being measured. Have I used the correct points to measure from?
Tarantulas are measured by D(iagonal)L(eg)S(pan). This means you measure from the front leg on one side, to the back leg on the opposite side.

He does appear to have hooks, the picture's not great though, sorry.
If he has the hooks, then he was most likely just at the end of his days. I can't tell from the pictures, but I am ocularly challenged at the moment. ;) Here is a thread with pictures of many hooks, just in case you wanted to see them.

Once again, condolences on your loss. :(

It looks like you have a nice enclosure there for a T, perhaps in time you will get another. :)
 

0siris

Arachnosquire
Joined
Nov 9, 2010
Messages
127
it looks like an MM to me, I circled one of the hooks in your picture. Sorry for your loss bud =(

 

spmack

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 4, 2010
Messages
5
We have only had one MM die and it was walking funny, similar to what you described.



Tarantulas are measured by D(iagonal)L(eg)S(pan). This means you measure from the front leg on one side, to the back leg on the opposite side.



If he has the hooks, then he was most likely just at the end of his days. I can't tell from the pictures, but I am ocularly challenged at the moment. ;) Here is a thread with pictures of many hooks, just in case you wanted to see them.

Once again, condolences on your loss. :(

It looks like you have a nice enclosure there for a T, perhaps in time you will get another. :)
Thanks for the link.

I have a Green Bottle Bue sling I bought a few months ago, I'll move it into that habitat when it's big enough, it's only just over an inch now.
 

Stan Schultz

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 16, 2004
Messages
1,677
... it looks like an MM to me, I circled one of the hooks in your picture. ...
In a general sort of way, looking for hooks on mature male tarantulas is not the best way to verify their sex. This derives from the fact that there are many species of tarantulas, some of them well known in the hobby, in which the mature males lack such hooks.

A 100% valid way to determine that your MM is indeed a mature male is to look for the clubbed pedipalps. I've circled them in red in your photo. (Click the thumbnail for a larger version.) If the tips of the pedipalps look like the tips of the legs, it's inconclusive. The tarantula could be an immature of either sex, or it could be a mature female. To tell what sex it might be requires falling back on other characteristics.



(Uploaded with ImageShack.us)

Show me those pedipalps and I KNOW it's a mature male.

To the OP -

Your tarantula died because it merely came to the end of its life. If we want to enjoy living things we also need to be able to accept their demise. I'm sorry for your loss.

Don't let this dissuade you from continuing to enjoy tarantulas. Clean the cage, set it up again, and go out and get another. This time I might suggest a curlyhair (Brachypelma albopilosum) or a Mexican redleg (B. emilia), but of course there are lots more to choose from.
 

Kaimetsu

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
134
I want to say sorry for your loss spmack, and i think it's great that one of the leading sources in tarantula knowledge is available to share knowledge with us beginners in the hobby.
 

captmarga

Arachnobaron
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Messages
339
I concur in photo this was a male as well, from the long-legged look, to hooks to palps. I have had several MM (mature males) and often they get just plain worn out at the end of their life. They try to find a mate to the exclusion of all else, no matter how calmly they sat around before. They won't eat or drink, and they get the wobbles. It's unfortunate that MMs have a built-in age destruct.

Condolences on your first T, but don't let it get you down! There are Ts listed for sale here on that section of the boards. Find something you like and keep expanding your collection to go with your sling!

Marga
 
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