- Joined
- Aug 17, 2002
- Messages
- 344
I'm a moron. I have been extremely busy lately, working a new job and helping my wife out at her job at night, not having much free time and in general being pretty tired. I usually feed and water my Ts once a week but recently it had been two weeks since I'd done so due to my vanishing time to do anything. This situation has occurred 2 or 3 times in the past so I wasn't unduly alarmed, as my Ts are either tolerant of xeric conditions or have nice deep burrows to retreat into and seal up to keep moisture loss to a minimum. Unfortunately for me, one of my baby C. crawshayi had stopped utilizing its burrow and with the heat going most of the day and my schedule keeping me from getting to the Ts until yesterday, it was only a matter of time before it croaked.
The worst part is, Friday afternoon I quick looked in at some of my more fragile Ts and this particular crawshayi was walking around and looked fine. So I said to myself, Saturday when I pick up the crickets and the snake food, I'll get these guys fed and watered. Unfortunately, the spider apparently was in less good shape than he/she appeared and I found it curled up last night. I tried to rehydrate it, and have had it prosoma-down in a shallow water dish all night, but I'm not seeing any signs of improvement.
On top of that, one of my P. chordatus is dying from some kind of poisoning. I wash my hands like a madman before doing anything with my Ts and am at a loss to explain it. My only conjectures are that a cricket contaminated with something may have been fed to the spider a few weeks ago or that something got into the lid or bottle part of the gatorade bottles I use for watering. The thrashing and contortions and spastic activity are clearly evident, though. I moved the spider to a new tank, with new water dish and new substrate in a different room, just in case, but I think its too late. I feel like an utter idiot and feel awful for those two Ts.
Adrian
The worst part is, Friday afternoon I quick looked in at some of my more fragile Ts and this particular crawshayi was walking around and looked fine. So I said to myself, Saturday when I pick up the crickets and the snake food, I'll get these guys fed and watered. Unfortunately, the spider apparently was in less good shape than he/she appeared and I found it curled up last night. I tried to rehydrate it, and have had it prosoma-down in a shallow water dish all night, but I'm not seeing any signs of improvement.
On top of that, one of my P. chordatus is dying from some kind of poisoning. I wash my hands like a madman before doing anything with my Ts and am at a loss to explain it. My only conjectures are that a cricket contaminated with something may have been fed to the spider a few weeks ago or that something got into the lid or bottle part of the gatorade bottles I use for watering. The thrashing and contortions and spastic activity are clearly evident, though. I moved the spider to a new tank, with new water dish and new substrate in a different room, just in case, but I think its too late. I feel like an utter idiot and feel awful for those two Ts.
Adrian
