Dead slings

[Zaxxen]

So, a little over 2 months ago i got my first 2 old worlds. A C Darlingi and a C Meridionalis. My darlingi died within a month. She looked lethargic from the start and she had molted in transit. She wouldnt eat or move around much at all, and she barely dug at all. I was heartbroken but in the back of my head i knew she wasnt doing great. But today i found my meridionalis in a death curl aswell. And he was doing fine yesterday, running around and everything. Ive been worried about him aswell since he hadnt eaten more than twice in the two months i had him. But i thought too myself, tarantulas dont always eat hes probably fine. I gave him water once a week, just as all my other T's so i didnt think anything was wrong. But once again i woke up, checked on my enclosures and found him after a bit of searching in a deathcurl, completely unresponsive. Anyone know if im doing anything wrong? Because im scared of getting more specimens atm. My N Chromatus is thriving and so is my P Irminia. I keep them on peat, feed them once/twice a week and water them once a week. His enclosure was too small for a water dish so i watered a diffrent corner each time. I feed them mealworms, he was around half an inch, maybe 2/3rds of an inch big. Anyone got any input?

 

[Vanisher]

Impossible to say. Maybe they whete weak from.the start?

 

[Zaxxen]

Impossible to say. Maybe they whete weak from.the start?

Im pretty sure the Darlingi was, but the Meridionalis seemed to do well, i gave him some water in hopes he revives

 

[sasker]

I think this link is quite useful:

https://tomsbigspiders.com/2016/08/26/tarantula-sling-husbandry/

Just read it thoroughly, perhaps you will find out what could have been wrong with your care. It could also be you did everything perfectly fine, but that these particular slings had a rough journey before they go to you and they arrived in a weakened state.

Anyway, I am sorry for your loss. Hopefully it will go better next time!

 

[NukaMedia Exotics]

Any photos of the tarantulas and enclosures to show size and setup?

 

[Arachnophoric]

Pictures of the setup would tell us much more than trying to put together a mental image based on your description, but what you described doesn't sound wrong.

Old worlds tend to be quite a bit more voracious and less likely to fast unless molt is imminent, IME, so I'd have been worried too if such a small sling had only eaten twice for me in that time frame. Sorry for your loss, that really bites.

 

[mack1855]

You know you need to put up enclosure pics,right.Otherwise,its all guess work.
And,i have aways taken pics of dead T,s.and saved to my pics.
My take on it is,we post pics of our eating/molting/thriving animals,but don't do pics
of the T,s we have lost/died.

 

[Zaxxen]

thanks so much for the input, for all the responses, and everything else. I kept him in a thorougly cleaned pizza sauce jar, dont know if they are the same everywhere but when you buy a "do it yourself" pizza kit here, we get a little sauce jar with them. I used a cleaner i saw on the internet that people use for cleaning stuff like aquariums and stuff, no harmful chemicals. Pics below. I believe the substrate is called peat in english, thats what ive heard atleast. In swedish its called "Torv" without any chemicals or lime minerals, etc. completely natural. recommended by a fellow swedish keeper here on the forums. Regular cork bark as a hide, nothing really that diffrent. he usually hung out near the edges of the glass and when disturbed to a certain extent he'd run around the entire enclosure, Another odd thing is that he barely burrowed at all. he just made a little web tunnel, around an inch long. allthough you cant see it cus i had to move his hide around 1.5 weeks ago to fetch a worm that had burrowed a little bit under the cork bark. he always seemed to do fine, as stated previously.

 

[mack1855]

Ok,so are your other two T,s in a similar enclosure?.I am wondering about air circulation
and ventilation??.Your pics look really stuffy .
Glass jars are really not the way to go for T,s.IMO.
Its just a guess.

 

[InternetSwag]

This worries me about my L. Klugi
It hasn't eaten since I got it on the 24th of July, so who knows when last it ate. It's like 0.6cm tiny thing and also doesn't move around much.

 

[Zaxxen]

Ok,so are your other two T,s in a similar enclosure?.I am wondering about air circulation
and ventilation??.Your pics look really stuffy .
Glass jars are really not the way to go for T,s.IMO.
Its just a guess.

the whole lid is riddled with holes, i dont think air circulation is a problem, it has more holes, and bigger holes, that regular small vials that most use for smaller slings, i used them aswell but they outgrew them quite fast, i have my Irminia in the same exact kind of jar, i used to keep my N Chromatus in a little cremé freiche tub but i recently upgraded her into a XS critter keeper due to her growing at quite a good rate. its not ideal to keep them in glass jars, i agree. Cross ventilation is a better bet in my opinion, but i didnt have any at hand and i thought, since i have the same kind of ventilation on the other vials, why not just do the same here. even though id prefer cross ventilation. I consulted with a friend of mine who has tarantulas for many years and he said it should be fine atleast so thats why i didnt go buy some other ones made of plastic or acrylic. the only thing he told me to do was either get a new lid with smaller holes, or put something over the holes so that the T couldnt escape. which i also did, but i made sure that none of the holes had any ventilation problems.

This worries me about my L. Klugi
It hasn't eaten since I got it on the 24th of July, so who knows when last it ate. It's like 0.6cm tiny thing and also doesn't move around much.

worrying is imminent, im pretty sure we all do, they're our furry little babies after all. But as someone said earlier, new worlds are more prone to fasting than oldworlds. And, correct me if im wrong as i have absolutely 0 experience with any lasiodora species. but im quite sure that they dont move around that much in general. Similiarly to my N Chromatus, she doesnt move around much either but is growing like a horse, and doing really well. im sure you'll be fine

 

[Liquifin]

thanks so much for the input, for all the responses, and everything else. I kept him in a thorougly cleaned pizza sauce jar, dont know if they are the same everywhere but when you buy a "do it yourself" pizza kit here, we get a little sauce jar with them. I used a cleaner i saw on the internet that people use for cleaning stuff like aquariums and stuff, no harmful chemicals. Pics below. I believe the substrate is called peat in english, thats what ive heard atleast. In swedish its called "Torv" without any chemicals or lime minerals, etc. completely natural. recommended by a fellow swedish keeper here on the forums. Regular cork bark as a hide, nothing really that diffrent. he usually hung out near the edges of the glass and when disturbed to a certain extent he'd run around the entire enclosure, Another odd thing is that he barely burrowed at all. he just made a little web tunnel, around an inch long. allthough you cant see it cus i had to move his hide around 1.5 weeks ago to fetch a worm that had burrowed a little bit under the cork bark. he always seemed to do fine, as stated previously.

No cross ventilation is a huge issue. If you only put holes on the top of a lid, it certainly isn't going to thrive well in the long run. I wouldn't house any T. in a glass jar for that matter. Delicups would do just fine and it's more convenient.

This worries me about my L. Klugi
It hasn't eaten since I got it on the 24th of July, so who knows when last it ate. It's like 0.6cm tiny thing and also doesn't move around much.

If it's that tiny there's no way that thing is 2nd instar. It would only be 1st instar if that was it's actual size, meaning it wouldn't need to eat until 2nd molt/2nd instar.

 

[viper69]

Delicups would do just fine and it's more convenient.

I always knew you were a slumlord

 

[Asgiliath]

I’ve kept slings in glass jars and they did just fine. They were brachys though. Those little cheese shakers at pizza restaurants with the holes on top. Looking back though, I wouldn’t do it again. Mostly because I’m surprised they didn’t escape from the holes.

 

[Teal]

Slings dessicate quickly. A small area of substrate should always be kept moist for them. My Cyrio slings are on thoroughly damp sub because they burrow. It sounds like your little fella just got too dry

No cross ventilation is a huge issue. If you only put holes on the top of a lid, it certainly isn't going to thrive well in the long run. I wouldn't house any T. in a glass jar for that matter.

My Orange Bob juvies are in Mason jars with a few holes in the lid. Not a single problem.

 

[Vanisher]

Ok,so are your other two T,s in a similar enclosure?.I am wondering about air circulation
and ventilation??.Your pics look really stuffy .
Glass jars are really not the way to go for T,s.IMO.
Its just a guess.

The materials has nothing to do with if the enclosure is good or not. If you meant ghat in glassjars its impossible to have crossventilation, i xan tell you that i never had side ventilation for slings other than for Avicularia and maybe Theraphosa. Never crossventilation for other speicies. Just in the lids

 

[sasker]

I am just wondering how big the slings were compared to the jar they were kept in. What was the diagonal leg span? What is the diameter of the jar you kept them in? The smallest slings need to keep on damp substrate. I could be wrong, but the substrate seems a little dry.

A sling not eating regularly, unless close to a molt, is not really normal. It might have been stressed. You also mentioned that your C. meridionalis was 'running around' the day before he was in a death curl. Perhaps this was a sign of stress as well. Is it particularly hot/cold where you keep them? Do you keep them in a dark place in the house? Are the enclosures exposed to any vibrations?

 

[Zaxxen]

I am just wondering how big the slings were compared to the jar they were kept in. What was the diagonal leg span? What is the diameter of the jar you kept them in? The smallest slings need to keep on damp substrate. I could be wrong, but the substrate seems a little dry.

A sling not eating regularly, unless close to a molt, is not really normal. It might have been stressed. You also mentioned that your C. meridionalis was 'running around' the day before he was in a death curl. Perhaps this was a sign of stress as well. Is it particularly hot/cold where you keep them? Do you keep them in a dark place in the house? Are the enclosures exposed to any vibrations?

the jar was a little less than 5 inches in diameter, and the sling was around an inch, the complete DLS is something im not really sure of however, i didnt measure him when he was completely spread out but he was a pretty decent size for the enclosure.

 

[Zaxxen]

Out of fear for the safety of my P Irminia's health ive decides to move her out of that same type of jar into a yoghurt/smoothie glass i bought a few weeks ago thats made of acryllic, i drilled holes in the lid and on the sides. Hope shell do well in that one. Thanks again for all the input and help. Much love

 

[mack1855]

Thanks again for all the input and help.

I think that's a good decision..