Death curl dehydration and recommendations?

[Arachnophoric]

Thanks for the advice.
You did come across a bit abrasive regarding my amateur experience but I do understand as I'd want to sat the same thing regarding reptiles as I have more experience with. This isn't my first tarantula but is my first sling and it's unfortunate I chose this species. From just life experience please understand attacking someone for the situation they're in regardless of what it is, doesn't help. Asking questions and providing suggestions or direction to assist is the first priority. Abrasive attacks only frustrates people more. I do respect your point and truly appreciate the help.
Pics of original enclosure coming. Bottle cap water dish is perfect I agree. I do believe my error is relate to humidity and dry substrate.

Whether or not I come across as abrasive is entirely how you choose to read the post. Hardly felt I was "attacking" you, but I suppose that is up to individual perception. My frustrations were not directed solely at you; this isn't the first time we've had this kind of post come up unfortunately, and I (as well as many others) find it hard to keep my wording smiles and sunshine when one animal has already died as a result of the situation. It may sound harsh, but your pet's life matters more to me than your feelings. I do sincerely appreciate your receptiveness to my advice, and that you understand where my frustrations are coming from.

I agree, it is unfortunate that you chose this species. Very expensive mistakes, and it's always gutting to lose a T. I am sorry that you lost the one, but hopefully the other can make a full recovery. You say you have had tarantulas before, but in your initial post you said this;

I'm new to caring for turantulas

Thus my reasonable assumption that this was your first T keeping experience. What other species have you had?

Originally enclosure.

Yeah, that enclosure isn't really set up for a Poeci. Substrate isn't a good choice; something finer like cocofibre would be better IMO and IME. That plant decoration would be nice for a heavy webber, but a slab of cork bark would be far more appreciated by your T. It does appear you had ventilation, which is good. Not seeing a water dish in there though.


Now, my confusion is this... you said the T ate a cricket yesterday? If that's the case, I don't think your T was dehydrated. A dehydrated T won't be able to eat and would have refused food. 24 hours is a very short time for a T to desiccate into a death curl, I'd have thought - even as a sling at this size... I could be wrong, but that sounds very odd to me. How long were these two in your care before they started going downhill?

 

[Just Notu]

You shouldn't see anything here as any kind of an attack, its just truthful help from passionate people. We are all on the same team here, we all ultimately want the same thing, that is for you to succeed...... I applaud your positive attitude and understanding so far

Again thanks for the help. Heat pad was only added since wet paper towels are cold even quickly after warm water. Didn't want to chill him too much. Only temporary to warm it. What I've managed to do so far has been successful to this moment but I know the danger isn't over. I'm thankful for noticing his condition only hours after he looked healthy. Seems to be doing well and has some pep back in his movement. Thanks to all for the advice and please continue as I post the progress. I do listen and appreciate the support.
I'll keep you posted on the progress and hopefully a full recovery.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

+1 do what cold blood said!! That cage is a disaster. I set mine up closer to his avic pic.

Get better substrate that husk stuff doesn’t work for Ts it’s for reptiles I think . And your icu looks too wet , if T is. Moving well set up a new cage and get it out of icu .

What's that red thing? Is that coconut husk substrate or what exactly is that ? You want some wet substrate so T can drink. It’s way too dry for a sling.
What’s the red thing ? Too much decorating will make it harder to find food .
You don’t need heat pad unless it go’s a lot under 70, and I’ve got two free heat pads adopting a T & scorpion from my aunts friends. Who I’m shocked didn’t cook there inverts.

Good luck! Psalmous or something hardier , even p regalis are prob the better choices Then costly P Metallica.

Terrestrials are a better choice for first T tho , like curly hair.

 

[viper69]

I feel the user has been getting advice from Slackwater jeez, what a disaster from the beginning.

 

[PidderPeets]

No life at all but after misting him several times , he began showing some life. After transferring to icu, I thought the move took his life as he went lifeless again. He's in a small container with wet paper towels and a water dish sitting on a low heat pad to bring temp up. After about 20 minutes of leaving him alone in darkness, I found him on the side wall.

Showing lots of life now. Moving around as I get near.

Have it on a heat pad over two cooking g pot pads to prevent over heating but you can see the moisture building up. seems to be responding well to the treatment. There's several pin holes in the cup to help ventilation but again the next concern....what is too much humidity for a period of recovery and should I offer a pinhead? He ate last yesterday.

So far he's come back from no response to reacting to my approach. I think his recovery has been amazing and looking for further help to keep it going in the right direction.

What I've managed to do so far has been successful to this moment but I know the danger isn't over.

Not to be too negative, but when put in swamps like that ICU appears to be, I don't trust increased movement exclusively as a sign of improvement. I'd actually feel rather confident saying that in some cases, that increased mobility is the last-ditch attempt of the spider exhausting what little energy it has left to get OUT of those conditions. It's instinct to try and escape unsuitable conditions (hence why we see tarantulas climbing when substrate is kept too damp), so I would suspect that instinct would continue even if the tarantula is already in a highly weakened state.

If you haven't taken the sling out of that ICU yet, I would highly suggest doing so now. I would hate to see you lose that one too from an extremely avoidable situation.

I believe I saw it mentioned already, but just as a reminder, the best solution to dehydration is giving the tarantula access to water by either putting it by it's water dish or (if it's severely dehydrated and incapable of movement) putting it on it's back and putting a drop of water over its mouth. Tarantulas cannot rehydrate from moisture in the air, so ICUs and other high-humidity environments are just dangerous.

I do hope you manage to get this guy back in health, and I sincerely hope you take this as a lesson not to start with a fragile, non beginner-friendly, species when jumping into a new facet of exotic animal keeping. Tarantulas are not at all like reptiles or other exotics, so experience with them does not amount to experience with tarantulas.

Regardless, I do wish you luck and hope you stick around so you can find proper advice for this sling and any others in the future. If you're a member of any other exotic animal communities, I'm sure you're well aware that people can come across as rough and hyper-critical, but it's always spoken out of passion and what's best for the animal.

 

[Just Notu]

Not to be too negative, but when put in swamps like that ICU appears to be, I don't trust increased movement exclusively as a sign of improvement. I'd actually feel rather confident saying that in some cases, that increased mobility is the last-ditch attempt of the spider exhausting what little energy it has left to get OUT of those conditions. It's instinct to try and escape unsuitable conditions (hence why we see tarantulas climbing when substrate is kept too damp), so I would suspect that instinct would continue even if the tarantula is already in a highly weakened state.

If you haven't taken the sling out of that ICU yet, I would highly suggest doing so now. I would hate to see you lose that one too from an extremely avoidable situation.

I believe I saw it mentioned already, but just as a reminder, the best solution to dehydration is giving the tarantula access to water by either putting it by it's water dish or (if it's severely dehydrated and incapable of movement) putting it on it's back and putting a drop of water over its mouth. Tarantulas cannot rehydrate from moisture in the air, so ICUs and other high-humidity environments are just dangerous.

I do hope you manage to get this guy back in health, and I sincerely hope you take this as a lesson not to start with a fragile, non beginner-friendly, species when jumping into a new facet of exotic animal keeping. Tarantulas are not at all like reptiles or other exotics, so experience with them does not amount to experience with tarantulas.

Regardless, I do wish you luck and hope you stick around so you can find proper advice for this sling and any others in the future. If you're a member of any other exotic animal communities, I'm sure you're well aware that people can come across as rough and hyper-critical, but it's always spoken out of passion and what's best for the animal.

I did move him off the heaT pad and into a dryer environment. He was doing seemingly well most of the night and looked okay even early this morning but has suddenly become week and unable to move again. Trying not to disturb while keeping close watch.

 

[boina]

Not to be too negative, but when put in swamps like that ICU appears to be, I don't trust increased movement exclusively as a sign of improvement. I'd actually feel rather confident saying that in some cases, that increased mobility is the last-ditch attempt of the spider exhausting what little energy it has left to get OUT of those conditions. It's instinct to try and escape unsuitable conditions (hence why we see tarantulas climbing when substrate is kept too damp), so I would suspect that instinct would continue even if the tarantula is already in a highly weakened state.

I did move him off the heaT pad and into a dryer environment. He was doing seemingly well most of the night and looked okay even early this morning but has suddenly become week and unable to move again. Trying not to disturb while keeping close watch.

Read that quote from @PidderPeets again. She's spot on with her assessment. You sling mobilized it's last reserves desperately trying to get out of that death trap while you were busy celebrating its increased movement. And now you are wondering why it "suddenly" is unable to move again.

The ICU you put it in killed your sling - no doubt about it. Why didn't you take it out as everyone around here suggested? But no, you decided to interpret its last desperate efforts at survival as 'doing better'.

Right. Really, start learning. Right now would be good. And yes, I'm abrasive because you decided to ignore all advice you got and just go with your own gut feeling - with devastating effects for your sling.

 

[boina]

Ok, now that I'm done being upset (mostly, at least) let's just have a look at what happened to your sling:

1. It ate and seemed fine.
2. Hours later it was on the ground in a death curl.
-> at this point you decide it's dehydrated, despite it just having eaten. Why?? What indicators do you have for dehydration? It has just eaten, it can't be dehydrated. There are a dozen different reasons why your sling may be ill and dehydration is the least likely by far at this point. A bacterial infection, however, seems much more likely.
3. You decide to put it in a swimming pool and call it ICU so it sounds better. An ICU does not ever have open puddles of water. It has moist paper towels and not dripping wet ones, but it doesn't matter. If it actually was a bacterial infection the ICU sealed the fate of your sling, because bacteria just love humid, warm, stuffy conditions - spiders do not.
4. At this point see my post before...

 

[PidderPeets]

I did move him off the heaT pad and into a dryer environment. He was doing seemingly well most of the night and looked okay even early this morning but has suddenly become week and unable to move again. Trying not to disturb while keeping close watch.

Unfortunately, I would be willing to bet that the ICU is what caused both the "improvement" and the sudden drop again. Despite already being weak, it mustered what energy reserves it had left to try and escape the ICU because instinct told it those conditions would kill it. It couldn't get out, so it exhausted it's last bit of energy, and now is likely worse off than it was before you even put it in the ICU. I still hope the sling makes it, but unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't at this point.

All I can really suggest at this point is leave it in the dry enclosure it should be in now, hope for the best, and take this as a learning experience. There's nothing you can do to help it at this point, so it's just a waiting game to see if the sling will go against the odds.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Too much water can flood there booklungs right?? Causing drowning.
Dehydrated Ts either can not move, or barely move. And limbs stop working, is your second T still alive? Any new pics of enclosure ? Or a better one.

 

[WildSpider]

I may have missed it but did you also already try flipping it onto its back and putting a drop of water onto its mouth every little bit to give it some water?