Deformed T. blondi fangs, again....

TTstinger

Arachnobaron
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Jan 20, 2006
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310
I have skimmed this post so if I am re-posting any part sorrry. I would like to first say Big high humid species are prone to molt issues IMO because of a few things. Feeding mice I do not believe to be one of them as science has show rodents to be extra sensitive to Tarantula venom. leading one to believe the venom was designed for them in a way. but that is another thread. I have found the one largest cause of molt problems is: POOR LIVING CONDITIONS

Now I am not saying your not taking care of your spiders in any way, but it is more you not providing them everything they need. A tank with 3in of peat and a hide and a water dish is not enough. Now I do not know how your setup is so I am not saying this is you. I have seen some very large T.blondi that never had molt problems. And they all had some of the same things going on
1. large tanks
2. deep burrows
3. a moisture gradent
4. allowed to feed naturally (by this I mean not power feeding )

another thing I found that is bad is too much moisture body parts tend to get stuck when humidity is too high makes things sticky. which is why I have always said a moisture gradent is a must these big spiders know what they need so they will seek it out and if conditions are horrible they take their chance's.

so I hope this helps in some way and I wish the best for you T
 

treeweta

Arachnobaron
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Jan 15, 2006
Messages
362
TTstinger.

Ive been keeping blondi for years now (and apophysis) and never had issues before. Aside from the illness they had last year from infected crickets the fangless spider is the only real issue ive had with my blondi, as far as i can tell the conditions they are in are optimal. Ive kept several blondis from 2nd moults to adulthood, my apophysis is now 12 years old so i'm doing something right. What we need are statistics, I wonder how many times the fang damage happens and at what stages, can it happen to an otherwise perfect adult, mine is a large juvenile. I notice the other issue that can arise with blondi are those horrific abdomen ulcers that appear from nowhere.
 

pink'n'curly

Arachnosquire
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Jun 19, 2007
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63
maybe if you would read a little of the thread your posting in before you post you would find out.
Sorry travisamone, i didnt wanna upset anyone with my question. Im really new to T's , ive only had mine for 2 weeks now. A lot of people on this forum are very experienced and talk to each other using terms someone new like myself does not fully understand, but i usually find if ask a question like that, one of the patient, friendly guys will give me a more simpler answer. I can see by the pics posted that tweezers are used to feed ,but i just wanted basic run down on the process. preparation of food item etc...after all, if i dont ask...i wont learn how to be the expert one day!
:razz:
 

TTstinger

Arachnobaron
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Jan 20, 2006
Messages
310
TTstinger.

Ive been keeping blondi for years now (and apophysis) and never had issues before. Aside from the illness they had last year from infected crickets the fangless spider is the only real issue ive had with my blondi, as far as i can tell the conditions they are in are optimal. Ive kept several blondis from 2nd moults to adulthood, my apophysis is now 12 years old so i'm doing something right. What we need are statistics, I wonder how many times the fang damage happens and at what stages, can it happen to an otherwise perfect adult, mine is a large juvenile. I notice the other issue that can arise with blondi are those horrific abdomen ulcers that appear from nowhere.
again all conditions of the living conditions. the ulcers are from over feeding but if you refuse my advise as viable fine
 

treeweta

Arachnobaron
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Jan 15, 2006
Messages
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TT stinger.

as it stands ive never had any spider with an abdominal ulcer, im not sure there is any evidence that they are caused by overfeeding though, can you verify that through research results? I do use a temp and humidity gradient. The back of the tanks are hotter and drier than the front. If the front of the T tank has any degree of condensation present on the glass then the humidity at that point is close to/at 100%.

Considering that blondi do have issues perhaps you could give arachnoboards your advice on keeping this species.
 

Tarangela

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 30, 2004
Messages
519
Just an update for you all, I am still hand feeding this large blondi! She seems to respond well. She is a little fussy when I first pick her up, but when I get the food in her mouth area, and set her down, she will put her pedipalps under it, like when she used to hold her own food.

I can't wait until she molts again...but since she is the 11" size, it will be a while I am sure.....

Just wanted to let you all know she was still alive :)
 

ricneto

Arachnosquire
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Jun 9, 2007
Messages
98
So what is it w/ me and T. blondi spiders???

I mean, I have had 3. One, I had from a sling, for 5 years, and she died of heart problems, according to the autopsy. Right after a molt. Then, I had another I had bought at about 4-5" size, and it was doing well, until it had a bad molt, and lost most of it's fangs. I hand fed it for 7-8 months, and it died on me :( I have pics of that in an old thread on here, btw.

NOW, I have Raggs, she to is female, and had a molt yesterday. Well, everything looked good, until I seen her fangs. They looked like a deformed mess. I am very sad about it, b/c I know what lies down this road. I bet I will have to hand feed her eventually. I am going to try to attach pics of her deformed fangs, and I hope to get some opinions on what I should do :(

Thanks to you all.....
I am just curious as how do you got to the conclusion that died of hart problems?
Who did the autopsy? do you have pictures? And who ever did it how to know if the heart caused death. I doubt that there are any pathologie book of gross lesions of T's. And I am sure the large, very arge majority of vets wouldn't know what to look for on a T necropsy.

By the way it is necropsy, it is only autopsy if it is on a human cadaver.;)
 

ricneto

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
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Jun 9, 2007
Messages
98
Sorry. forgot to say beautiful blondi.:worship:
how big is it?
do you have any more pics, never get tired of seeing blondi's
 

Pociemon

Arachnoangel
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Mar 25, 2007
Messages
911
Sorry travisamone, i didnt wanna upset anyone with my question. Im really new to T's , ive only had mine for 2 weeks now. A lot of people on this forum are very experienced and talk to each other using terms someone new like myself does not fully understand, but i usually find if ask a question like that, one of the patient, friendly guys will give me a more simpler answer. I can see by the pics posted that tweezers are used to feed ,but i just wanted basic run down on the process. preparation of food item etc...after all, if i dont ask...i wont learn how to be the expert one day!
:razz:
Hi

I think you got that answer because it is a looong thread and people are much into this debate with the missing fangs etc.
If you want to learn more about T´s, then first read many different kind of threads, maybe use the search function for the specific things you need to learn. Then make your own thread and ask for the things you have doubt about. There are a lot of helpful people in here, and you will get all the help you need;) Just be patient sometimes for the answers, there are people all over the world in here, and not every where they are awake at the same time;-)

ps; There are also books available,

I hope this helps a little;)
 

Tarangela

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 30, 2004
Messages
519
This is an update.....

If you read through this thread, and my other threads....you will see that this is my second blondi who molted late in life, and has lost fangs....

I had been hand feeding her, every week....and she started having lots of problems a year later...again, read through the threads....

I found her dead on 5/26/08.

It was extremely sad, and brought tears to my eyes...she really struggled, and did all she could do to survive.....she never made it to that rejuvinating molt though...

Thanks to you all for your posts and ideas....

I now have 2 blondi slings...about 1" that I am trying this all over again...if I am lucky enough to have a male and female, I will let them mate....have had the slings since Jan.

Thanks again to you all...

RIP Raggs :(
 

ShellsandScales

Arachnobaron
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Jun 20, 2008
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502
I'm going out on a limb here but they need you can not just keep them on dry substrate, water dish or not. You know that. If it is molting in that dry of dirt then I would not doubt you are having problems, in fact begging for them. I know the response this is going to bring, "I have T blondi for 37 years and keep them on nothing but driest conditions and no dish and never had a problem." I have heard it before.

Just thought I would give you my opinion.
Thats exactly what I was thinking, then I saw your post.
 

DreadLobster

Arachnobaron
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Jan 9, 2008
Messages
364
After tarangela talked me through dealing with this same problem with my l. parahybana, I think I can explain her reasoning. Not to speak for her, but when we went through this, she said that without the fangs, the T was pretty much unable to clean its mouth. Because of its poor... um... dental hygiene, mites started to show up around its mouth. So to discourage the mites, she dried out the cage. So its a catch 22... If the cage is as humid as it would need to be for a blondi, she's risking mites showing up and hurting the t. If not, she's risking the t not getting enough moisture... Not much of a way out of that one. Not that I think anyone is really giving their advice in a mean spirit or anything but... if you haven't dealt with this problem, its a little more complicated that you'd think.
 

Fingolfin

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
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Jul 9, 2006
Messages
796
I got the chance to ask Rick West at the Arachnoparty about this issue (deformed fangs, missing fangs) and he said its two things: Their setups not being humid enough, and feeding them mice. In the wild their primary diet is frogs, and some roaches. He said that feeding them mice makes them bloat up so it looks like they take value from it, but in reality you are starving it nutritionally... then you end up with those fangs over time. Just don't feed them mice!
 

Lucara

Arachnolord
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Jul 5, 2007
Messages
656
The only blondi that I had that died during a molt was a w/c one that didnt look good from the getgo (got it cheep from a reptile expo). All my blondi's are kept, like Talkenlate said, almost to the point of being a swamp and they ahve constant access to a large water dish. I have yet to have any problems. I also never feed mammals to them. Roaches work just as well at plumping them up fast (they also smell less and are cheeper).

From what i've seen, 90% of the problems people have with blondis is that they dont keep them constantly moist enough.
I also dont agree with TTstinger's post. Obviously you dont wnat your blondi swimming around its tank but the w/c blondi that I had was kept in dry conditions (from its previous keeper). When she molted, she got stuck half way through and died because of it.

I also just picked up another male for cheep thats been on the weak side. He was also kept in a dry tank with occasional mistings. The second I placed him in his ICU cage he went straight for the water dish. He was also fed mice from his previous keeper so we'll see how his fangs do in his upcoming molt. (Should molt in the next month or two).

Just my 2cents.
 
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