Sana
Arachnoprince
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2014
- Messages
- 1,139
Okay guys. I've got an E. uatuman sub adult female who I basically never see. She has an intricate burrow web dirt mess that she hides in. I saw her toes about a month ago. As I'm doing maintenance today I found her at the top of her hide thing (though still lower then the rest of the sub level) with her abdomen shriveled and her legs curled under her. I thought she was gone but I squirted some water under her just in case and she moved a couple legs. She's currently sitting face planted in some water that's taking it's sweet time soaking in to the sub. I don't usually squirt water into her hide mess so it's pretty dry right there. The other end of her enclosure is kept a bit more moist. I already know what happened. We went into a sudden hot, dry spell about four days ago. Temps spiked up to 100F from the mid 80s and the humidity in the room itself dropped to 19%. I can feel the moisture being sucked out of my skin as I sit here and type. She only gets fed once every week or ten days and she's got a water dish as big as she is so I didn't think anything of it until I opened her enclosure today and found her. This one surprises me because every other tarantula in the house is just fine. Enclosures are a bit drier then usual but no other problems. I'm guessing that er sub wasn't as moist as I thought that it was. So now the actual question. To ICU or not to ICU? In general I'm not a proponent of ICU for a tarantula unless the cause of the problem is environmental. Unfortunately, I can't tell if she's drinking the water or not. The only way I figure I'm going to know is if I get her out of her hide and flip her over so I can put drops on her mouth and see if they disappear. So if I have to wreck her hide and stress out the poor ding spider anyway, do you think that she would have a better chance of recovery in a small more humid container or in her enclosure with the humidity boosted through the ceiling? I'm off to check the next set of enclosures. Be back in a few for opinions.