DKS or enclosure issue? (A. hentzi)

sailebert

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 10, 2023
Messages
0
TL; DR: I'm not sure if my A. hentzi suffered a fall, had a molt/housing issue, or if this is DKS.

Long winded context, but I wasn't sure what was relevant to figuring out what happened?

During feeding this weekend I realized my A. hentzi sling had lost a leg. I didn't see any oozing so I didn't apply corn starch, but I did move it first onto a surface with easier access to water and then into the smaller enclosure in case it was a fall. I'd had it in the larger enclosure for about two months with no issue, and I've had the sling for just over a year. I found its most recent molt a little over a week ago.

It isn't moving a lot, but I tried to catch some video of how unusual its movement is. When it walks it's almost like the back legs want to curl under, especially on the side where the leg is missing. It is also "flexing" the entire body periodically while hanging on the wall of the enclosure.

There have been no recent changes to husbandry except the onset of winter weather in my area. The slings I have are double enclosed and have had a heat mat under the secondary enclosure since nights got cold in mid August. There's a low power, two-fan setup on the top for ventilation. Substrate is straight coir, and it isn't overly moist - the sling was burrowing normally (and staying invisible) until the day I discovered the injury.

This particular sling has been on hunger strike for a few weeks, but I've been offering weekly anyway. The feeders come from my own colonies - typically this one gets mealworms but I've also given dubia nymphs when they're plentiful. About 4 months ago I supplemented the mealworms with store bought cups, and got a few more breeding size roaches from a local keeper but haven't seen any red flags in colony health.

The room they're in isn't chemically cleaned, we haven't flea treated our cats recently, and the water source hasn't changed (dechlorinated tap). There's a very small chance that black mold has gotten into the air - our windows are unfortunately prone to it - but we've been keeping up on cleaning that so I'm not convinced it's the issue. Everyone has a 12 hour day/night cycle and I try not to mess with them outside of visual checks and weekly hands-on maintenance. None of the other slings I can see without digging up are having any issues, and my juveniles are behaving normally.

Any insight or advice is appreciated! I'm keeping an eye on the injury site and keeping water available, but otherwise I'm not sure what to do.
 

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birdonfire

Arachnosquire
Joined
Feb 14, 2019
Messages
143
There does appear to be a pedipalp missing. For starters I'd pack down the substrate, dry it out more, and remove the heat mat. What's the room temp? How do you dechlorinate your tap? If you're using fish stuff, I'd encourage you to stop. If the leaves were collected outdoors, be mindful of pests and chemical contamination. Black mold shouldn't be a concern if the enclosure and room are well ventilated.
 

Dry Desert

Arachnoprince
Active Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Messages
1,598
There does appear to be a pedipalp missing. For starters I'd pack down the substrate, dry it out more, and remove the heat mat. What's the room temp? How do you dechlorinate your tap? If you're using fish stuff, I'd encourage you to stop. If the leaves were collected outdoors, be mindful of pests and chemical contamination. Black mold shouldn't be a concern if the enclosure and room are well ventilated.
Nothing wrong with " fish stuff " dechlorinator

Dechlorinator is dechlorinator, as well as removing harmful substances from tap water it also contains beneficial additives

I've been using it for the past 50 years for just about everything, much better than the chemical stuff that comes out of taps.
 

sailebert

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 10, 2023
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0
There does appear to be a pedipalp missing. For starters I'd pack down the substrate, dry it out more, and remove the heat mat. What's the room temp? How do you dechlorinate your tap? If you're using fish stuff, I'd encourage you to stop. If the leaves were collected outdoors, be mindful of pests and chemical contamination. Black mold shouldn't be a concern if the enclosure and room are well ventilated.
Room temps drop down to mid-50s at night. It isn't cost efficient to heat the whole room with windows that drafty, and a space heater is not an option for various reasons. The heat mat is on the surface below a raised aquarium that the slings are in, and the thermostat is set to range from 68-72. I can't safely remove the heat mat without getting dangerously cold for them.

I use reptisafe to dechlorinate the water. As far as substrate, what will packing it down more do to help? I'm not sure it translates well in photos, but I have it well packed down but not brick-like to avoid slime mold. Any loose substrate on top is from me digging in to start a burrow, and a little bit of bulldozing from the sling in the larger enclosure. Not trying to be argumentative, I appreciate your feedback - just trying to understand the reasoning.
 

Dry Desert

Arachnoprince
Active Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Messages
1,598
Room temps drop down to mid-50s at night. It isn't cost efficient to heat the whole room with windows that drafty, and a space heater is not an option for various reasons. The heat mat is on the surface below a raised aquarium that the slings are in, and the thermostat is set to range from 68-72. I can't safely remove the heat mat without getting dangerously cold for them.

I use reptisafe to dechlorinate the water. As far as substrate, what will packing it down more do to help? I'm not sure it translates well in photos, but I have it well packed down but not brick-like to avoid slime mold. Any loose substrate on top is from me digging in to start a burrow, and a little bit of bulldozing from the sling in the larger enclosure. Not trying to be argumentative, I appreciate your feedback - just trying to understand the reasoning.
The temperature range for this species is between
72 - 84 .
A night time temperature of mid 50 is too cold..
Should a night temperature drop be required it should only be around 5 degrees..

Best solution is to upgrade the heat mat to a higher wattage.

The lost leg is probably from a fall, or maybe something not noticed before.
 

Olan

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 23, 2002
Messages
857
Sometimes a sling just won’t thrive. Could be random.
Be veeeery careful with flea treatments. That stuff stays on a cat’s fur for a month at quantities high enough to still kill fleas. It can get on your hands while petting the cats, then into the T enclosure when you do maintenance.
 

GarField000

Arachnosquire
Joined
Nov 30, 2018
Messages
63
If you need to use a heatmat try a way to place it on the backside off the enclosure, not under. Heat comes from above in nature.

I don't see DKS in the movie. You will see very weird movements like high legs, no cooridination like phoebe from friends is running :).
 
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