Dropped Tarantula... What to look for

[Tenevanica]

I just made a super super stupid error. I had a 4" female Bumba cabocla that I had just received sitting on the edge of a shelf. I was getting everything together to rehouse her and I knocked the little container she was in off the shelf. It fell about five feet and hit the ground. I panicked for a bit, then went to examine the T. The T seems fine, no leaking hemolymph, no visible damage, and she's moving around (quite quickly and defensively, I might add). The container she was in had some substrate in it and wasn't super big, so the fall was somewhat padded with that. Is there anything I should look for in the upcoming days to try to fix any issues before they get unfixable? I'm super worried about internal damage or molt complications, especially since she appears to be in premolt. Any info would be great...

 

[Venom1080]

If there's no visible injuries, I'd just cross my fingers and rehouse her.

 

[viper69]

All you can do is wait and watch. Keep eye on abdomen, if bleeding it may decrease in size, thus T will drink more.

 

[Tenevanica]

All you can do is wait and watch. Keep eye on abdomen, if bleeding it may decrease in size, thus T will drink more.

She has good access to water, of course. I'll keep watching. I've done a bit of research, Ts do sometimes survive falls like this, I'm hoping I got lucky.

 

[viper69]

She has good access to water, of course. I'll keep watching. I've done a bit of research, Ts do sometimes survive falls like this, I'm hoping I got lucky.

Yes they can.

 

[jaycied]

I had this happen with a G rosea sling recently. I had one of my crested geckos out while I was working on his enclosure, and he jumped out of my hand, landed on the sling's deli cup, and both fell on the ground. Both are fine though.

I did have an unfortunate experience last year with a similar circumstance. I had a G pulchra in a deli cup and my boyfriend was moving shelves while I was at work and didn't take the pulchra off before moving shelves. He tripped, the shelves fell, and the cork bark hide crushed Sirius.

It can go either way. Sounds like you got lucky.

 

[darkness975]

I had this happen with a G rosea sling recently. I had one of my crested geckos out while I was working on his enclosure, and he jumped out of my hand, landed on the sling's deli cup, and both fell on the ground.

Slings are a lot more likely to come out unscathed. They are much lighter than when they become bulky adults.

I did have an unfortunate experience last year with a similar circumstance. I had a G pulchra in a deli cup and my boyfriend was moving shelves while I was at work and didn't take the pulchra off before moving shelves. He tripped, the shelves fell, and the cork bark hide crushed Sirius.

Not to sound mean, but this was a completely avoidable incident.

 

[meowmeowkazoo]

Slings are a lot more likely to come out unscathed. They are much lighter than when they become bulky adults.



Not to sound mean, but this was a completely avoidable incident.

Hindsight is 20/20. I'm sure most if not all incidents are completely avoidable. But mistakes happen.

 

[jaycied]

Slings are a lot more likely to come out unscathed. They are much lighter than when they become bulky adults.



Not to sound mean, but this was a completely avoidable incident.

I know it was completely avoidable. I'm still upset about it, but I wasn't home at the time to direct my boyfriend otherwise...I don't let him move my animals now

 

[Mini8leggedfreak]

I dropped a container with a T in it. A 1” sling. Flipped it upside down but it’s fine and eating well. I think the substrate made the fall way better for the T.
It didn’t drop 5 feet.....but it’s fine.

 

[mconnachan]

She has good access to water, of course. I'll keep watching. I've done a bit of research, Ts do sometimes survive falls like this, I'm hoping I got lucky.

What size is the spider, if it's a sling then there won't be much damage as they're pretty hardy. If it's a larger specimen then monitor her progress, hopefully there's no harm come to the spider!

[EDIT] I just noticed it's a 4" specimen, be aware that internal injuries take time to manifest, so keep monitoring her progress - eating, drinking, walking around the enclosure - that's all you can do....