Dying/dead tarantula

[me and my Ts]

Hey guys, my 3-4inch Grammostola actaeon molted the other day and she made it out just fine. All the pieces of molt are off. She has been in her burrow since and I thought she was doing alright but when I went and put some more water in her water bowl today I noticed that she was in a death curl. I’ve moved her and put her mouth in her water bowl for now. How do I know if it’s too late to save her? Her legs are curled up under her but they aren’t seized up. Is there anything else I can/should do?

when she molted

Right now

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Hey guys, my 3-4inch Grammostola actaeon molted the other day and she made it out just fine. All the pieces of molt are off. She has been in her burrow since and I thought she was doing alright but when I went and put some more water in her water bowl today I noticed that she was in a death curl. I’ve moved her and put her mouth in her water bowl for now. How do I know if it’s too late to save her? Her legs are curled up under her but they aren’t seized up. Is there anything else I can/should do?
View attachment 456096
when she molted
View attachment 456098
Right now

That’s how I lost my genic wet molt , except I can’t tell if you’rs had a wet molt . Nor Do I know A lot about what causes it.

 

[me and my Ts]

That’s how I lost my genic wet molt , except I can’t tell if you’rs had a wet molt . Nor Do I know A lot about what causes it.

I’ve never heard of a wet molt before, I’ll have to research that. So after finding a thread on it on AB I’d say it’s not a wet molt. They don’t seem wet at all to me, seem like they always do after a molt.

 

[viper69]

Bummer

 

[SpookySpooder]

I think all you can do is try to hydrate it

 

[Smotzer]

Your already doing everything you can do!

 

[me and my Ts]

They haven’t moved at all and have no reaction, they’re dead, it appears that they may have been leaking hemolyph from a leg joint but it might just be a water droplet

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

I’m so sorry for your loss. There’s an extra layer of suck to not knowing why. :-(

 

[Smotzer]

L

They haven’t moved at all and have no reaction, they’re dead, it appears that they may have been leaking hemolyph from a leg joint but it might just be a water droplet

You can always flip them over and continue to administer droplets of water directly

 

[Dorifto]

Unless the legs are completely flimsy, with no rigidity at all, I'd keep trying to hydrate it.

That's not a wet molt, looks more like a severe dehydration to me.

How are you keeping it? Bone dry? ventilation level?

 

[me and my Ts]

Unless the legs are completely flimsy, with no rigidity at all, I'd keep trying to hydrate it.

That's not a wet molt, looks more like a severe dehydration to me.

How are you keeping it? Bone dry? ventilation level?

They are unfortunately completely flimsy. I agree, I keep the left side wet but I’m afraid I let it dry out for too long, the plants never flopped over so I thought they had enough water, also it seems the water bowl I’ve been using doesn’t hold water very well so it may have been leaking or something.

What makes you think it “looks” like severe dehydration? Just out of curiosity, I do think you’re right but I don’t know why because I watered the enclosure again about 2 weeks ago when I noticed they were in premolt. The substrate on the left side is still damp.

 

[Dorifto]

They are unfortunately completely flimsy. I agree, I keep the left side wet but I’m afraid I let it dry out for too long, the plants never flopped over so I thought they had enough water, also it seems the water bowl I’ve been using doesn’t hold water very well so it may have been leaking or something.

What makes you think it “looks” like severe dehydration? Just out of curiosity, I do think you’re right but I don’t know why because I watered the enclosure again about 2 weeks ago when I noticed they were in premolt. The substrate on the left side is still damp.

It looked like it was quite dry in there, maybe the picture was a bit deceiving.

I mentioned the ventilation in case it was moist enough (somewhere else) because it could cause suffocation, which causes curling too, specially after a hard process like molting.

Do you have any picture where it actually shows the real soil moisture level? Not the top layer alone.

 

[me and my Ts]

It looked like it was quite dry in there, maybe the picture was a bit deceiving.

I mentioned the ventilation in case it was moist enough (somewhere else) because it could cause suffocation, which causes curling too, specially after a hard process like molting.

Do you have any picture where it actually shows the real soil moisture level? Not the top layer alone.

I believe there is enough ventilation between the top and front door.

 

[EightLeggedFreaks]

I believe there is enough ventilation between the top and front door.

Too much ventilation is always better than not enough. I try to always err on the side of caution than not. I also like to keep a moisture gradient in all my enclosures, arid or not. It always gives them an option to burrow down to more moist levels should they choose to. This usually just means overflowing the water bowl, or pouring water down one of the corners to get the bottom layer moist.

Sometimes T's just have bad molts, its tough to guess especially when you don't know what kind of shape the Tarantula was in before it molted. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Williama918]

Sorry for your loss. Seems even when you keep them the best way possible. Death still strikes.

 

[Dorifto]

I believe there is enough ventilation between the top and front door.

For a planted setup, even minimal planted ones I'd double or triple the amount of holes, or partially replace the lid with a piece of perforated aluminium grille.

As mentioned above, it's better to have a lot of ventilation than not having it enough, specially using plants or with moisture dependant species.



PS: sorry for your loss

 

[Dry Desert]

I believe there is enough ventilation between the top and front door. View attachment 456229
View attachment 456230

Combination of lack of ventilation and dehydration.

You need low side ventilation and higher ventilation on opposite side, then top ventilation will help.

You say the plants were okay, in some of the pictures there are several dead leaves and yellowing leaves, pretty dry enclosure.

Water added when too late plus stagnant air.

When the Met. Office give out their daily humidity readings, they don't stick a probe in the ground to give humidity readings, that would be moisture content of soil .

Humidity is the amount of water content in the AIR,

As I've said previously you can have bone dry external surfaces with a 90% humidity on muggy days.

 

[me and my Ts]

Combination of lack of ventilation and dehydration.

You need low side ventilation and higher ventilation on opposite side, then top ventilation will help.

You say the plants were okay, in some of the pictures there are several dead leaves and yellowing leaves, pretty dry enclosure.

Water added when too late plus stagnant air.

When the Met. Office give out their daily humidity readings, they don't stick a probe in the ground to give humidity readings, that would be moisture content of soil .

Humidity is the amount of water content in the AIR,

As I've said previously you can have bone dry external surfaces with a 90% humidity on muggy days.

I can’t drill glass and there is ventilation under the door, I will add more holes to the plexiglass.

I never said the plants were healthy? They used to be but then the tarantula uprooted all but the one and she bit off many of the leaves. Also I add leaf litter because I think it looks nice, they are magnolia leaves.

I really don’t think the air was stagnant but I could be wrong, so I will add more holes before I use the enclosure again. I agree with the water statement.

 

[Dorifto]

I can’t drill glass and there is ventilation under the door, I will add more holes to the plexiglass.

From experience, those vents are pretty inefficient if the top ventilation it's someway decreased, even with the oem mesh. In those cases the air needs to be forced towards them to make them work "properly".