Dying or Trying to Molt?

[Vanna]

See, this upsets me on so many levels... I have a license to use pesticides and see idiots that ignore the warnings I am mandated (I would anyway just being me) to post. If I had a nickel for every person I've yelled at or told to keep ANY animals away from the areas I service...
That being said, I personally have 7 tarantulas along with 5 reptiles and scrub myself nearly raw in the shower every evening before even going near my animals or their feeder insects.

Although I am very upset and worried, nobody in my household knows anything about tarantulas. He is our first one, and his mom and her boyfriend completely forgot he was in our room. So I'm not too upset. Everything we know about how to care for him has come from extensive research, and some tips from his dad since he knows a bit about them. I'm just glad he didn't get too much of a direct hit from being in our closet, otherwise he would definitely be dead way before now. Definitely a lesson for all of us for future reference, and to carry out the hobby, cause I've definitely fallen in love with having a pet t.

 

[Ungoliant]

All you can do Is wait and see if he recovers. The chemicals from the flea bomb have surely permeated the substrate and the decorations etc. .. Throw out everything in it's enclosure and scrub the enclosure and lid with very hot water. Put in fresh dry eco earth and new water dish.

I would also replace any feeder insects that were exposed to the flea bomb (and clean out their container before getting new feeders).

 

[Andrea82]

I would also replace any feeder insects that were exposed to the flea bomb (and clean out their container before getting new feeders).

Wow, good call!
It may be useful to post this info under the 'DKS' (ugh, I hate that term), since it is a T that is experiencing these symptoms because of toxins.

@op, I hope she makes it, best of luck!

 

[14pokies]

@Tulip28 what do you need me clarify?

 

[Vanna]

I just want to thank everyone for the help and kind inputs. I can confidently say that I believe my Beetleguise will survive, he is one tough t. Monitoring him over the past couple days since I scrubbed his tank and filled it with fresh dirt, he has considerably gained more coordination with his movements and is walking with little trouble all over his new dirt. His legs also do not look as weak and spindly as they did several days ago either.

If it weren't for you guys, I may not have thought to wash out and redo his tank, or I may have thought of it too late. We got extremely lucky this time, and this was definitely a hard and stressful lesson to learn.

Thank you again everyone, more than I could ever put into words. <3

 

[kooky]

as a side note, if you wanted to get rid of fleas on the dogs, use something like spot on, it doesnt get into the environment and as long as you keep them out of the room the t is in, shouldnt cause any harm to it. Spot on treatments are absorbed into the skin, and are very effective at treating pets without harming your t's. I use spot on all the time for my rabbits, as long as they are kept separate and you make sure your hands are clean of any treatment and leave your t's be for a while when you use it, they will be fine.

 

[Tulip28]

@Tulip28[/USER ] what do you need me clarify?

Hmm I don't recall rating your post!! I left my phone on the coffee table while perusing the forums and there was a big nose print on it (he always smells my stuff lol). My dog must have managed to pull that trick! Sorry about that.

 

[Andrea82]

I just want to thank everyone for the help and kind inputs. I can confidently say that I believe my Beetleguise will survive, he is one tough t. Monitoring him over the past couple days since I scrubbed his tank and filled it with fresh dirt, he has considerably gained more coordination with his movements and is walking with little trouble all over his new dirt. His legs also do not look as weak and spindly as they did several days ago either.

If it weren't for you guys, I may not have thought to wash out and redo his tank, or I may have thought of it too late. We got extremely lucky this time, and this was definitely a hard and stressful lesson to learn.

Thank you again everyone, more than I could ever put into words. <3

Yay!! Good to read he's doing better!

 

[cold blood]

as a side note, if you wanted to get rid of fleas on the dogs, use something like spot on, it doesnt get into the environment and as long as you keep them out of the room the t is in, shouldnt cause any harm to it. Spot on treatments are absorbed into the skin, and are very effective at treating pets without harming your t's. I use spot on all the time for my rabbits, as long as they are kept separate and you make sure your hands are clean of any treatment and leave your t's be for a while when you use it, they will be fine.

i suggest you read up on that. Theres a reason its applied betwren the shoulder blades...thats acces to the dogs glandular system...so when using it, you are applying a pesticide directly to ypur dogs glandular system...thats a recipe for cancer....the chewable ones are better...
the topicals arent as bad as they used to be...but dang, would you put a pesticide into your glandular system? I wouldnt.

As for the ts, well for a few days all you need to do is pet the dog before feeding and its gonna effect your ts.

 

[boina]

i suggest you read up on that. Theres a reason its applied betwren the shoulder blades...thats acces to the dogs glandular system...so when using it, you are applying a pesticide directly to ypur dogs glandular system...thats a recipe for cancer....the chewable ones are better...
the topicals arent as bad as they used to be...but dang, would you put a pesticide into your glandular system? I wouldnt.

As for the ts, well for a few days all you need to do is pet the dog before feeding and its gonna effect your ts.

Well, yeah, I've seen those cancer claims, and you know what's seriously wrong with them? I can find absolutely no original study at the basis of this. It's always some nebulous studies that never get referenced, or it's anecdotes. There is not a single study, or case report, or anything, in pubmed, the database of ALL peer reviewed medical and vet med journals. Why has there been not a single vet that ever did an accepted publication about this world wide?

I'm not saying it's not possible, all I'm saying is there's no evidence that stands up to critical appraisal. Personally I'm sure spot ons are just as good or as bad for the dog as chewables. Everything has side effects, nothing is ever completely safe, and some dogs will always react more adverse than others. Everyone will use what he/she feels comfortable with. Personally, I use chewables for my cats because there is definitely less risk for my Ts.

 

[TRection]

Well, yeah, I've seen those cancer claims, and you know what's seriously wrong with them? I can find absolutely no original study at the basis of this. It's always some nebulous studies that never get referenced, or it's anecdotes. There is not a single study, or case report, or anything, in pubmed, the database of ALL peer reviewed medical and vet med journals. Why has there been not a single vet that ever did an accepted publication about this world wide?

I'm not saying it's not possible, all I'm saying is there's no evidence that stands up to critical appraisal. Personally I'm sure spot ons are just as good or as bad for the dog as chewables. Everything has side effects, nothing is ever completely safe, and some dogs will always react more adverse than others. Everyone will use what he/she feels comfortable with. Personally, I use chewables for my cats because there is definitely less risk for my Ts.

Im not sure what it is called but my vet just does it for me, tiny little tube of cream rubbed into the back of my dogs neck and it lasts for about 8 months (only do it in the summer with the checkup) i believe it takes only a few hours to dry and disappear from the dogs skin and it works very well, both my first dog (of 12 years) and my dog now have never had fleas. This might be a good option for the OP because you pretty much only have to worry about it for a day or two per year.

 

[cold blood]

Well, yeah, I've seen those cancer claims, and you know what's seriously wrong with them? I can find absolutely no original study at the basis of this. It's always some nebulous studies that never get referenced, or it's anecdotes. There is not a single study, or case report, or anything, in pubmed, the database of ALL peer reviewed medical and vet med journals. Why has there been not a single vet that ever did an accepted publication about this world wide?

I'm not saying it's not possible, all I'm saying is there's no evidence that stands up to critical appraisal. Personally I'm sure spot ons are just as good or as bad for the dog as chewables. Everything has side effects, nothing is ever completely safe, and some dogs will always react more adverse than others. Everyone will use what he/she feels comfortable with. Personally, I use chewables for my cats because there is definitely less risk for my Ts.

Cancer is common in dogs, its causes are almost never (if ever) investigated.

Like I said, there may not ever be proof that putting some pesticide in my system causes cancer (heck they said that about cigs for decades), but I am still not going to chance that one in a million years on me, so I won't on my dog.

My vet admitted they were pretty bad when they first came out, but noted significant improvements lately...but in the end, I don't want any pesticides in any part of my dogs glands...I'm extra paranoid though as I have a boxer, and they're one of the top breeds for cancer. I mean, they make a pill now, why would you risk this...I ain't making my dog the guinea pig.

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• cold blood
• Nov 23, 2016
• 14

Dolly dog

 

[Vanna]

Alright guys, it's been a bit, but I now have one more question. Beetleguise is doing awesome in his refurbished tank, exploring and stalking around perfectly fine like before. However, as my photos have shown, he has this massive bald spot on his abdomen, and it doesn't seem to be getting any darker, but some very light, almost white hairs, are growing back. That, and I have noticed over the past week, the remaining hair around the bald spot has started to turn almost an orangey-rust color.

Should I be expecting him to molt soon, or did he strip himself in extreme distress from the bombs? Only reason I keep expecting changes for him to molt is because he was slightly bald before they bombed the house.

 

[Tatarita]

So about a week ago, my boyfriend and I had gone out of town and his parents (who aren't educated in caring for a t) flea bombed our house and we didn't find out about it until after it had happened. Since we have been back, for the last week, our t has been doing what appears to be the death curl, but is still very much alive. Just highly uncoordinated and continuously curling in on himself.

At the same time though, he is obviously in preparation to molt as well: swollen, hair loss, refusal to eat, and obvious leg movements (from studying videos). But he has yet to break his carapace or flip over on his back.

So far I have worked on increasing the humidity in his tank, as well as fix him up in an icu, but there has been no change other than slightly increased movements. Only thing that worries me though is how much his legs keep curling in on themselves underneath him, but he keeps moving around fine, just almost as if his body is too heavy to completely elevate himself normally to move.

Any other ideas of what I can do to help him? Or should I just keep the humidity up and continue with our waiting game?

Poor little guy. I will tell you one thing, whenever I have a housecleaner clean my home, I bring her to where my Ts are and tell them not to spray with cleaner near them and not to even clean that area. This is upsetting to hear because for one, how could his parents not think that flea bombing the place would be toxic to the spider? It's common sense to me. Also, the first thing I would think about telling someone that's caring for my T is not to spray any chemicals, including air freshener near them.

 

[Trenor]

heck they said that about cigs for decades

There were tons of proof for this going back as far as a study in Germany around the time of WW2. Everyone knew cigarettes caused cancer. The Tobacco Companies never made the claim they didn't. They spent crazy amounts of money on any study that showed lung cancer could be caused by other things to help them win lawsuits. As long as they could point to these studies (which attributed less than 2% of lung cancer cases) then they were able to win the lawsuits with the idea of this person could have got lung cancer elsewhere. It wasn't until it was discovered that they were purposefully using additives to heighten the addiction (causing more people to smoke even when they wished to quit) that they really started loosing in court.

It worked so well they started using the same practice for other topics that affect big money sectors such as climate change. Yada, yada, yada we have large amounts of sea life dying as ocean temps rise and places like Florida is having a lot of eco problems from salt water intrusion from rising sea levels.

I don't know much about the dog/flea issue as I have neither a dog or fleas so I can't comment one way or the other on it. I would do a lot of checking before using anything on my pet regardless if its a drop on their back or a pill.

 

[cold blood]

, but some very light, almost white hairs, are growing back.

Impossible...hairs don't grow, once theyre gone, theyre gone till the next molt happens.

the remaining hair around the bald spot has started to turn almost an orangey-rust color.

Darkening is a sign, eventually that skin will turn black.

Should I be expecting him to molt soon, or did he strip himself in extreme distress from the bombs?

Why it flicked could be from anything or seemingly nothing at all...expect a molt eventually...could be next week, could be in September.

 

[cold blood]

The Tobacco Companies never made the claim they didn't.

Yeah, they denied it for decades and paid for many a study to "prove" this.


"Chapter 1 Smoking and health Publicly the industry denied and continues to deny that it is


clear that smoking causes lung cancer"


http://www.who.int/tobacco/media/en/TobaccoExplained.pdf

 

[mconnachan]

So your in-laws just decided to flea bomb your house without your knowledge when you were away, I would be raging about them interfering in your business, I really hope you tell your BF to give them a good telling off. The best thing to do is to keep the water dish full at all times, give it as little stress as possible and wait, fingers crossed your spider makes it, I'm optimistic as it has lasted this long, be sure to inform the in-laws of what they have done.

 

[Trenor]

Yeah, they denied it for decades and paid for many a study to "prove" this.
"Chapter 1 Smoking and health Publicly the industry denied and continues to deny that it is clear that smoking causes lung cancer"
http://www.who.int/tobacco/media/en/TobaccoExplained.pdf

Your right. I should have said that their concerns shifted when lawsuits started hitting them (in the 50s, then later in the 80s and finally in the 90s when they started losing them pretty regularly) to prevent them from having to pay out. Several studies the tobacco companies pointed to regularly in lawsuits pointed out that non smokers got cancer almost as quickly as smokers. It wasn't until studies on second hand smoke came out to show it was worse for you than the filtered cigarettes that they let that tactic go. Then the ban on smoking in public places showed this to be true as over all health improved when the bans went into affect. Still, most people were aware smoking caused cancer for a long time before the companies started doing their own studies.

What I should have said is: Regardless of if the tobacco companies admitted smoking caused cancer or not, most of the public knew and had known for a long time (as early as the mid-late 40s in academic studies and around the early 50s for other people) that smoking did.