fangless blondi in trouble

[treeweta]

a large juvenile blondi moulted around 6 weeks ago and came out fine apart from her fangs were amputated at the moult.

I tried to feed her crushed up roaches which seemd to work for a short while as she held onto it for an hour or so but must bever have really got any nutrition from the insect.

Unfortunately as she is not adult she grew a lot and hence her abdomen was quite small after the moult, the abdomen has got smaller (the photo makes it look bigger than it is) and today i noticed she is a bit lethargic and the velvety fuzz on her carapace, chelicera and legs seems to be dropping off, it almost appears wet, its quite odd and ive never seen it before. heres a picture.

I suspect this animal will now die, once again a blondi demises despite being provided with an optimum environmant as far as i can tell. had she been better fed prior to her moult (she was fat but I did not power feed as she is one of the spiders that was sick last year with white mouth paste, not sure if that is related to the fang loss.

Her sibling is fine and very fat but also had the sickness last year. i have young m robustum and king baboons in close proximity and same food stuffs and no problems from those atall (2 other blondi spiderlings died very quickly after the moth paste appeared last year).

anybody else seen this odd appearance on the carapace?


treeweta.

 

[Gigas]

Looks to be a layer of dried haemolyph

There was something similar to this on another forum I visit, they kept the bllondi alive and weel for quite some time but it eventually died


http://www.arachnophiles.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=1104&highlight=tiro

http://www.arachnophiles.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2032&highlight=tiro

http://www.arachnophiles.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2232&highlight=tiro

 

[treeweta]

chris, thanks for those links. the author mentions 2 other spiders with the same?fangless condition, 2 different species. who else knows of spiders that have moulted fangless. I just wonder what the cause is, I wonder if the blondi are getting inbred? this is pure speculation but is it not true that less are now wild caught so more and more people are mating siblings?

 

[Talkenlate04]

I just wonder what the cause is, I wonder if the blondi are getting inbred? this is pure speculation but is it not true that less are now wild caught so more and more people are mating siblings?

I doubt it, it is possible but your timing would have to be spectacular to have that occur.
What people feed their Blondi's seems to point toward broken fangs, but there is nothing solid on that speculation.

 

[Gigas]

The main suspect is normalllly low humidity, I also think the spider is moulting too early before the new fangs have completele seperated form the old and stikcking occurs

 

[treeweta]

actually the darker area i thought was 'bald' is liquid, i put some frsh water in her dish and when i looked in she seems to have a lot of it under her sternum, its as if she was drinking (but i didnt actually see this) and somehow then preening herself with wet legs, all rather strange, i dont think its haemolymph and there is no evidence of injury.

 

[Gigas]

I just thought it could have dripped up the chelicerae during moulting, since the T is upside down in the process

 

[Talkenlate04]

The main suspect is normalllly low humidity, I also think the spider is moulting too early before the new fangs have completele seperated form the old and stikcking occurs

I disagree with that, internal hydration is widely known to be the biggest concern when it comes to molting and applys to all species.
Just from that pic he has up the setup does look kinda dry though and they like it moist.
Maybe its a mixture of everything.

 

[treeweta]

The main suspect is normalllly low humidity, I also think the spider is moulting too early before the new fangs have completele seperated form the old and stikcking occurs

chris, im not sure about the low humididty as her moult was fine (i cant see how all the legs could be freed no problem and then have the fangs stick), but the sticking fangs as you suggest may well be due to the new fang and old not separating properly hence the torn bleeding fangs upon moulting, one wonders though if the non separation is inherent???

 

[treeweta]

ive been keeping my blondi on dry peat in a tank which is than in a larger tank and that one has water at the bottom, this inc air humidity but prevents the issues with wet peat (i had all my blondi get the white mouth paste sickness which i though was nematodes plus I had terrible mite problems from crickets hence the new drier conditions, they are always provided with a water dish though)

 

[DrAce]

I'm inclined to suspect some sort of surface infection, rather than internal... but that's a hunch. I don't know if the hairs on the surface of the spider are actively growing or not, but I suspect the answer is 'not'.

Perhaps a fungus or bacteria? Again, not helpful, but a guess. One quick, but ethically questionable, test of that would be to q-tip a wipe of the tarantula and then wipe it on another. Similar symptoms would imply something infectious.

Mind you, she's not eating. And that could have all sorts of effects.

 

[dukegarda]

Try this; I saw it on TV but it was for people.


Go out and buy some mealworms, or superworms. Quite a few at that.

Grab your blender, put a bunch of the worms in, add a glass of water, and hit the milkshake button. You want this to be the consistency of a thick shake, however, make sure everything is well pureed.

Offer it to your tarantula in jar lid, or some other shallow container. You can refrigerate the rest so it doesn't go bad for quite some time. I'd make a small amount at first to see if your blondi accepts this. It's just an idea I'm throwing out there. Maybe it will help. *shrug*

 

[treeweta]

the spiders all dry now (and looks back to normal) and sat preening herself! seems it was just water from the dish. Still hoping she gets by with little/no food until the next moult.

 

[Austin S.]

Austin- I sent you a PM. Maybe your situation is similar to mine and these pointers can be of some help. Take it easy.


Austin

 

[Gigas]

the spiders all dry now (and looks back to normal) and sat preening herself! seems it was just water from the dish. Still hoping she gets by with little/no food until the next moult.

You are going to hsave to try feed it in some way,

 

[treeweta]

Well ive just had a brainwave which may or may not get some food into the spider.

Years ago entomological livestock supplies in the UK would pack T's in the mail secured in a strong polythene bag sealed with a knot just abouve the T. Ensuring the T is in a natural curled up position they become totally immobilised in the bag and infact dont even try to move, only rarely did a T even put its fangs through the plastic. (said spiders then placed in a cocoon or cotton woll and mailed safe and sound.

Anyway ive put my blondi into a bag, tightened above it with tape, its immobile and not trying to move. ive then cut a small hole in the bag at the mouth and introduced some heavily mashed cockroach (with drop of distilled water added) to the mouth area. hopefully the spider will start to suck on the mush.

Ive not seen any evidence that thats happening but I suspect if the fangs start to move around, simulating mastication then it might be working. as there are no fangs to help squeeze the juice to the pharynx its not going to be a very efficient process but anything is better than nothing.

I will try this several times and each time i will test the spider with a pen just to check its actually hungry. Im keeping my fingers xx'd for an early moult to regrow the fangs.