GBB behavior

[arachnocat]

I've read about this before on here but I was wondering if anyone knew what causes it. Here's what happened:

This morning I found my female GBB with it's legs curled under it. I took it out and looked at it, it was just twitching a bit and would spread it's legs if I blew on it gently. I figured it was in a death curl and was pretty bummed.
I put it back in the tank on it's back, thinking maybe it was just trying to moult.
When I came home from work, it was exactly where I put it, still on it's back, curled up. I took it out and held it for a few minutes. It was still moving a little. So I put it back in it's tank this time right side up on top of a rock.
3 hours later, spidy is fine and moving around in her tank.
What was wrong with her? It's gets a bit chilly in my spider room. Was she just cold? Wierdest thing I've ever seen. Maybe she's one of those zombie T's

 

[Fingolfin]

What size is it? How cold does it get in yr spider room?

 

[Johnny_27]

maybe it doesnt like you...





j/k

Does it have access to water and stuff? Is it eating OK? I had an avic act a little like that once because it wasnt dehydrated.

 

[lupe21]

could it be something like this here the link




http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=84924

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Did you perhaps mist its tank a little too much before it happened? (Dunno if it's that, but it's possible).

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Did you perhaps mist its tank a little too much before it happened? (Dunno if it's that, but it's possible).

Keeping in mind that, with this species, "too much" means "at all." They die if kept in anything but a bone-dry environment, AFAIK.

Also, OP: For heaven's sake, if something's wrong with a T, the last thing you should do is blow on it/poke it/take it out and handle it. It's not going to help the T, if it has any effect at all it'll just stress out or damage it further.

 

[green_bottle_04]

Keeping in mind that, with this species, "too much" means "at all." They die if kept in anything but a bone-dry environment, AFAIK.

Also, OP: For heaven's sake, if something's wrong with a T, the last thing you should do is blow on it/poke it/take it out and handle it. It's not going to help the T, if it has any effect at all it'll just stress out or damage it further.

"at all"? its a living creature...it HAS to drink water. i know they like it dry and WILL die if they are kept humid. ive got 3 of 'em and i mist LIGHTLY once a week. (by lightly i mean let a few drops run down the side of the enclosure)

 

[Brian S]

We really cant help you much until you give us a little more info on how you were keeping it and the temps of your room.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

"at all"? its a living creature...it HAS to drink water. i know they like it dry and WILL die if they are kept humid. ive got 3 of 'em and i mist LIGHTLY once a week. (by lightly i mean let a few drops run down the side of the enclosure)

I didn't say they don't drink (though by all accounts they kind of...don't). Give them a dish; though plenty of people own GBBs that have never been given a dish in their lives and they do just fine. They come from a very dry, sandy place, and apparently can be perfectly healthy and hydrated on the juices and fluids they get from their prey.

Please don't mist them. Wet substrate just isn't good for this species.

 

[green_bottle_04]

I didn't say they don't drink (though by all accounts they kind of...don't). Give them a dish; though plenty of people own GBBs that have never been given a dish in their lives and they do just fine. They come from a very dry, sandy place, and apparently can be perfectly healthy and hydrated on the juices and fluids they get from their prey.

Please don't mist them. Wet substrate just isn't good for this species.

OHHH...ok i gotcha! i thought you meant you dont give them a dish OR mist...but im following you now. the only reason i mist is to give them water because i dont give them a dish....and when i DO "mist" i dont mist the whole tank just the very very corner of the tank (10 gal) and like i said...i dont really mist i just spray a little on the side of the tank and let it run down. i tried using a water dish but it raised the humidity in the enclosure significantly...and where i live (TN) the relative humidity is already high (even in winter)

 

[Mushroom Spore]

i tried using a water dish but it raised the humidity in the enclosure significantly...and where i live (TN) the relative humidity is already high (even in winter)

Haha, wow. I'm just over in Cookeville and it's always dry as a bone here--murder on my hands, they get dried out and bloody in the winter. It's not as bad when I'm at the parents' in Nashville, though.

That's strange that just a dish would raise humidity all that much. How big was it? A little one shouldn't. :?

 

[cacoseraph]

Keeping in mind that, with this species, "too much" means "at all." They die if kept in anything but a bone-dry environment, AFAIK.

Also, OP: For heaven's sake, if something's wrong with a T, the last thing you should do is blow on it/poke it/take it out and handle it. It's not going to help the T, if it has any effect at all it'll just stress out or damage it further.

a little water won't kill them. i raised two slings to maturity (males, woo) and misted them every once in a while to the point the entire top of the substrate was dry. having them in a moist cage constantly will ruin them though, i agree

also... how is the OP supposed to know if the tarantula is leaking or something unless they examine it? there are quite a few people on the boards who have most likely saved their tarantula's life by sealing up a leaking wound with super glue or whatever... but they had to find the wound and manipulating the spider is generally the easiest way to do that.

if i have a jacked up spider that isn't due for a molt i am most certainly going to examine it! what if it is expressing nematodes? i would want to get rid of something like that ASAP!

rather than say NEVER say something more reasonable like, "you should be aware that manipulating a flagging tarantula is stressful. you should be doing something useful when manipulating it or you stand to do more harm than good"


also, in my experience with cold bugs... they warm up from handling them, not afterwards. i doubt this is cold related, but i could easily be wrong.

the loss of hemolymphatic pressure is ultimately the cause of the death curl (at least, that is my understanding)... so dehydration or wound sound like likely culprits

 

[Cirith Ungol]

the loss of hemolymphatic pressure is ultimately the cause of the death curl (at least, that is my understanding)... so dehydration or wound sound like likely culprits

Yes. Unless there is an invert related desease that has the same effect, but I've never heard or read of such (yet), neither here on the board or in one of those fancy book things.

 

[green_bottle_04]

Haha, wow. I'm just over in Cookeville and it's always dry as a bone here--murder on my hands, they get dried out and bloody in the winter. It's not as bad when I'm at the parents' in Nashville, though.

That's strange that just a dish would raise humidity all that much. How big was it? A little one shouldn't. :?

thats probly why its better in nashville...its further south, lower altitude...and generally has more humidity. im in murfreesboro. and i couldnt imagine that it would be a huge difference between murfreesboro and cookville though in relative humidity. maybe its just my house...it may just hold humidity really well. but i have to keep a dehumidifier going in my DRY T room ( i have another room that i keep my moisture/humidity loving T's in.

yeah it was a pretty small dish. one of those crescent shaped clay ones by Zilla.