GBB in Death Curl- ICU Help

[quietvenus]

Hello, I got home today and my juvenile GBB is in a death curl although they were moving just fine last night and this morning. I moved them over into an ICU and I’m trying to feed a mealworm. How often should I check on them? I’m worried he might not pull through as he was moving around when I nudged him the first time but after 10 minutes he’ll just barely adjust his legs/position.
he also just molted last week, he didn’t eat for the 2 weeks before that. I appreciate any help in advance, I’m really concerned

 

[Liquifin]

I would take it out of the ICU as that is an outdated practice. The ICU was originally a practice for dehydrated tarantulas or tarantulas with shriveled thin abdomens. If you want to provide water, just place the mouth parts of the tarantula over a water dish for it to drink. The ICU is going to do more harm than good as your tarantula is from a drier habitat and your placing it in a place that is going to over-do the humidity.

If it molted recently, did the sucking stomach molted out along with the molt? The abdomen of your specimen doesn't seem thin, shriveled, or dehydrated. So I would check the molt to see if the sucking stomach molted out as it can affect a tarantulas appetite or ability to eat.

 

[quietvenus]

I’ve attached photos of his molt. It looks like the sucking stomach was molted right?
thanks for the info on the ICU. Does this mean he’s absolutely done for? What can I do to help him come out of this? I thought he might’ve been dehydrated but I agree that he doesn’t look shriveled.

 

[fcat]

He's not done for until he starts to smell. Get him over a water dish even if he doesn't look dehydrated. You have nothing to lose

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I either place there mouth in water dish or drop water drops there manually.

 

[Brewser]

Good advice as already stated above...
Crossing Our Legs for Your GBB

 

[viper69]

I swear they are like rabbits, one moment great the next RIP.

This is really odd. Something isn’t right.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Maybe I’m blind, but I’m not seeing the sucking stomach in that molt, though I wouldn’t think that would off them in a week. Okay, the regular questions, any chance of chemical exposure? Flea treatment on your hands from a dog or cat?

 

[Dry Desert]

Maybe I’m blind, but I’m not seeing the sucking stomach in that molt, though I wouldn’t think that would off them in a week. Okay, the regular questions, any chance of chemical exposure? Flea treatment on your hands from a dog or cat?

Here we go !.
Let's blame everything other than a bad molt due to dehydration.
Body mass has nothing to do with dehydration.
Dehydration can happen in a very short time, the smaller the creature the quicker it will take control.
What is being implied is that a fat person won't suffer from dehydration due to body mass.
Another point ICU 's are effective, the only time it's not effective is when the t is passed the point of recovery.

On a closing example - obviously no one has ever seen DESERT beetles standing on their heads to collect moisture on their hind legs from the ears morning mist.
They do this EVERY morning, otherwise they become DEHYDRATED.

 

[mack1855]

There is no point in putting any kind of food in with a T in that condition.It’s incapable of taking food.

 

[LilithArachne]

How is your T doing now?

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Here we go !.
Let's blame everything other than a bad molt due to dehydration.
Body mass has nothing to do with dehydration.
Dehydration can happen in a very short time, the smaller the creature the quicker it will take control.
What is being implied is that a fat person won't suffer from dehydration due to body mass.
Another point ICU 's are effective, the only time it's not effective is when the t is passed the point of recovery.

On a closing example - obviously no one has ever seen DESERT beetles standing on their heads to collect moisture on their hind legs from the ears morning mist.
They do this EVERY morning, otherwise they become DEHYDRATED.

There are multiple possible causes for the rapid decline in a tarantula. Dehydration is one of them, but as several had already said that, I looked at the other causes not already discussed. Accidental poisonings are a possible culprit. Helping the keeper is the goal here and I would want to hear every possibility to try to find what happened.

Dehydration cannot be fixed solely by placing a spider in a humid, poorly ventilated box. While this can help slow fluid loss, that water needs to be ingested in my understanding. I never seen, nor heard of, a spider going from looking normal one day to dying the next from dehydration. I would expect it to get sluggish and not look healthy over that week’s time.

There is nothing in my post about the size/body mass of the spider. I would not expect any spider (already in its adult colors) to die because it didn’t eat for a week, regardless of abdomen fullness.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

There are multiple possible causes for the rapid decline in a tarantula. Dehydration is one of them, but as several had already said that, I looked at the other causes not already discussed. Accidental poisonings are a possible culprit. Helping the keeper is the goal here and I would want to hear every possibility to try to find what happened.

Dehydration cannot be fixed solely by placing a spider in a humid, poorly ventilated box. While this can help slow fluid loss, that water needs to be ingested in my understanding. I never seen, nor heard of, a spider going from looking normal one day to dying the next from dehydration. I would expect it to get sluggish and not look healthy over that week’s time.

There is nothing in my post about the size/body mass of the spider. I would not expect any spider (already in its adult colors) to die because it didn’t eat for a week, regardless of abdomen fullness.

I had GBB if I recal it webbed literally everything so there was nothing beside the water dish it could had fallen on , never had proof it fell just random mystery death. I should had taken pics and examined the cage more .

I swear they are like rabbits, one moment great the next RIP.

This is really odd. Something isn’t right.

id say your correct I never understand why some spiders live long time others not so much even same gender/species.

Hello, I got home today and my juvenile GBB is in a death curl although they were moving just fine last night and this morning. I moved them over into an ICU and I’m trying to feed a mealworm. How often should I check on them? I’m worried he might not pull through as he was moving around when I nudged him the first time but after 10 minutes he’ll just barely adjust his legs/position.
he also just molted last week, he didn’t eat for the 2 weeks before that. I appreciate any help in advance, I’m really concerned

Any pictures of the cage ?
Some mystery deaths cannot be explained others can.

 

[Dry Desert]

There are multiple possible causes for the rapid decline in a tarantula. Dehydration is one of them, but as several had already said that, I looked at the other causes not already discussed. Accidental poisonings are a possible culprit. Helping the keeper is the goal here and I would want to hear every possibility to try to find what happened.

Dehydration cannot be fixed solely by placing a spider in a humid, poorly ventilated box. While this can help slow fluid loss, that water needs to be ingested in my understanding. I never seen, nor heard of, a spider going from looking normal one day to dying the next from dehydration. I would expect it to get sluggish and not look healthy over that week’s time.

There is nothing in my post about the size/body mass of the spider. I would not expect any spider (already in its adult colors) to die because it didn’t eat for a week, regardless of abdomen fullness.

Just one point,

If the so called " normal correct " captive keeping conditions were transferred into the wild - many species would be extinct by now. !!

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Just one point,

If the so called " normal correct " captive keeping conditions were transferred into the wild - many species would be extinct by now. !!

This is really impossible to compare though, as in captivity, they are kept in a very limited box of dirt. In the wild, they have a wider range of options (within reason, of course). Too hot, too cold, too dry? Dig, dig, dig! (Or in your beetle example, stick your bum in the air!)

 

[Dry Desert]

This is really impossible to compare though, as in captivity, they are kept in a very limited box of dirt. In the wild, they have a wider range of options (within reason, of course). Too hot, too cold, too dry? Dig, dig, dig! (Or in your beetle example, stick your bum in the air!)

Not impossible to compare.

Why are they kept in a small box of dirt ???

Anything kept in captivity should have the option to " dig,dig ,dig, have the option of hot or cold, or have it's bum in the air ".

Or,

You could ram as many in as possible, keep in Very small boxes of dirt and chuck in a couple of crickets, then spent days wondering what went wrong and why my poor little sling didn't survive.

Then again you can always blame flea collars, chemicals that don't exist, or Jack next door.

Never, ever bad husbandry.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Not impossible to compare.

Why are they kept in a small box of dirt ???

Anything kept in captivity should have the option to " dig,dig ,dig, have the option of hot or cold, or have it's bum in the air ".

Or,

You could ram as many in as possible, keep in Very small boxes of dirt and chuck in a couple of crickets, then spent days wondering what went wrong and why my poor little sling didn't survive.

Then again you can always blame flea collars, chemicals that don't exist, or Jack next door.

Never, ever bad husbandry.

Very valid points and I agree the first place to look is keeper error. There will never be one thing that is the cause of all premature spider deaths, so I think it prudent to look at all the factors that may have come into play, especially where keeper error isn’t obvious.

We try to recreate as much of what we can in that box of dirt (and I house on the large to too large end of that spectrum), but I don’t know anyone who could give each spider several feet of space horizontally and vertically (including below substrate level), with sunshine, rainy seasons, all the things they’d encounter (other than predators of course). Imagine trying to create an ideal outdoor environment inside a room of your house. It will never truly compare to being outdoors.