HELP! I think my boyfriend killed my black widow.

[Kimberly Guimon]

So.... while at an expo in October to get some of my new tarantula children, I had come across a female black widow. I have always loved this spider (have had a tattoo of one on my foot for years) but truthfully never knew you can have one as a pet. So of course I got it and brought her home. Anyway, I've been doing everything the breeder has said and "Spinderella" has been what seems very happy. Eating regularly, spinning web, being acting and just overall absolutely wonderful to watch every day (I work from home and have her next to my computer). Unfortunately, that has now changed. After not being able to sleep one night (I was sleeping), my boyfriend decided to change Spinderella's home - which I was NOT happy about. Ever since we got her she was in a small Dixie like cup/jello shots cup with a lid. He put her in a clear plastic case which wasn't a huge deal cause I wanted to do it eventually.....however, he thought it was a good idea to super glue twigs to the sides for her to climb on and such. Once I found out the following morning, I immediately put her in a different enclosure cause the first thing I thought of was that just couldn't be good for her (super glue).

Well I was right. Something happened cause she has not been the same since. When she walks, she seems very uncoordinated (drunk like). Sometimes even falls over and then goes on her back. She does use and move all of her legs but at times, it's seems like a few don't work. The biggest difference is her body. It used to be extremely shiney and now it is a dull black...I thought for sure she was gonna die after a few days but she then seemed to get better. She is still eating (cricket parts and flies) and drinking water regularly as that's the only thing that hasn't changed.
Not sure what to do or if there is even anything I can do but if I can save her, I sure will try. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

 

[NYAN]

There’s a couple of things here that is like to point out.

First off, older widows aren’t able to web as well, so taking her out of her already established web and expecting her to make a new one can be problematic. In the new enclosure, did the spider manage to web at all when you found it? Widows can be sort of clumsy out of their web, so it is possible that she fell and injured herself. Another possibility is that the spider is just dying of old age, although they tend to lose their appetite when this happens in my experience. Lately, I don’t think the super glue would be a problem given that it had a chance to dry thoroughly.

Which photo is of the spider currently? Has it consustucted a web?

 

[Ungoliant]

Super glue gives off fumes that might be toxic until it has completely cured, but once cured, it should be harmless.

 

[Patherophis]

I use super glue for my widow enclosures without any issue.

 

[The Snark]

Super glue gives off fumes that might be toxic until it has completely cured,

Cyanoacrylic acid (in liquid form): combustible, causes skin and lung irritation. Fumes can cause severe eye irritation or damage.

 

[schmiggle]

First read this title as "help! I think I accidentally killed my boyfriend."

Sadly, I don't have anything constructive to add.

 

[The Snark]

First read this title as "help! I think I accidentally killed my boyfriend."

Sadly, I don't have anything constructive to add.

Close enough.

 

[Lubed Tweezer]

When she walks, she seems very uncoordinated (drunk like).

I made the same mistake a few years back. I used Cyano-acrylic to glue something inside a enclosure. Just after a few minutes i spotted that some (feeder) crickets started behaving strange.
I knew straight away that it was caused by the glue because you can smell the fresh glue gassing off.
They were still alive but walked/crawled very slow, indeed like drunk people, randomly falling over sometimes rolling onto their backs, barely able to get back up on their feet.
In my case most of the 'drunk' crickets lived on for 2-3 days and then died. Some bigger crickets stretched it to 1 week but also died. 'OK, lesson learned' is what i told myself.
Later i learned that cyano-acrylic glue produces most gasses in the first few hours (humans can clearly smell it), but it keeps gassing off slowly for several weeks.
You can see evidence of it when you glue some (not arachno-hobby related) plastic stuff, and then after a few days check on it to find out that the plastic around the glue turned white as a result of reacting with the gasses produced by the cyano-glue. I just used 'aquarium-safe/non-toxic' silicone after that.
Now please go torture your BF in his sleep and just say it was an accident....