How Many Legs Can a T Live Without?

[Potatatas]

Just out of curiosity, how many legs can a T lose and still survive? My hamorri sling just lost two legs from a stuck moult and made me wonder. Could a T lose all it's legs and still live if food was placed in front of it?

Also what's the most legless T you've ever owned?

 

[EtienneN]

I've heard stories, maybe like two of them in the past ten years, where, yes, a tarantula lost all of its legs and was syringe-fed mealworm/cricket paste/soup and survived to regrow their legs. While I'm not sure how true this is, I guess physiologically speaking as long as the T could use their sucking stomach, they'd turn out okay. But the fact that they have to arch the way they do when they eat makes me wonder how well they could swallow without arching. I guess if the food was pipetted directly into the mouth with the T upside down, gravity would help with "swallowing/sucking".

 

[chanda]

Theoretically, a T could lose all its legs and still survive - at least for a while. But in actual practice, it would be unable to get food or water for itself, so would be entirely dependent on its owner to place food and water directly on the chelicerae - and even then it might have a hard time eating. Even if the owner could get it to eat and keep it adequately hydrated - which would not be easy - it would most likely only prolong life a bit - because when it came time to molt, if the T had no legs, it would be unable to flip itself to its back and would have an extremely difficult (if not impossible) time trying to get out of the old exoskeleton.

A T that has lost 2 or 3 legs should be able to recover completely and eventually regrow the lost limbs - as long as it is not a mature male and does not have any other injuries or issues. While I have not had many Ts with missing limbs, I have seen true spiders managing to feed themselves and get around with only 3 remaining legs, so it is certainly possible for a spider to survive the loss of multiple limbs.

Of greater concern is the reason that the T is missing multiple legs. If there was some sort of traumatic injury, the spider might have also suffered internal injuries or significant fluid loss. Even in something as "low impact" as a stuck molt, the lost limbs can make the T vulnerable to other problems - some of which could be life-threatening. I lost a juvenile P. irminia after it lost a couple of legs in a bad molt. At first, it looked like it was going to pull through and I hoped it would survive to the next molt and regrow the legs - but a few days later, it was dead. It looked like what happened was that phorid flies took advantage of the recently amputated stumps to lay eggs, then the maggots used those stumps as entry points to eat the spider alive from the inside.

Good luck with you hamorii sling! I hope that it makes a full recovery and regrows those missing legs!

 

[PanzoN88]

I am not sure of the main question, but my smaller H. orellanai lost 2 legs on one side. It didn't even hinder its movement. Everything was back to normal with this last molt.

 

[Vanessa]

I think that someone here had an individual who lost four or five and did fine until their next moult.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

I've heard stories, maybe like two of them in the past ten years, where, yes, a tarantula lost all of its legs and was syringe-fed mealworm/cricket paste/soup and survived to regrow their legs. While I'm not sure how true this is, I guess physiologically speaking as long as the T could use their sucking stomach, they'd turn out okay. But the fact that they have to arch the way they do when they eat makes me wonder how well they could swallow without arching. I guess if the food was pipetted directly into the mouth with the T upside down, gravity would help with "swallowing/sucking".

You brought up a good point about a legless tarantula not having the ability to raise itself off the ground in order to eat. Now that I am thinking about it, the arching posture does seem to be important. I would have to see someone actually syringe feed a tarantula in order to believe it would work though. I don't think any tarantula would want to eat while being handled or manipulated in any way. Same with the circumstance where people try to hydrate a tarantula by turning it upside down to drop water around the fangs. I think it is more plausible that a tarantula can just go a long time without eating until its next molt where it grows back the lost appendages.

 

[Asgiliath]

I looked up “tarantula without legs” out of morbid curiosity and found this horror

Not sure exactly what’s going on because it’s not captioned but....

 

[EtienneN]

I looked up “tarantula without legs” out of morbid curiosity and found this horror

Not sure exactly what’s going on because it’s not captioned but....

He said he gave it sugar water. And he did it because the abdomen was looking deflated earlier, but he thinks the spider is getting better. Is it bad that I think I'd euthanise it???

 

[Bluebird5591]

I looked up “tarantula without legs” out of morbid curiosity and found this horror

Not sure exactly what’s going on because it’s not captioned but....

The commentary ...

"This is my legless spider, one week and 3 or 4 days. I was worried yesterday that his abdomen was quite thin. Was probably thinner than the front of his body. So i sat him up some sugar water, look how bloated his abdomen is now. Its huge, so im hoping thats a good sign. Hes drinking happily and you can see he's moving alright"
Oops, @EtienneN summarized while i was typing

 

[Asgiliath]

The commentary ...

"This is my legless spider, one week and 3 or 4 days. I was worried yesterday that his abdomen was quite thin. Was probably thinner than the front of his body. So i sat him up some sugar water, look how bloated his abdomen is now. Its huge, so im hoping thats a good sign. Hes drinking happily and you can see he's moving alright"
Oops, @EtienneN summarized while i was typing

Thank you for the transcript!

I guess this was one of a series of videos....IT LIVED. Regenerated it’s legs with a molt. Looks like a huntsman?

(There were vids in between this and the first one where you can see the person trying to feed it bugs. Think they had good intentions)

 

[EtienneN]

Wow!!! It managed to moult correctly without any legs!??? That's incredible! I guess when it popped its carapace the legs came out and it was able to lift its abdomen out without any problem. That dude has some serious dedication, I guess.

 

[Asgiliath]

Wow!!! It managed to moult correctly without any legs!??? That's incredible! I guess when it popped its carapace the legs came out and it was able to lift its abdomen out without any problem. That dude has some serious dedication, I guess.

YUP. I found the video of it actually molting.

 

[EtienneN]

YUP. I found the video of it actually molting.

Those suckers are lightning fast. Now it can run laps around him at warp speed.

 

[Potatatas]

Well I think that answered every single question! That is insane! I thought a legless spider could likely eat but moulting would be the death of it. Obviously, this would never happen outside of captivity or an Australian feeding it SUGAR WATER for god knows how long...

Also what is that spider in the vid?

 

[EtienneN]

Now I want to know how that spider lost all of its legs. Did some evil child (not the one in the video!) do it???

 

[cold blood]

6 legs missing...bad molt...fed just fine on pre killed roaches and mealworms.

Two-legged Avic

• cold blood
• Oct 15, 2016
• 8
• avicularia avicularia avicularia missing legs pinktoe tarantula sling

A. avic 2 legs is better than none. Fully recovered now.

 

[BennyBTamachi]

I don't think any tarantula would want to eat while being handled or manipulated in any way.

I remember watching a youtube video (I'll try to retrieve it) where a T is being fed while being pinch-grabbed. It was seemingly eating the fluid put into her mouth. However the reason was different in this case, no missing legs but missing fangs.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

There was someone else on here (besides @cold blood) who had an A. minatrix lose all but one leg and a palp which recovered, and someone on FB who had an OBT that lost all but one leg (search "Bob the former disabled tarantula")

 

[james137]

i just bought a psalmopoeus irminia sling and prepared well to move it into a slightly bigger tub (its around 3/4 cm atm) and i simply wasn't quick enough as it bolted i got the lid from the bigger tub that i was making the transference between tubs in lid over a split second to late and now its missing its 2 front left legs , feel bad but obviously thats instantly why i went straight on the boards, sounds silly but obviously hasnt happened to me before is there any chance it could die? I also have an l parahybana and have a s calceatum sling to and transference between tubs with those was practically easy compared to the irminia basically someone please tell me it will be fine and will grow them back PLEASE!?!

 

[EtienneN]

i just bought a psalmopoeus irminia sling and prepared well to move it into a slightly bigger tub (its around 3/4 cm atm) and i simply wasn't quick enough as it bolted i got the lid from the bigger tub that i was making the transference between tubs in lid over a split second to late and now its missing its 2 front left legs , feel like shit but obviously thats instantly why i went straight on the boards sounds silly but obviously hasnt happened to me before is there any chance it could die? I also have an l parahybana and have a s calceatum sling to and transference between tubs with those was practically easy compared to the irminia basically someone please tell me it will be fine and will grow them back PLEASE!?!

Yes. This has happened to many new keepers before who aren't prepared for the speed of a fast arboureal like a P. irminia. It will not bleed out through the legs because tarantulas can shunt off a valve in their upper muscle that prevents haemolymph form leaking out. They will grow back their legs. It will take probably two moults for the legs to be normal again and three moults until you won't be able to tell that it ever lost the legs in the first place, but they will grow back.
Also, you said your S. calceatum transfer was easy??? What did you do slip it a little tranquilizer in its cricket?? Just so you know S. cals are way faster than Psalmopoeus species, and probably the most 'unforgiving' species in the entire hobby. Be very aware of what it can do and take steps to minimize putting yourself in its path of flight. They are not spiders to be taken lightly.