I dont know if my tarantula is Dead!!!

BaddestRuffest

Arachnosquire
Joined
Mar 10, 2013
Messages
121
Id say that substrate is way to wet, surprised the sling didn't drown in it. Was that morio pre killed ?
 

Shell

ArachnoVixen AKA Dream Crusher AKA Heartbreaker
Staff member
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Sep 14, 2009
Messages
1,659
Mod Note

Cool....an eight and a half year old thread
The thread may be old, but that is what we tell people to do....use the search function. The user who just posted a picture of their sling did just that, and found an old thread of a similar nature to ask their current question. That's part of the purpose of the search function. If we want people to search, we need to not give them a hard time when they bump old threads (when they bump them "properly" that is).
 

imsykogrl

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 2, 2014
Messages
2
Hi guys! My b. smithi is in bad shape (IMO) and I am worried. It hasn't moved in over a week and is unable to hold itself up. I have only had it for 2-3 weeks. The store is willing to replace it but only when it starts to decay. It doesn't smell yet but doesn't look real good either. I flipped it on its "back" today to see if I could get a response by putting a droplet of water on it's fangs and again, got a zero response from anywhere on the body including fangs. Has anyone else had this problem? Please help if you can!
 

Curious jay

Arachnodemon
Joined
Jan 23, 2012
Messages
730
Hi guys! My b. smithi is in bad shape (IMO) and I am worried. It hasn't moved in over a week and is unable to hold itself up. I have only had it for 2-3 weeks. The store is willing to replace it but only when it starts to decay. It doesn't smell yet but doesn't look real good either. I flipped it on its "back" today to see if I could get a response by putting a droplet of water on it's fangs and again, got a zero response from anywhere on the body including fangs. Has anyone else had this problem? Please help if you can!
Picture would help in this situation.
 

fyic

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 1, 2004
Messages
296
Think we need a photo .....would help a lot
 

LordWaffle

Arachnobaron
Joined
Nov 20, 2013
Messages
451
Is it in a death curl? Generally flipping them on their back gets some response. I had an N tripepii go through some unknown trauma during shipping about a month ago that died despite my best efforts for the three days I had her. At some point about 10 hours before she died, I accidentally flipped her on her back when transferring her to an ICU, even in the state she was in (so weak she couldn't hold herself up) she started flailing her legs before I corrected her orientation.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
I think it's going to die if it is not dead already
 
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Zer0seeker

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
7
I am kind of in the same predicament with my B. Smithi. I currently cannot have my T where I live, so I have to leave it at my mother's place. She says that it hasn't moved in quite some time and has "poked" at it to see if she can get a response, but to no avail. The temperatures of the room range from 70-75 this past week cause of the cold, it has been regularly fed, and the tank has been kept relatively moist with water being put in everyday as "she" always buries the fresh water. My mother said that a new hole, has produced, which wasn't there before. The body was sitting upright with all legs curled underneath, but has since been flipped over it looks as though there is no abdomen, which I can only assume could be a good sign. I will post pictures in a following post as I have to get them off of my phone. I'm thinking it may have molted, but am still worried.
 
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Zer0seeker

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
7
These are pictures of the topside as it was before it was turned over and the picture of the new whole that was created.
IMG_0672.jpg
IMG_0674.jpg
IMG_0675.jpg
 

awiec

Arachnoprince
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
1,325
That does not look like a regularly fed tarantula, that abdomen is tiny and brachys do not like being moist, you just fill up a water bowl and refill it as needed. I would say that looks pretty dead to me, you'll know for sure if she starts to smell. The only spider of mine that ever looked like that was a dead one, all of my healthy molting spiders are not curled up like that when they are about to molt.
 

shawno821

Arachno Pimp
Joined
Dec 31, 2013
Messages
172
This thread was started 11 years ago... It's ok to start new threads. That being said,that T had to have not been fed right for a long time to end up looking like that,unless it died of old age,and that doesn't look to be the case here.
 

edgeofthefreak

Arachno-titled!
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 2, 2012
Messages
496
This thread was started 11 years ago... It's ok to start new threads.
According to post #40 in this very thread, it's also okay to use the Search Function, and add questions/knowledge to a similar topic. Kind of a one-stop-shopping for IDing possible dead spiders, no?
 

King Sparta

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jan 2, 2015
Messages
77
That is a case of starvation. The abdomen is TINY.
Possibility of parasite?
-King Sparta

---------- Post added 03-16-2015 at 12:11 AM ----------

How often did you feed your T?
 

AphonopelmaTX

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
May 7, 2004
Messages
1,816
There is nothing in those pictures of a dead B. smithi to indicate a cause of death. To suggest one is just plain ignorance of the decomposition process of an arthropod. The abdomen of every tarantula no matter how well fed will eventually shrink and constrict as shown in the above pictures due to the decomposition of the internal organs dehydration of the tissue.. The internal organs are the first to decompose and because the abdomen does not have the hard exocuticle layer as the rest of the body, it shrinks as the organs break down and the moisture evaporates. In my opionion, that spider has been dead for days if not weeks when that picture was taken.

I also have to mention that not every dead tarantula will start to smell when decomposition progresses. Only the largest ones will smell and it smells like a dead mouse.

Also, Brachypelma species will not kill over if there is some water in the substrate. Prolonged exposure to high humidty may cause discomfort and cause a lot of activity as they attempt to find better living conditions, but the added moisture won't kill them.
 

Graeboe

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 28, 2014
Messages
164
Also, Brachypelma species will not kill over if there is some water in the substrate. Prolonged exposure to high humidty may cause discomfort and cause a lot of activity as they attempt to find better living conditions, but the added moisture won't kill them.
Idk why but the wicked witch from the wizard of oz just popped into my head and then the picture of a smithi in a pool of water hissing "I'm melting, I'm melting, oh what a world....."
 
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