I'm about to lose my anorexic avic

[killy]

I got him in October - beautiful little guy I got for $25.00 from an LPS - in seemingly perfect health, although, inexplicably, the LPS claimed to have no knowledge of the avic's origin, sex, age, feeding history, molting record - in short, zip.

Well, save for a cricket he ate about a month after I got him, he hasn't eaten anything. When he ate the November cricket I considered it a breakthrough ... even crowed about it on a thread in this forum. But it's been the KCS ever since (Karen Carpenter Syndrome) ...

It's not because I haven't tried. I've given him everything, and he just won't go for it. Mealworms have gone through entire life cycles. Crickets amble about like they own the place, blissfully impervious to danger. I have watched a superworm crawl about, burrow into the soil, pupate, emerge as an adult beetle, and die of old age. Three isopods I introduced early on as housekeepers have by now started families of their own, to the point that there are now enough of them that they could form a posse and go after the avic if they wanted to! All manner of creepy crawlies inhabit the substrate. A look into his enclosure is like a visit to the zoo.

And yet he will not eat - I've been thinking maybe there wasn't enough humidity, but I've kept his enclosure well humidified.

The poor thing has shriveled and actually reduced in size from when I first got him. And pre-molt this ain't.

One odd feature is that his spinnerets are grayish white, like the color of cigarette ash. Have been for quite some time (and no, he hasn't webbed since I got him) ...

He now doesn't seem to have the strength to climb, and mopes about, death-curl style, at the bottom of the enclosure. The bugs that were supposed to have been T-food have to step around him to be on their way.

I'm afraid I'm losing him. What does it all mean?

 

[ShadowBlade]

You refer to it as a 'he' alot.. is it a mature male? This sounds like typical 'end of the road' behaviour. As long as he's been able to drink water somehow, there's nothing you could have done for him.

-Sean

 

[Embers To Ashes]

Have you tryed tong feeding? I have a MM A. versi and he wouldn't eat for afew months. The crickets would just walk around in his enclosure. Then, I grabbed a live cricket by the back leg with some tongs and shoved it in his face. Did the same thingwith roaches and he's eating now.

I would also remove all the food he isn't eating. It is probably bothering him.

 

[beckett5000]

You refer to it as a 'he' alot.. is it a mature male? This sounds like typical 'end of the road' behaviour. As long as he's been able to drink water somehow, there's nothing you could have done for him.

-Sean

Just what I was thinking.

 

[killy]

You refer to it as a 'he' alot.. is it a mature male? This sounds like typical 'end of the road' behaviour. As long as he's been able to drink water somehow, there's nothing you could have done for him.

-Sean

You know, except for him ("him" is a euphemism I use for all of my Ts until such time it's confirmed that "him" is really "her") I've raised all of my Ts from slings, so that thought had not occurred to me. In a bittersweet kinda way, I hope you're right. But if so, that sure is a long, slow, lonely way to go. I'll see if I can determine what gender he/she/it is ...

As for tong-feeding, yes, been there done that, doesn't do no good no how. I feel like I've tried everything short of going intravenous to get this guy to nosh even just a little ...

Would putting him in an ICU help, or just make things worse?

 

[Hobo]

All it'll take is a look at his palps to see if they're packin'
If he is, he's on his way out it seems.

If that is the case, I'd just keep him in his enclosure until he passes, maybe just bump up the humidity in there a bit.

 

[killy]

All it'll take is a look at his palps to see if they're packin'
If he is, he's on his way out it seems.

If that is the case, I'd just keep him in his enclosure until he passes, maybe just bump up the humidity in there a bit.

Okay thanks!

 

[cacoseraph]

a lot of bugs are wmps and get scared by their food


you can try feeding prekilleds.


also, that is an awful lot of activity going on in a cage of a sick spider, like

 

[killy]

a lot of bugs are wmps and get scared by their food


you can try feeding prekilleds.


also, that is an awful lot of activity going on in a cage of a sick spider, like

Thanks - I didn't try pre-killed, although I did try pre-chilled (mealworms and crickets) but Mister U just wouldn't warm up to it.

Yes, I agree about the activity - I've been leaving it be in the vain hope that the T would finally get hungry, but his latest behavior is what shook me out of my denial and inspired me to "bring it to the boards."

If this were happening in the wild, Nature would take a course unknown to me. But in this instance Nature's course includes the human element, where conscious efforts can be made to change that course. From the moment I took stewardship of the tarantula it became my moral responsibility to take care of him to the best of my ability. If he konks out and it turns out he isn't a mature male at the end of the line, I'll always wonder what I could have done differently to alter the ultimate outcome.

I have a versi that, as I said earlier, I raised from a 3/8" sling and he's "fighting fit" as the Brits like to say, about 2'' now. So it's not like I don't know what I'm doing, but maybe my mistake is assuming that an A avic is going to respond the same way an A versicolor does, especially one that was already past the sling stage when I got him.

Anyway, I'll get rid of the menagerie and see what I can do to make Mister U's passage to T heaven a little more comfortable. What else can I do?

 

[cacoseraph]

it can't feel anything, don't sweat that


did you see if it is a mature male yet? that would be priority #1, imo



ime, wimp bugs don't really get hungry enough to eat something that scared them before they look like they are going to die, most of the time. and if they do start eating something and another bug bumps them they might very well drop their meal and never go back to it

 

[killy]

it can't feel anything, don't sweat that


did you see if it is a mature male yet? that would be priority #1, imo



ime, wimp bugs don't really get hungry enough to eat something that scared them before they look like they are going to die, most of the time. and if they do start eating something and another bug bumps them they might very well drop their meal and never go back to it

I won't be able to do that until later today (I'm not at home). I didn't want to bother him this morning, other than to nudge him a little just to see if he's still alive (he was) ... but I'm very anxious to find out.

I've observed him over that past couple of months and his only reaction to food has been total indifference, or, as in the cases where I got in his face with it, mild annoyance. Like he's just plain not interested.

Any thoughts on the grayish spinnerets?

 

[cacoseraph]

i'd need to see a pic of the spinners but it sounds like it might be pooping on them and not cleaning them. is very bad sign if that is the case

 

[killy]

I'll see if I can get some decent pics. thanks.

 

[esotericman]

Check the back end, as suggested, but also the mouth end. Tarantulas infected by nematodes can last months, and have similar symptoms. To check, I place the animal in a petri-dish or similar plastic and clear container with some water in the bottom, just enough to cover the bottom, no more. When the water makes contact with the fangs, the nematodes will move out of the animal. You can see the nematodes with the naked eye by holding the dish up to light. This would also help wash the fecal matter off the spinnerets, but as Caco said, that is a bad sign.

 

[killy]

Check the back end, as suggested, but also the mouth end. Tarantulas infected by nematodes can last months, and have similar symptoms. To check, I place the animal in a petri-dish or similar plastic and clear container with some water in the bottom, just enough to cover the bottom, no more. When the water makes contact with the fangs, the nematodes will move out of the animal. You can see the nematodes with the naked eye by holding the dish up to light. This would also help wash the fecal matter off the spinnerets, but as Caco said, that is a bad sign.

Lovely ... okay, thanks for the suggestion, and since we're on the subject, let's say I do see nematodes, what should I do then?

 

[sfpearl300z]

Sounds extremely similar to my A. metallica, only with no ashy substance. Mine is an unsexed subadult and is going through the same type of fast. All conditions seem ok otherwise, but no webbing, eating... anything.

 

[cacoseraph]

how sure are you it ate the cricket? did the cricket just disappear or did you recover a bolus?



the thing is, sometimes a tarantula can have it's upper GI tract broken from a bad molt. they look fine, act relatively fine, just can't eat.

 

[killy]

how sure are you it ate the cricket? did the cricket just disappear or did you recover a bolus?



the thing is, sometimes a tarantula can have it's upper GI tract broken from a bad molt. they look fine, act relatively fine, just can't eat.

LOL - I'm not sure of anything anymore - but I actually did witness him jump the cricket and do a little dance. i didn't find a bolus but I attributed that to the good work of the iso-maids.

 

[cacoseraph]

that is pretty convincing... but a "throat broken" tarantula will do the same thing sometimes

 

[ShadowBlade]

basically, the first thing I can really suggest is find out for sure whether or not its a mature male.. if you can see the 'boxing gloves' at the end of his palps, (they just wont look like normal pads you see on the other legs) then there's no more worrying to do.. if he's not, we can continue searching for the problem, and possible solution.

-Sean