I'm about to lose my anorexic avic

[cacoseraph]

fully.


sadly there is almost nothing we can "diagnose" conclusively, except that

 

[killy]

Okay - I'll get back on this later tonight when I'm home and I'll let you know (and try to get some diagnostic pics) ...

thanks!

Okay, here he is ... side view and rear view (it's hard to tell when he's all balled up in himself like this) ... notice the white spinnerets in the bottom photo ... as of tonight he's reacting to stimulus (a nudge with the paintbrush) but very very weakly ... I don't have the heart to disturb him long enough to check for gender, or to do the nematode test ...

 

[ShadowBlade]

I'm sorry to say, that tarantula is deathcurling.. Whatever is killing it, (can't tell if MM or not without extending the very front legs/palps) has got the poor guy beat..

-Sean

 

[LirvA]

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.

+1

A. metallica, has eaten some but not very much. Hasn't webbed really any. Moves around plenty though and looks healthy, but idk. I'm not sure if it's in premolt right now or not.

It's my first T and I've had it maybe ... 6 months? 4 maybe? I've only seen it eat like ... 4 crickets, maybe 5.

 

[jgod790]

Avics don't live long compared to other T's. Its very possible you just got a really old wild caught.

 

[killy]

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

The little guy didn't make it. I see no signs of nematodes, and the spinnerets turned out to be whitish only on top - underneath they're normal.

So I've just gotta know - was this an adult on his last legs?

 

[baconmushroom]

that' sad he dint make it..sorry for the loss..would anyone tell if he's an MM??
wish there was another angle that can really tell if he has thos boxing gloves..

 

[Jacobchinarian]

Did he have any lumps on his abdomen. My cobalt blue acted similarly and when she was near death I found a lump on her abdomen. Although she did have a bad molt and that could have killed her also.

 

[ShadowBlade]

Sorry to say that wasn't a mature male.. However that still doesn't mean there was something you could've done.. It may have had an internal parasite if was WC, or it could have just been old.

Sorry for your loss

-Sean

 

[killy]

Thanks everybody.

I took a very close look at the late Mister U through a jeweler's loop and he seems to be perfectly normal. I have to say I was sort of hoping to see nematodes, or some other exterior evidence that might point to the cause of this, but I remain totally mystified.

A couple of things I've learned:

- don't buy a tarantula on impulse, especially from an LPS

- if the LPS personnel answer "We don't know," to such questions as "where did you get this tarantula?" - "how old is it?" - "what is its molting history?" - what is its feeding history?" - "how old is it?" - "male or female?" - "wild caught or captive bred?" - reply "thanks but no thanks." (I asked all of these questions, the answer was a shrug and a dull-witted "I dunno" to every one of them, but I bought the T anyway ... I'll know better next time ...)

- stick to the reliable sources I've used for my other 10 Ts (as I say, I'll know better next time) ...

One thing I knew already - you guys and gals at Arachnoboards are the GREATEST!

Which brings me to a more positive note - the annual Bug Fair at the L.A. Natural History Museum is coming up in about 3 weeks. I'm going to memorialize Mister U by getting a new avic avic sling - I'll name him Mister U2.
And if he turns out to be a she, she'll be Miss You Too.

Anybody else going, by the way?

 

[tarantulagirl10]

So sorry for your loss. We went through the same thing recently with our A metallica. We bought him (think he was a he, looking at the ventral picture) but NOT mature. He was thin when we got him but ate well for about a month and fattened up a little. Then he stopped eating for months. I tried EVERYTHING, smaller crickets, pre killed crickets, mealworms, prekilled meal worms, tong feeding, you get the point. He was not at all interested in eating. To make a long story short, he death curled twice and I brought him out of it with ICU and giving him water a couple times a day with a syringe. The 3rd time (all in a matter of a few weeks) I couldn't bring him out of it. Never figured out what was wrong. I talked to a lot of different people and everything I was doing seemed to be right. Sometimes I guess they just don't make it

 

[killy]

So sorry for your loss. We went through the same thing recently with our A metallica. ... Never figured out what was wrong. I talked to a lot of different people and everything I was doing seemed to be right. Sometimes I guess they just don't make it

Thanks T-Girl - I, too, am sorry for your loss - no matter how we cut it, we wouldn't be in this hobby if we didn't have a little place in our hearts for these 8-leggers ... and it's still a humongous bummer to lose them.

In a sad sorta way, I'm comforted to know that I'm not the only one that had this experience ... look at me, getting all sentimental - but that's just me ... and, I get the feeling, you too!

But life goes on - the day after Mister U curled up and went beddy-bye, Rakitu, my A. genic molted, as if to remind me, "Hey bud, ya still got ME - it ain't over 'til it's over!"

 

[Asphyxia]

Sorry for your loss!
I had an A. avic some years back that never ever cared to eat and struggled hard. I was lucky the days he drank some water from what I had sprayed, he never went to the bowl... He was very small tho, body like a big thumbnail.

(And soon after I had to watch the very same process all over again with my full grown B. smithi male after his last molt... So sad)

Again, so sorry for your loss.

 

[tarantulagirl10]

Wow, nice geniculata! Mine is only about 1/3" right now, cute little buggers. Congrats on the successful molt