It bit me!! Now it's dying? Am I poisonous?

[SkyeSpider]

The A. versicolor that bit me is slowly dying today. I wonder if what was trying to remove from it is what killed the poor thing. It looked like a white piece of sewing thread, about 1/4" long, was glued down to the spot between the thorax and the abdomen (on the underside). The other side of this "thread" was attached to some moss I had in the cup.

Anyone have an idea what happened to the little baby?

-Bryan

 

[Vayu Son]

no...but

I have heard and witnessed that A.versicolor's have a more difficult time making the transition from spiderling to juvenile and beyond. A friend of mine who is an experienced local dealer had 3 die inexplicably...and when i went on vacation a healthy sling i got from swift passed too... This could just be cirumstance, or they could just have a rough time in florida .... since others dont seem to have this problem.

 

[ithuriel]

untimely deaths?

ive lost a T too. ive only been into Ts this year and knew a little about them so for a first i got a P.regalis then my b.vagans and finally my rosie. unfortunately my ornamental didnt seem quite right and slowly declined over a period of time , not eating and getting more sluggish. eventually i got up one day not long ago and she was motionless at the bottom of her terrarium . the other two are doing great though but its put me off buying arboreal species for the time being.

 

[skinheaddave]

I'm no spider expert, but if you were talking scorpions then I would start talking about moulting problems. How was the humidity in your enclosure? I have heard that spiders need 10-15% more when moulting than is recommended for the species.

I also imagine that, like with scorpions, there are species that just seem to have a rough time of moulting in captivity.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[SkyeSpider]

The humidity was 90%, so I'm fairly sure it wasn't a molting issue. Also, I find it odd to hear of versicolors doing poorly, as my other versicolor is becoming a big'un now. I swear, it had to be something from that "string," but I don't exactly know what it was.

The poor thing is fully dead today. If I can work up the nerve (I'm petrified of dead things), I may go in for a closer look.

-Bryan

 

[MrDeranged]

Was the container well ventilated? With Avic spp. I have found that low ventilation is a quicker killer than low humidity...

Sorry to hear about your loss,

Scott

 

[SkyeSpider]

Originally posted by mrderanged
Was the container well ventilated? With Avic spp. I have found that low ventilation is a quicker killer than low humidity...

Odd. It had similar ventalation to my other versicolor when it was younger (30+ pinholes in the cup). Also, my A. avicularias have the same housing and are doing great, as is an A. metallica. I just can't figure this one out :?

-Bryan

 

[johns]

That's that, then...E: you're poisonous;P !

 

[SkyeSpider]

A disection and viewing under a microscope has led me to believe it died of mold growing into its booklungs. Poor thing. :8o

-Bryan

 

[johns]

Sorry for your loss .

 

[The_Phantom]

Sorry about yer spider....

 

[Kenny]

Versicolor

Hi..

Sorry for your loss.

I have 2 Versicolors and one 1/2' has molted succesfully into about 3/4' and I have also one bigger 1'+ versicolor.

I don't moist the junglemix I have at all, instead I wet the cage walls and ceiling and sometimes I wet directly onto the webtubes, my and I have managed to keep them going like this so far.

My humidity bounces between 70% to 85% and when it's on the dropping side I can moist the cage twice a day.

My point is that I have seen some molding problems on very wet substrate, one of my friends T died of what looked like mold problems, and I made my own kinda conslusion after reading Schultz book about keeping tarantulas where he has the tank-idea with no substrate at all for an arboel species.

I also have a fan blowing in front of my cages all the time so there is allways a wind blowing into the cages, not "stormy weather", but a slight breeze that doesn't disturbe the T's.

Well there are many solutions out there, but these one I have seem to be working so far with my Versicolors and they have managed their way through 2 molts.

Kenny