Keep finding Vinegaroon on its back!

[infinitebohr]

Vinegaroon not catching prey, very weak!

Hello all and thanks for any advice in advance!!


My vinegaroon just recently molted about 2 weeks ago, well last night my girlfriend was feeding some of the T's and said "Hey he's out in the middle of the tank", I went over to see and he was out all right...flipped on his back!! So I righted him but he seems to be acting weird, moving very slowly, not running away from me or light when I shine it on him. Also I noticed his abdomen is extremely flat, like probably starving. I've been putting food in there but he's not a good hunter so I've been trying to get him to eat pre-killed superworms. This morning I found him on his back again. So I'm not really sure what's going on, is he sick and just trying to die or what? I saw him stumble a few times so I think he may be just generally very weak...I keep squishing crickets and worms and shoving them in his face. He actually eats them for few minutes but then drops them and goes back to his wandering.
Set up details:

10 gal with 80% of the top covered in plastic
Eco-earth substrate - 4 inch or so
Corkbark Hide
Weekly mistings keep the humidty between 60-80% and the room is kept at an ambeint 78-80 degrees.
He was sold to me as a Florida Vinegaroon (m. giganteus).

Other things of note :
-This is the same Vinegaroon I posted about 6 months ago having a weird brown splotch on his abdomen, I posted pics but no one was really aable to tell what it was.
-His color changed from brownish with a tan abdomen to jet black all over.
-He seems to be weak (probably from not eating) and his antenae (his for-most sensory legs) just wave around aimlessly like he can't really tell whats going on.
-There are springtails in the tank with him as they cleaned up any mess I didn't get to.
-There is a little white fuzzy mold bloom I didn't notice going on by the roots of a Pothos planted in his tank.

Do you all think an immediate tank cleaning would help? I hadn't noticed the small patch of white fuzzy mold by the plant, but I guess it could be affecting him. I just don't want to stress him out with moving to a new tank. I'd hate to lose this guy . I don't know if any of these things help with any idea of what's going on with him, but I'd appreciate any advice.

 

[VictorHernandez]

I would have thought he is trying to molt, but since he already has, he might just be acting strange from something uncomfortable. If hes pacing around a lot, then its probably that.

 

[Galapoheros]

Kind of sounds like it's been poisoned. Are you living in an apartment? I stopped having 'sickness' problems with the stuff I keep when I moved into a house. It might be one of those things that you just can't figure out, sounds like it won't make it imo.

 

[infinitebohr]

Kind of sounds like it's been poisoned. Are you living in an apartment? I stopped having 'sickness' problems with the stuff I keep when I moved into a house. It might be one of those things that you just can't figure out, sounds like it won't make it imo.

Yeah we're in a house so I doubt it, he's also in my T room with about 30 other inverts who are all acting normally. However I agree it doesn't look good

 

[The Snark]

I've sepnt the last few days (daze) speaking to various people at Chiang Mai University and the University of North Chiang Mai (NCU) regarding aberrant behavior in spiders, specifically ataxia. NCU has been actively engaged in the study of Mad Cow Disease, BSE, using the theory it's origin may be a fungus. The problem being the visible signs of the disease may take months, and even generations, before they display visible symptoms.
To make a long story short, it is the opinion of several professors that any animal but especially predators that are closely aligned to the fungal food chain have the potential for incubating and spreading of this disease. The term -this- disease is used very loosely as it is suspected that any of several causes, inclusive of fungus, may be the origin pathogen. Even the word pathogen is suspect as what may be going on is a completely natural function within the ecosystem and it doesn't manifest into a disease with obvious symptoms until it effects a specific organism higher up the food chain as in cattle.

To make a long story short, if you have any animal that displays ataxia like symptoms, the origin may be fungal related, or possibly genetic with a fungus as a medium. The actual cause may not be found in the animal but in it's food source, in the food source(s) of the food source such as the bioactive layers where many feeder animals are originally collected.

Check the symptoms of ataxia and compare to your animal.