Leg surgery - not good

Lopez

Arachnoking
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My P murinus has been premoult now for a week or so, and very secretive as usual.
Doing the feeding rounds today I could just see his back leg sticking out of the burrow at a very strange angle.

Extracting him from the burrow, I found that he's somehow injured himself.

Both back legs appear crushed, as if he's fallen awkwardly. One was far more severe than the other, the leg was actually almost severed at the join between the femur and patella. An ugly black scab, encrusted with dirt, had formed, but I could see it was still leaking pretty badly.

I moved him into an ICU and had a good look - whatever happened I knew that leg had to go.

I popped him in the fridge for a few minutes (he's quite the feisty one) and read up on limb surgery in the TKG.

I placed the ICU in a larger tank, and got to work. I reasoned that it would be best to grip him by the carapace with forceps, and then use tweezers to remove the wounded leg.
Idi had other ideas - after a few seconds of being still, he reached round, grabbed the forceps and launched himself at me.

I let him calm down again, but I could see the wound was leaking quite badly.
I grabbed the tweezers and just went for it - pinched the leg at the base of the femur lightly, and it dropped off, but continued to twitch for several minutes afterwards

Here are the pictures:

http://www.donsroom.co.uk/~lopez/MySpiders/IdiSurgery01
http://www.donsroom.co.uk/~lopez/MySpiders/IdiSurgery02
http://www.donsroom.co.uk/~lopez/MySpiders/IdiSurgery03
http://www.donsroom.co.uk/~lopez/MySpiders/IdiSurgery04
http://www.donsroom.co.uk/~lopez/MySpiders/IdiSurgery05

He's now recovering (I hope) in an ICU.
It was a really nerve-racking and traumatic experience, and I think I can safely the same goes for the spider.

My main worry is this - what do do about this other leg? The damage is nowhere near as severe as the left leg, and I don't want to remove it unless absolutely necessary. There does not appear to be any leaking from the area, and a small dark scab has formed. He is moving the leg, but not amazingly well.

Any advice?
 
Last edited:

safetypinup

Arachnosquire
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Feb 17, 2003
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First of all, that is a gorgeous P. murinus :)

I have had to do "surgery" on a few of my T's, and I must say, it looks like you have done the right thing so far. As for the other leg, if it has formed a scab and stopped bleeding, I don't see any reason that it should have to come off. A lot of times, if a leg becomes infected or injured beyond repair, the spider will remove it herself. After this injury, I would expect a molt very soon. Be sure to watch her *very* closely during and after the molt, as fresh wounds have a tendency to re-open during a molt. Of course, these can prove fatal if not tended to immediately. Some triple strength nail hardener should do the trick, though--just a drop on the wound will usually seal it off nicely.
Of course, it goes without saying that you need to keep her under very close supervision for the next few days--legs that are removed can become infected or start bleeding, even when removed properly, and the spider can bleed to death in a matter of hours.

BUT, as I said, you've done the right thing so far--just keep an eye on her, and keep us posted. Best of luck to both of you!
 

krystal

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i gotta echo SPU's sentiments—leave the other leg, but make sure you can supervise the moult.

and excellent job with your leg amputation!
 

Lopez

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Thanks for the replies.
After a few hours in a stripped out container, Idi seemed reasonably mobile but extremely bad tempered and stressed out.

I've set up a very shallow tank (3" deep) with a small amount of fresh substrate and a dug-out sheltered by cork bark at one end.

Idi instantly headed for the premade burrow and made a small mat of web, before sealing the entrance with more silk.

The other leg seems healed, but "wonky" - I hope it will be okay.
Idi is due to moult in the next week or so anyway, hopefully the suspect limb will regenerate slightly.

Idi came to me with a missing front leg and a regen back leg, so I'm wondering if he's just a clumsy "runt of the litter" ;)
 

MizM

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GREAT JOB ON THE SURGERY!!!!

I might add to keep her very humid prior to the molt. It is entirely possible for that injured leg to get "stuck" in the exuvia, so watch really close and if she needs help with that one, dab it with a cotton swab soaked in warm water.

She's a beaut and lucky to have you for a "doctor!"
 

safetypinup

Arachnosquire
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Actually, I must disagree there slightly.....
Humidity for Pterinochilus really can do more harm than good. A humid cage can and will kill an Usumbara....Raise the humidity *slightly* if you must, but she should be just fine with whatever humidity she's used to.....
 

MizM

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Just as long a she can get out of that exuvia. I can just envision that wound getting stuck... scary thought! I didn't think a little higher humidity for a short time pre-molt could do any damage... and I didn't mean to KEEP her really humid.

Sure hope she makes it!
 

safetypinup

Arachnosquire
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It was the "I might add to keep her very humid prior to the molt" statement that had me worried :D

"very" humid for an Usumbara is deadly.....But, as you said, a short period of slightly raised humidity should be no problem at all...Glad we cleared that one up! lol ;)
 

MizM

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:D What's in my brain doesn't always make it to the keyboard exactly as planned!! It's a long way from the brain to the tip of the fingers!!!:D
 

Lopez

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Just remembered about this thread - the murinus moulted 2 days ago, regenerated the missing leg and the other damaged leg is also fine :)
 

Sean

Arachnodemon
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glad to hear everything turned out alright
 
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