Loss of Claw - that big of deal??

[abstract]

I found my rosie stuck to the top of his enclosure today, and when i went to unhook his little claw from the screen he jerked away and ripped it off.

I saw a little bit of blood - and dabbed some super glue on the tip of his leg - also filled up the water dish before i left for work in case he would need to replenish fluid.

Question is - will this claw come back in the next molt? If he is without it, is it really that big of a deal?

 

[AllenG]

just a guess...but if they can reproduce legs through a molt then the claw would work too i suppose...maybe not 1 molt but I am pretty sure it should come back through molts..

 

[si_sleaf]

I think he should be ok. You hear of T's losing whole legs and then growing them back after a couple of moults.

From what I can gather, if your spider has moulted recently it may grow back with the next moult. If it is close to a moult it will probably still be a bit withered until the next moult. Hope that made some sense:?

**EDIT**

Aargh! Beaten to it

 

[abstract]

Hopefully - one thing that had me curious though was that on the exuviums that I have, I can't see the claws shed. They're fangs shed for sure, but I wondered if they keep the same claws.

Given - I've only been through 3 s'ling molts, but no claws on any of them....

 

[krystal]

yep, the claws moult, too. they'll be back. besides, there are seven other claws it can rely upon.

 

[abstract]

Cool! Thank you all for your input - I wont worry to much about the little guy.

 

[Mendi]

I wouldn't worry too much over the lose of claws on the one leg, They'll be back in a molt or two. What you need to be concerned with is your sceening on the top of the cage. Sounds like you have a screen where two wires over-cross one another, and this can lead to lose of one or more leg, even causing a fatal fall if not corrected. Check out your screening and see if you can easily see the wires crossing over top the other wire. If you can, you really need to change to a galvanized metal or a heavy/thick plactic one piece screen where they can't get their claws trapped. I would also suggest raising the substate level up to where they can have one foot on the screen and a couple feet on the substrate. This will help prevent a possible fatal fall and can allow them the chance to free themselves if it were to get "trapped" again

 

[abstract]

I'm not entirely sure what kind of screen you're talking about Mendi - do you think you might be able to scare up a pic or a link describing it?

As far as substrate - I have mine raised to the point that he can touch the ground at the same time as the screen top. 5 gallon tank, ~5-6" of substrate... When this incident happened this morning, he was actually standing on the ground with his back 2 legs.

 

[Mendi]

Sorry, I don't know where a picture would be on the web. I guess another way to describe the screen if it a woven mesh of many different wires to produce the screen, instead of being a single unit. Or, it looks like the one you would find in any household window, these are woven with one wire laying on top of the next and continues in this fasion. If it is galvenized, they take a regular woven screen and dip it in some form of hot metal sealing and making the joints, or over lap, into a singular piece of screen that shows no joints at the point of over-lap. It's this area where the 2 wires over lap each other that often traps a Ts claws. Hope this helps explain what I was talking about. If not maybe someone else here knows of a picture they can post or provide links to.

 

[abstract]

I think I know what you're talking about - now I've just got to scour the petstores to see if i can find a top to the tank....

Those things are priced weird - often the lid is just as expensive as the tank - in my experience.....

Thank you mendi!

 

[Mendi]

You might want to check in the hardware stores, or if the T is a juv. or subadult, you might find a thick plastic craft plastic that is often used with yanm embroidery will work too. In either cse, you get to build the initial fram and hot glue the "screen: in yourself. Just a little money saving idea if you like doing some of this type work your self