M. robustum found in a death curl this morning

Spoodfood

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I found my juvenile Megaphobema robustum in a death curl this morning. She was right side up, not upside down like in a molting position. I thought she was dead, but upon gently moving one of her legs with a paintbrush, she started moving the other leg. There is slight movement, and it seems to increase then stop. She recently had a successful molt, and her abdomen isn’t shriveled but small because she molted around 1-2 weeks ago. I keep her enclosure half damp substrate with a full water dish. She recently covered her burrow and has not attempted to make another. I tried to recreate ICU conditions, thinking she may be dehydrated. I put the front of her in her water dish so she can drink. Immediately upon doing so her movement increased, and the water was gone shortly after so I refilled it. I thought this was a good sign but she hasn’t even twitched for around 20 minutes. I’m sadly assuming she’s gone. I’m not sure what else I can do. I do not have a mesh lid, she has half damp substrate that is deep so she can burrow, a hide, and not enough room at the top of her enclosure to have fallen and injured herself. I’m wondering if there’s anything else I can do. I just sexed a molt and she is a female as well, which upsets me more. So since she hadn’t been moving I decided to extend one of her back legs again to see if there’s movement. When I did, she slowly moved it back to the slightly curled position. I’m wondering if that means she’s still alive, considering she’s not going limp just repositioning into the curl. I’ve never had a tarantula die so I’m not sure if they recurl when you move their legs or they go limp. Any advice would be appreciated. Sorry if these are dumb questions or if I’m rambling, I’m pretty stressed out right now.
 

emartinm28

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Keep trying to hydrate her! Unfortunately this kind of stuff happens sometimes, could be dehydration or could be something internal that went wrong during the molt. Sometimes it could take many hours for the T to rehydrate itself so don’t give up hope keep the water dish full and her mouth over it. Might not work but the fact that the water was all gone the first time is promising. Hope your little one pulls through. This is the second M. robustum I’ve seen on here recently to suddenly end up in death curl. Also pics of the enclosure!

edit: also in the future an ICU isn’t the best solution, just creates a damp stuffy environment and promotes bacterial growth. If a T is rehydrated putting its mouth over the water dish is the best way to help imo
 

Spoodfood

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Keep trying to hydrate her! Unfortunately this kind of stuff happens sometimes, could be dehydration or could be something internal that went wrong during the molt. Sometimes it could take many hours for the T to rehydrate itself so don’t give up hope keep the water dish full and her mouth over it. Might not work but the fact that the water was all gone the first time is promising. Hope your little one pulls through. This is the second M. robustum I’ve seen on here recently to suddenly end up in death curl. Also pics of the enclosure!

edit: also in the future an ICU isn’t the best solution, just creates a damp stuffy environment and promotes bacterial growth. If a T is rehydrated putting its mouth over the water dish is the best way to help imo
Yeah that’s what I did, put her mouth over the water dish and dampened the surrounding substrate a bit. Here’s the enclosure. I like to keep it simple with fossorials. Just deep sub, cork bark hide, and some sphagnam moss. I am 99% sure she’s gone though.

and I think it’s important to add thatafter I put her mouth in the water dish it turned a cloudy white. I think she has white stuff coming from her mouth. She’s also one of I think only 2 of my ts that I got from a pet store. And although I don’t see any movement, the water has been drained around 4 times at this point and I keep having to refill it.
 

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ccTroi

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is the spider responsive to touch? how does it move? does it display twitching movements of the legs? does it allow you to flip it on its back?
 

Spoodfood

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is the spider responsive to touch? how does it move? does it display twitching movements of the legs? does it allow you to flip it on its back?
At first she was responding to touch and twitching the back legs. Now i see no movement or response to touch, but I set up a time lapse to see if she was drinking and it definitely looks like she’s drinking the water. I’ve had to refill it around 5 times now. Here’s a video of her drinking it. This time lapse was maybe around 3-5 minutes total, so not enough time for it to have evaporated. As long as the dish keeps draining, I’m going to stay hopeful.
 

Arachnophobphile

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I found my juvenile Megaphobema robustum in a death curl this morning. She was right side up, not upside down like in a molting position. I thought she was dead, but upon gently moving one of her legs with a paintbrush, she started moving the other leg. There is slight movement, and it seems to increase then stop. She recently had a successful molt, and her abdomen isn’t shriveled but small because she molted around 1-2 weeks ago. I keep her enclosure half damp substrate with a full water dish. She recently covered her burrow and has not attempted to make another. I tried to recreate ICU conditions, thinking she may be dehydrated. I put the front of her in her water dish so she can drink. Immediately upon doing so her movement increased, and the water was gone shortly after so I refilled it. I thought this was a good sign but she hasn’t even twitched for around 20 minutes. I’m sadly assuming she’s gone. I’m not sure what else I can do. I do not have a mesh lid, she has half damp substrate that is deep so she can burrow, a hide, and not enough room at the top of her enclosure to have fallen and injured herself. I’m wondering if there’s anything else I can do. I just sexed a molt and she is a female as well, which upsets me more. So since she hadn’t been moving I decided to extend one of her back legs again to see if there’s movement. When I did, she slowly moved it back to the slightly curled position. I’m wondering if that means she’s still alive, considering she’s not going limp just repositioning into the curl. I’ve never had a tarantula die so I’m not sure if they recurl when you move their legs or they go limp. Any advice would be appreciated. Sorry if these are dumb questions or if I’m rambling, I’m pretty stressed out right now.
You did everything correctly. I have read from other members losing this species.

Not sure but wondering if M. robustum has some very specific care requirement that has been overlooked.

Like when keepers started getting C. versicolors and believed higher humidity was required which killed alot of versi's. Just speculating I really don't know but others had problems keeping them as well.
 

Spoodfood

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You did everything correctly. I have read from other members losing this species.

Not sure but wondering if M. robustum has some very specific care requirement that has been overlooked.

Like when keepers started getting C. versicolors and believed higher humidity was required which killed alot of versi's. Just speculating I really don't know but others had problems keeping them as well.
I also thought this exactly. Funny thing I thought of the versicolor as well and figured it may be similar. Maybe there’s just some unknown requirement I’m missing, it seems to be a sort of common occurrence with this species. I tried to do everything to the letter, like I do with my others. I’m pushing 30 tarantulas and haven’t lost any. This is the only one I’ve ever had any sort of complications with. They are absolutely beautiful spiders and I’d love another, but I’m admittedly scared to because I feel like a bad keeper although I know There isn’t necessarily anything I could have done differently or better.

Update: she is once again slightly responsive to touch.

Update: she is once again slightly responsive to touch. I’ve refilled this water dish about 3 or 4 more times and at this point, I’m wondering if she can drink too much water 😂
 

Arachnophobphile

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I also thought this exactly. Funny thing I thought of the versicolor as well and figured it may be similar. Maybe there’s just some unknown requirement I’m missing, it seems to be a sort of common occurrence with this species. I tried to do everything to the letter, like I do with my others. I’m pushing 30 tarantulas and haven’t lost any. This is the only one I’ve ever had any sort of complications with. They are absolutely beautiful spiders and I’d love another, but I’m admittedly scared to because I feel like a bad keeper although I know There isn’t necessarily anything I could have done differently or better.
Don't beat yourself up over it even though it is extremely upsetting. Losing a T is the most guilt ridden guilt trip one can feel that loves T's. The next thing that is upsetting is the loss of what you paid for it. M. robustum is not a $20 or $30 tarantula. It's not cheap so it's a double loss.

I lost only 1 T so far a B. emilia and I could care less about what I spent I was distraught over losing my T.

There was no reason for it. It ate, had water dish that I always kept full and nothing wrong with the substrate. I believe it was the one time a spiderling needs to be dug up. The problem is by the time it should of been it was too late.

These things happen and are upsetting but it happens.

Update: she is once again slightly responsive to touch.
There is hope
 

Spoodfood

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Don't beat yourself up over it even though it is extremely upsetting. Losing a T is the most guilt ridden guilt trip one can feel that loves T's. The next thing that is upsetting is the loss of what you paid for it. M. robustum is not a $20 or $30 tarantula. It's not cheap so it's a double loss.

I lost only 1 T so far a B. emilia and I could care less about what I spent I was distraught over losing my T.

There was no reason for it. It ate, had water dish that was I always kept full and nothing wrong with the substrate. I believe it was the one time a spiderling needs to be dug up. The problem is by the time it should of been it was too late.

These things happen and are upsetting but it happens.
I believe I payed $130 for her, it could have been slightly more or less but over $100. I’m not too worried about that, but she was one of my more pricey Ts. And I really love her coloration and I find the species interesting because of their unique defense mechanism. They are very feisty though. My worst hair kicker to date lmao.
 
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Hi
water is most likely being wicked out of the dish rather the T drinking it.
I will flip it on its back and drop water drops with a syringe (pipette)every cople of hours on its mouth parts just to be sure.Its easy to find the right spot as water will stick in place rather than run off it.
Im keeping one of my slings alive for over a week this way.
Regards Konstantin
 

Edan bandoot

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You did everything correctly. I have read from other members losing this species.

Not sure but wondering if M. robustum has some very specific care requirement that has been overlooked.

Like when keepers started getting C. versicolors and believed higher humidity was required which killed alot of versi's. Just speculating I really don't know but others had problems keeping them as well.
I've heard that alot of the megaphobema species come from climates that are always raining and have high elevation
 

Arachnophobphile

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I've heard that alot of the megaphobema species come from climates that are always raining and have high elevation
Interesting, I didn't know that. I've seen M. robustum for sale on the vendor's sites but wasn't on my list of T's I'm planning to get.

Not that long ago I've read some members were having issues with their slings and juveniles. It is an attractive T with a unique defense maneuver, maybe in the future.
 

liquidfluidity

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I agree with Eden. Mine is 1 molt away from being a juvenile. When I researched, I found a lot of keepers having higher success rates with full on fossorial set ups. I have kept my substrate completely damp and it seems to be extremely healthy.

I do agree with the possibility of her hair "wicking" the water out. Easy enough to check ?
 

thedragonslapper

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She did not make it, unfortunately. 😞
:depressed: So sorry I am as well for your recent loss. Beautiful though this particular T is it's not one that I personally plan on getting and never have. They are expensive even as younglings for one thing and I've heard they are a generally more "fragile" species than most and aren't easy to keep alive in captivity even for experienced hobbyists; kinda like to the spider hobby what the Moorish idol is to the fish hobby (?).
 

viper69

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Just very fragile spiders.
Are they really? I haven't really read or come across a species that is really fragile to own generally. Even T seladonia may not be that fragile once husbandry is worked out by the masses.
@EulersK didn't you own these? Fragile?
 

Spoodfood

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I think it may have been nematodes, because there was white fluid coming from her mouthparts when I flipped her over. I also noticed this a while back when her water dish was very cloudy with things floating in it. I could be wrong but I’m just thinking of possibilities here.
 

Kibosh

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Are they really? I haven't really read or come across a species that is really fragile to own generally. Even T seladonia may not be that fragile once husbandry is worked out by the masses.
@EulersK didn't you own these? Fragile?
I think you are right. Saying the species itself is fragile would be a misnomer. I believe there are other variables that lead to higher reports of fatality such as mass misinformation on husbandry practices (people not keeping them fossorial or moist enough) or a disproportionately large amount of WC specimens with preexisting health issues.
 
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