megaphobema robustum dead, unusual material in abdomen.
- Thread starter treeweta
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Was the body frozen?
Earthy smells could be bacteria or fungi. What I have seen is that some Theraphosa sp. tend to just die of nothing but then mold so fast, regardless of humidity when other species do not. I have not kept any Megaphobema, so I still have no idea what might have caused this.
All other tarantulas are doing fine?
Earthy smells could be bacteria or fungi. What I have seen is that some Theraphosa sp. tend to just die of nothing but then mold so fast, regardless of humidity when other species do not. I have not kept any Megaphobema, so I still have no idea what might have caused this.
All other tarantulas are doing fine?
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Do you use any bug sprays or anything? Hair spray? What types of cleaning products do you use? Is there alot of polution in your area? Something bad in your water? Just throwing ideas out there. Any mold visible? If they are sisters it could be a birth defect of some kind. Maybe a bad spider heart or something.
to add info as best i can.
the spider wasnt actually frozen, i opened her up 2 days after she stopped moving. The 'only' pesticides i use are tick treatment on dogs but not done so since summer last year. Pollution wise, we do have an industrial complex neraby that makes candles? and you can often smell the perfumes, they are horrible to be sure. Very little hairspray or other such substances would get into teh spider room. Oh and this was a 6 year old female, now i get the age right, 6 inch leg span. water, we have very hard water so i tend to use distilled so as not to rot the peat, both for drinking and adding moisture to tank.
the spider wasnt actually frozen, i opened her up 2 days after she stopped moving. The 'only' pesticides i use are tick treatment on dogs but not done so since summer last year. Pollution wise, we do have an industrial complex neraby that makes candles? and you can often smell the perfumes, they are horrible to be sure. Very little hairspray or other such substances would get into teh spider room. Oh and this was a 6 year old female, now i get the age right, 6 inch leg span. water, we have very hard water so i tend to use distilled so as not to rot the peat, both for drinking and adding moisture to tank.
Vespula
Arachnodemon
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Sorry for your loss. The stuff in the abdomen doesn't look good to me. I don't know what it is, though.
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Do you have any other tarantulas?
If it is an environmental exposure issue, those tarantulas which spend more time out of burrows should be more prone to issues, unless it is something on your hands and you handle these more.
A single solid mass in the abdomen is not normal either nor are the black masses.
If it is an environmental exposure issue, those tarantulas which spend more time out of burrows should be more prone to issues, unless it is something on your hands and you handle these more.
A single solid mass in the abdomen is not normal either nor are the black masses.
i now own just 2 sub adult female kingbaboons, bought as spiderlings the same time as the megaphobemas (bought about 5 years ago), and 2 rather runty and very slow growing phormictopus cancerides that ive had for about 4 years. i dont use any insceticides in home, although our city does spray for mosquitoes in the summer, something that doesn't please me one bit.
FYI. substrate, heat sterilised moss peat and vermiculite.
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Do you smoke? Or does anyone in your house hold smoke?
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I'm thinking that it was bunged up and what you see is poo that ruptured into the abdominal cavity... I could be wrong though.
Alternatively, you should if you haven't already, get a slide of the substance and check it out under a microscope. I'd be interested to know if it were a nematode infestation. While unlikely, it's possible.
Alternatively, you should if you haven't already, get a slide of the substance and check it out under a microscope. I'd be interested to know if it were a nematode infestation. While unlikely, it's possible.
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Not sure if anyone said this already, and this is just PURE guess, I am not a scientist or anything. But could the cat food have had somthing like calcium or somthing that could build up in your T like that? Sorry if it sounds stupid, it's just what came to mind.:?
Im curious as to how people water their spiders, as far as what kind of water is used. Tap water, bottled water or distilled? I personally use bottled water and I pour a small amount in one corner of the enclosure periodically to increase humidity. If tap water is used then as the water evaporates, all the dissolved metals, chemicals and halides (CL, F) present in that water will be left in the substrate, progressively getting more and more concentrated as time passes and more water is added. I am just trying to formulate a hypothesis as to why seemingly healthy T's are mysteriously expiring prematurely.
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Yeah but that would probably depend on your area. My tap water is safe for me to drink, but not ok for fish. I use it with my Ts and never notice any kind of mineral buildups on the glass or substrate.
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Actually, ideas are good. This is a ridiculously small hobby with only one vet who publishes on the topic. One. The rest is hobbyists or entomologists and biologists filling in the gaps. Unexplained deaths happen all the time, but most of them have some solid possibilities. This case is odd since we have two of the same species dying and no other tarantulas. Yet. And I do hope none die after these!
I don't think it's nematodes, as they would have been moving, very tough to have a solid mass like that. Fecal build up is a good suggestion, but one that I'm not 100% on. Dietary issues, that's a possibility as well, since it was only one species. I have not seen it, but a mass of unfertilized eggs would be that size as well, but again, it was two animals.
I still do not believe it's an environmental issue, except those P. cancerides... Why are they growing slowly? Do they not feed? Does your peat moss have anything added to it? Some companies slip in surfactants, but even that is so weak a suggestion.
Oy, I do wish we had more science and vet folks in our hobby!
I don't think it's nematodes, as they would have been moving, very tough to have a solid mass like that. Fecal build up is a good suggestion, but one that I'm not 100% on. Dietary issues, that's a possibility as well, since it was only one species. I have not seen it, but a mass of unfertilized eggs would be that size as well, but again, it was two animals.
I still do not believe it's an environmental issue, except those P. cancerides... Why are they growing slowly? Do they not feed? Does your peat moss have anything added to it? Some companies slip in surfactants, but even that is so weak a suggestion.
Oy, I do wish we had more science and vet folks in our hobby!
lol, so many qustions and so few answers! The best we can do in the hobby is try and examine the circumstances around a death and see if patterns emerge whereby cause becomes more certain.
to throw out more info relating to questions.
1)No smoking in this house.
2)I dont work with chemicals, and i never handle my spiders.
3)the phormictopus that are very slow growing do feed ok but they have like 9 months between moults and one is only 2 inches across (a bit bigger than i previously guessed in earlier post), the other is closer to 4 inches but at almost 5 years old this is ridiculous, all my other spiders showed normal growth rates, i think the problem is genetic (inbred?)with those 2.
4)the two deaths could of course be unrelated, and likely so, and down to sheer bad luck, the accretions in spider #1 corresponded with a hardened patch on the back, which may have been one of those 'hernias'. i seem to recall her internals was the more usual creamy brown material, not the rather white material in #2.
5) i do use our hard tap water to humidify and water the roaches. im sure people have been watering their spiders with hard water for years though, theres a good chunk of the UK with hard water, i'm sure between the many hobbyists there any problems would have become apparent, saying that, who knows what else is in the water....
I think ive just had a streak of bad luck with my spiders, maybe i'm just at the wrong end of the bell curve, between DKS, fang loss, white paste, a long thread like parasite in a male king baboon, and now these two, its not like its down to bad care, i kept spiders in the UK for almost 13 years and rarely had an unexplained death, only around 2000 did i buy 4 pamphobeteus fortis s'lings, they grew ok to about 2 inches then all of thmm got a DKS like illness and died, they were my first losses.
Now that my remaining 4 spiders seem at least 'not ill' is change out all my enclosures after a rather good bleaching and consider buying a few more animals.....
to throw out more info relating to questions.
1)No smoking in this house.
2)I dont work with chemicals, and i never handle my spiders.
3)the phormictopus that are very slow growing do feed ok but they have like 9 months between moults and one is only 2 inches across (a bit bigger than i previously guessed in earlier post), the other is closer to 4 inches but at almost 5 years old this is ridiculous, all my other spiders showed normal growth rates, i think the problem is genetic (inbred?)with those 2.
4)the two deaths could of course be unrelated, and likely so, and down to sheer bad luck, the accretions in spider #1 corresponded with a hardened patch on the back, which may have been one of those 'hernias'. i seem to recall her internals was the more usual creamy brown material, not the rather white material in #2.
5) i do use our hard tap water to humidify and water the roaches. im sure people have been watering their spiders with hard water for years though, theres a good chunk of the UK with hard water, i'm sure between the many hobbyists there any problems would have become apparent, saying that, who knows what else is in the water....
I think ive just had a streak of bad luck with my spiders, maybe i'm just at the wrong end of the bell curve, between DKS, fang loss, white paste, a long thread like parasite in a male king baboon, and now these two, its not like its down to bad care, i kept spiders in the UK for almost 13 years and rarely had an unexplained death, only around 2000 did i buy 4 pamphobeteus fortis s'lings, they grew ok to about 2 inches then all of thmm got a DKS like illness and died, they were my first losses.
Now that my remaining 4 spiders seem at least 'not ill' is change out all my enclosures after a rather good bleaching and consider buying a few more animals.....
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I personally am not suggesting your care is flawed. I missed the possible hernia, which could easily explain the hard material and even the death, possibly from a fall within the enclosure even. It happens, a lot.
I do have one more question, what temperature do you keep your animals at? As the species you're having issues with are all tropical, long term "low" temps might cause chronic stress, which could explain the bad luck. It is just a guess based on your P. cancerides.
Your writing indicates you're thinking clearly and doing everything correctly, I still feel there is something missing though. It does suck that you've had such bad luck, and I am sorry for your losses.
I do have one more question, what temperature do you keep your animals at? As the species you're having issues with are all tropical, long term "low" temps might cause chronic stress, which could explain the bad luck. It is just a guess based on your P. cancerides.
Your writing indicates you're thinking clearly and doing everything correctly, I still feel there is something missing though. It does suck that you've had such bad luck, and I am sorry for your losses.
Okay, I'm going to step out onto a ledge here and ask: Has she recently been bred?
Reason I ask is this: Last night one of my most favoured tarantulas came out of her hide. Generally I walk over to her and pick her up and let her drink water in my hand... She should be very gravid by now. However, when I picked her up, I found her abdomen mishapen , bulging on the left side. Her left spinnerette was fully extended and paralized. The bulge exactly resembles the 'hernia' I see posted numerous times. (I can add pictures later tonight). She was unable to web.. so I took some measures to try to prevent her death (as I see so many with her hernia perish).
Anyhow: I found the spot with the buildup, stuck in a 33 gauge hypo needle, and sucked out a lot of the fluid. As soon as I was finished, she started crawling around my arm again, this time her webbing was coming out.
(Sorry for getting so off-track.. here's the hypothesis)
She is in a community of 1 other female and 2 males.. She had molted only a week before the male got to her. I am thinking that, perhaps, mating too soon could have been the issue. Every other T that was housed with her is perfectly healthy. (In fact, one MM A. versicolor is over a year old, the other is 8 months old!)
I should note: The first two sticks with a needle yielded a 'pain' response, followed by normal colored 'blood'. The third 'stick' resulted in no reaction followed by a fallow colored liquid..
Reason I ask is this: Last night one of my most favoured tarantulas came out of her hide. Generally I walk over to her and pick her up and let her drink water in my hand... She should be very gravid by now. However, when I picked her up, I found her abdomen mishapen , bulging on the left side. Her left spinnerette was fully extended and paralized. The bulge exactly resembles the 'hernia' I see posted numerous times. (I can add pictures later tonight). She was unable to web.. so I took some measures to try to prevent her death (as I see so many with her hernia perish).
Anyhow: I found the spot with the buildup, stuck in a 33 gauge hypo needle, and sucked out a lot of the fluid. As soon as I was finished, she started crawling around my arm again, this time her webbing was coming out.
(Sorry for getting so off-track.. here's the hypothesis)
She is in a community of 1 other female and 2 males.. She had molted only a week before the male got to her. I am thinking that, perhaps, mating too soon could have been the issue. Every other T that was housed with her is perfectly healthy. (In fact, one MM A. versicolor is over a year old, the other is 8 months old!)
I should note: The first two sticks with a needle yielded a 'pain' response, followed by normal colored 'blood'. The third 'stick' resulted in no reaction followed by a fallow colored liquid..
Temps.
cancerides sat at about 75-77. i kept the megaphobemas at about the same until i'd heard they respond well to lower temps, they have been at around 73 for the last 18 months.....save summer when it can get upto 80. hopefully that lower temperature didnt cause a problem.
neither female megaphobema was ever mated.
cancerides sat at about 75-77. i kept the megaphobemas at about the same until i'd heard they respond well to lower temps, they have been at around 73 for the last 18 months.....save summer when it can get upto 80. hopefully that lower temperature didnt cause a problem.
neither female megaphobema was ever mated.
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As expected, just fine temps. OY. Did you ever eat any voodoo cursed tarantulas?!
I am sorry for the attempt at being funny, but I'm at a complete loss.
---------- Post added at 06:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:03 PM ----------
I am sorry for the attempt at being funny, but I'm at a complete loss.
---------- Post added at 06:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:03 PM ----------
Has this animal molted since this? If so how many times? Links to previous threads would be good as well.
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Slimdean
Arachnopeon
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LOL don't bring voodoo in on this.
why does voodoo always have to be the cause of death. :} Sorry for your loss of T's, im just chiming in on this, and can offer no opinion other then you got a case of bad luck! in any case, i would rehouse anyone of your T's in the same substrate,hidey holes, or cage just be safe.
don't think it was your water, I used to have animals with hard water and as long as i let the water set for 24hr and let any chemical evaporate or sediment fall to the bottom, it was ok. i still do this for any water, bottled or not, for my T's and scop now,though.
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Sediments are not toxic usually, only a selling point for filter companies, and only chlorine off gases, chloramines are forever. I have never seen issue with water quality though, but if you think it's a problem, just try cheap "spring water" for a while.