Missing Legs Post Molt

Porrhothele

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 17, 2019
Messages
15
I have been having issues with my tarantulas for several months now. I've lost several animals- all were behaving strangely and then would become lethargic and I'd find them dead later on. I don't use pesticides, sprays, cleaners, any chemicals at all around them. There have been no changes in substrates, feeders, water source, etc. Absolutely everything has been the same and I've been keeping for several years.

Today I find one of my I. mira out of it's burrow which is highly unusual and I look and find that it is missing 3 legs. I dumped it's enclosure and found that it had recently molted and the molt is pretty beaten up but looks ok. No prey item has been left in the enclosure and the enclosure is very secure. All I can assume is that something went wrong with the molt but I have no idea what. I understand that this can happen sometimes and that the legs will grow back, my concern is that this is somehow related to the deaths.

I am truly at a loss as to what could be happening. Has anyone experience something like this or have any idea what could have happened?
 

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viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
It happens- happened to me 2x with the same T

Can’t tell ya if it’s related
 

BillsSpider

Arachnoknight
Joined
Mar 8, 2017
Messages
154
My B.emilia lost one stuck in a molt, she's grown it back as a stick leg and next molt you won't be able to tell
 

Eva

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jan 14, 2017
Messages
71
That I. mira is missing 4 legs and a pedipalp, not just 3 legs!
Unfortunately, I cannot see how this can be related to the deaths and what is generally wrong...
I might consider switching to a different substrate in case of mysterious deaths though, but that is just my own experinece. I once found some cheap gardening grade peat, which was supposed to be pesticides free, but I don't know how much can you can rely on the package info. Anyway, I bought it and my partner has put it in with his scorpions (H. petersi). They started to die off one by one. At first we thought that there was a husbandry issue, because we really are tarantula people and scorpions were new to us, but we checked with different people to make sure we were not killing them with bad husbandry and as far as I can remember, nothing was majorly wrong. All three died in the end. I wish I could go back and change the substrate to the expensive substrate we normally use and see if it it would make any difference. I still blame the substrate though and I am since very opposed to experimenting with it!
Not sure what you use for your Ts, of course, so take this as just an idea, please.
 

Scp682

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 13, 2020
Messages
227
That I. mira is missing 4 legs and a pedipalp, not just 3 legs!
Unfortunately, I cannot see how this can be related to the deaths and what is generally wrong...
I might consider switching to a different substrate in case of mysterious deaths though, but that is just my own experinece. I once found some cheap gardening grade peat, which was supposed to be pesticides free, but I don't know how much can you can rely on the package info. Anyway, I bought it and my partner has put it in with his scorpions (H. petersi). They started to die off one by one. At first we thought that there was a husbandry issue, because we really are tarantula people and scorpions were new to us, but we checked with different people to make sure we were not killing them with bad husbandry and as far as I can remember, nothing was majorly wrong. All three died in the end. I wish I could go back and change the substrate to the expensive substrate we normally use and see if it it would make any difference. I still blame the substrate though and I am since very opposed to experimenting with it!
Not sure what you use for your Ts, of course, so take this as just an idea, please.
Given that peat comes from very acidic water logged anaerobic conditions, it should be noted that just because there's no harmful additives doesn't mean the substrate itself doesn't have something toxic. Tarantulas don't live in bogs (no moisture dependent species don't live in actual bogs this is just misusing the word.
 
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