My little quartertard.

[TalonAWD]

Wow this thread is like a soap opera. Had me in suspense through all eight pages. Take one last picture before you do the deed.

 

[SNAFU]

Yep, freezer. Your doing the right thing here. Thats no "quality of life", limping around waiting to slowly starve.

 

[Cocoa-Jin]

Seems kind of pointless to 'squish' a T. It will pass either way you decide, so why ruin the body? At least then you can immortalize the little buggers.

True, if thats the route you want to go(certainly a good way to go considering the circumstances). Typically my dead feeders go to compost for my plants...a smushed bug makes for easy conversion to plant nutrients when placed in the soil at the base of one of my Bonsai trees.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Actually it's funny you mention that. My Gf suggested I put it in my oak tree bonsai pot.

 

[Cocoa-Jin]

...and there you go!:clap:

I have a Japanese Maple, two Juniper Pines and a Cherry Blossom tree that may have succumbed to a rapid onset of aphids(they are all miniatures)

 

[Veneficus]

Actually it's funny you mention that. My Gf suggested I put it in my oak tree bonsai pot.

At least his life will help give life to something else...

 

[TalonArana]

Wow, that's amazing!
What an incredible little individual...

I think that it might be interesting to see if it will get to another molt, quite alot has been argued over what the problem might be, and whether or not the little creature indeed feels pain...
But in the end, you'll get the same result, a body-- sooner or later.
I know that it's not quite the same-- but if we're all willing to kill crickets, roaches, and the like, and sometimes in cruel ways to feel the tiny spiderlings, why not hold out and see if the little thing will manage to molt?

I agree though-- keep the body, it might be interesting to study if you can find the right person...
Really wished little QT would get through, healthy and happy, he was rather cute.

(Note: D: I don't think I want to get into a battle over morals, ethics, and the concepts of what is, and is not cruelty, so I apologize if I offended anybody with anything I said... D

 

[DrAce]

Ryan,

If you can get your hands on formalin, or formaldehyde, then that's a good way to preserve him for some sort of histalogical or long-term analysis. Thats how they keep little critters in bottles in museums and the like.

A resin casting would be great for external analysis, but won't be much good if you ever decide to open him (her?) up and find out how bad the damage was.

Of course, compost is the end, period.

It's all up to you. I'd be keen to find out what was actually wrong with him - that would probably take resources that neither of us immediately have at hand.

Feel free to PM me if you want to take things further. I'd be willing to have a good look-see to find something that might give us more information.

 

[frtysxan2]

Ryan,

If you can get your hands on formalin, or formaldehyde, then that's a good way to preserve him for some sort of histalogical or long-term analysis. Thats how they keep little critters in bottles in museums and the like.

A resin casting would be great for external analysis, but won't be much good if you ever decide to open him (her?) up and find out how bad the damage was.

Of course, compost is the end, period.

It's all up to you. I'd be keen to find out what was actually wrong with him - that would probably take resources that neither of us immediately have at hand.

Feel free to PM me if you want to take things further. I'd be willing to have a good look-see to find something that might give us more information.

If you guys happen to do this post some info. I know i speak for some of us when i say we want to know what the damage was also. pics would be awesome but just an update would be good too.

 

[DrAce]

If you guys happen to do this post some info. I know i speak for some of us when i say we want to know what the damage was also. pics would be awesome but just an update would be good too.

I think it would actually be pretty easy. I'd preserve it/him/her in formalin for a couple of weeks, then slice the area in half with a scalpel. I'd expect a 'lump' if it was some form of cancerous growth, but if there was a developmental issue, I'd expect more of a 'messed up' organ affair. there would be sub structure present.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Even with him so small you think all that can be done?

 

[Snakeguybuffalo]

Even with him so small you think all that can be done?

Yeah Ryan's right. What is it, like an inch, maybe? I'm not convinced that any good would come of it unless you've got a very good disecting microscope, a very steady hand, and extremely good instruments to perform such a "procedure". Isn't it enough to put the little guy out of his misery and accept the fact that there are millions of anomalies in the natural world?

 

[Cocoa-Jin]

Bonsai compost and train it into the shape of a T....shoot I may do that myself. In a threat stance at that!

Anyway, you'll always have a piece of him as long as you have the tree.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Bonsai compost and train it into the shape of a T....shoot I may do that myself. In a threat stance at that!

Anyway, you'll always have a piece of him as long as you have the tree.

A tarantula bonsai. That sounds like a goal! Hmmm what to use for that though. elm maybe?

 

[Cocoa-Jin]

Something branchy, thick trunked, dense, small foliage. I like the versatilty of junipers, but Im not really feeling it. I found this really interesting low growing shrub that likes the banks of the bay over near the Port of Oakland. It grows up a few inches and then lays down by itself and spreads out with several branches. It would provide that segmented but hairy look.

Ive always been tempted to grab one and try and grow it. It sort of grows out and looks like those face huggers from "Aliens"

Once you get it shaped and grown out to the right size, the contant trimming and sniping of the tips should focus all the trees energy in thickening the trunk to shape the abdomen and carapace.

 

[DrAce]

Even with him so small you think all that can be done?

Look, if I can accurately suck up mouse embryos (size ~80 uM) in a drop of water with a good magnifying glass, Ryan can do this on a spiderling.

Yeah Ryan's right. What is it, like an inch, maybe? I'm not convinced that any good would come of it unless you've got a very good disecting microscope, a very steady hand, and extremely good instruments to perform such a "procedure". Isn't it enough to put the little guy out of his misery and accept the fact that there are millions of anomalies in the natural world?

Anyway, I was just putting that out there.

 

[dragontears]

The problem I see with fixing the little guy in formalin is the exoskeleton. The body is so small that you can't cut him in half first (prior to fixation) since he'd just squish out and you'd end up with a pile of mush in your fixative. If you drop the body in a vial of formalin the fixative can't penetrate the exoskeleton and the inside rots...also not good for a histological diagnosis.

The best way would be to get a small gauge needle and inject a little formalin into the body, but I'm not sure where exactly to inject it as we don't know how the internal structures are aligned. In a normal T, I have cut the head in half and then injected the chelicera for a good fixation. In a t as small as quartard I'm not sure where to begin.

I'd be up for the task of trying, but I can't say with any confidence that anything will come out of it.

 

[DrAce]

The problem I see with fixing the little guy in formalin is the exoskeleton. The body is so small that you can't cut him in half first (prior to fixation) since he'd just squish out and you'd end up with a pile of mush in your fixative. If you drop the body in a vial of formalin the fixative can't penetrate the exoskeleton and the inside rots...also not good for a histological diagnosis.

The best way would be to get a small gauge needle and inject a little formalin into the body, but I'm not sure where exactly to inject it as we don't know how the internal structures are aligned. In a normal T, I have cut the head in half and then injected the chelicera for a good fixation. In a t as small as quartard I'm not sure where to begin.

I'd be up for the task of trying, but I can't say with any confidence that anything will come out of it.

With a spider his size, it may be enough to just put some tiny pin-hole sized pricks in his surface. He's small enough to allow easy diffusion accross his body, I would have thought.

 

[Scorpiove]

Hi, just wondering how quartertard is doing?

 

[frtysxan2]

Hi, just wondering how quartertard is doing?

Probably freezing to death. No disrespect meant.