my rosies sick!!!

spiderladyaaa

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 9, 2010
Messages
11
:( please help, Ive had my rose hair for 4 years and all has been well. shes in a 10 gal aquaruim, water dish, plenty moisture, not overfed, a generaly happy rose walking around. (just giving yall a background) Well heres the problem... shes been kinda acting strange the last couple of days, walking around like shes drunk. Theres no crickets in her cage so its not like shes moving from anything that i can see. She has bagged soil from the pet store on the bottom of her cage. Last night was the worst, SHES FLAT ON HER BACK!! But had shown now signs of a molt. She hadnt spread webbing in a corner or anything, and now i get home from work this morning thinking shes gonna be dead OR she molted... but shes wobbling around just looking sick! Im really confused. :wall: ANY SUGGJESTIONS????
 

Salamanderhead

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
410
You should post a picture of the enclosure. When you said "its plenty humid" that makes me wonder what you have going on in there. Rosie's like it very dry. It shouldn't be humid at all. If she was lying on her back then she was going to molt. Did something disturb her to make her flip back over?

It sounds to me like she wants to molt but shes too uncomfortable.

A picture of her and the enclosure would help a bit.
 

Chris_Skeleton

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 31, 2010
Messages
1,309
So you're saying it flipped onto its back like it was going to molt and then flipped back over?

Hmm... is it twitching? Maybe DKS?
 

B8709

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 25, 2009
Messages
194
Your new (atleast to the forums) so you could have her on bark chips, sand or something else not recommended. You need to give else details of the set up or show us pics. All the G. Rosea needs to survive, humidity wise, is a water dish (1 or 2 people will disagree, but most of us say no misting). It may be really uncomfortable but if you've had it this long and it's just now doing it then it may be some sort of T illness.
 

spiderladyaaa

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 9, 2010
Messages
11
sick

sorry they came out so big. maybe the soils too wet???? ima go get her some fresh soil.... maybe thatll help.:(
 

Salamanderhead

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
410
They definitely do not like wet soil. They like it very dry. It should be completely dry in there and have just the water dish. Shes probably very uncomfortable. Did you flip her back over when she was on her back?.. Or do anything to disturb her?
 

Caramell

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
Messages
145
I don't know why exactly she's twitching around, but it could be the enclosure. Please please change that wet substrate(looks a little bit like wood chips to me, but I'm not sure) to dry coco fiber. All pet stores sell those compressed blocks of it for a few bucks. Also get rid of that sponge in the dish. Sponges breed bacteria,which isn't very safe for Ts,let alone any other creature. They can drink straight from a water dish without a sponge.
Also, you should add more substrate to the tank,so when your T climbs up the walls, it doesn't fall more than the length of its legspan.
Now what I'm going to say is probably unaccurate, but the legs of the T do look lanky, maybe its a mature male? Could you get a clear picture of the Ts front legs from the side?
Last but not least, the twitching and "walking drunk" sounds like DKS. Do a search on youtube and compare.

I hope your T will get better soon!
 

spiderladyaaa

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 9, 2010
Messages
11
whats dks? im changing the soil now. sorry to say it was wet. wetter than i thought. she/he looks REAL sick! ive never seen my T so skinny:( its wobbiln like the front legs arent working. and the fangs are protruding and it keeps arching. i put the T in a container, for fear of being bit. even tho she/he never has done so.
 

P. Novak

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 12, 2005
Messages
6,218
When is the last time it molted? It looks like a mature male rosie to me, and it could just be nearing the end of his time. :(

Oh and I would remove the sponge from the waterdish. Contrary to petstore belief those do not help what so ever; they just premote bacterial and fungal growth. If you're worried about crickets drowing, just put a rock in the dish.
 

CAK

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 17, 2009
Messages
298
I'm going to toss this out there.... Take a good smell inside the cage. Does it smell like a musty mildewy old boat?

I have had a couple cages do this and cause a couple critters to do in stumbling drunk mode... Definitely not DKS, but I pop them into an isolated container that is small (kind of like ICU) and let them hang out for a couple of days and they snapped right back around!

I have no basis other than what has happened with me, but it worked. I am wondering if some types of molds cause this kind of reaction. Again... I have no proof or information other than what worked for me.
 

curiousme

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
1,661
:( please help, Ive had my rose hair for 4 years and all has been well. shes in a 10 gal aquaruim, water dish, plenty moisture, not overfed, a generaly happy rose walking around. (just giving yall a background) Well heres the problem... shes been kinda acting strange the last couple of days, walking around like shes drunk. Theres no crickets in her cage so its not like shes moving from anything that i can see. She has bagged soil from the pet store on the bottom of her cage. Last night was the worst, SHES FLAT ON HER BACK!! But had shown now signs of a molt. She hadnt spread webbing in a corner or anything, and now i get home from work this morning thinking shes gonna be dead OR she molted... but shes wobbling around just looking sick! Im really confused. :wall: ANY SUGGJESTIONS????
You should describe its actions more clearly. Just saying that it is acting as if it is drunk is not telling us much at all. People have taken from that description that it is twitching, but you have not said that.

Change the substrate to plain potting soil(no fertilizers), coco fiber, or peat moss. It needs to be dry when you put it in, but you will have to hydrate the coco or peat before it is ready to use. You also need to have enough substrate in there to only have a legspan and a half between the top of the substrate and the top of the enclosure to prevent harmful falls.

Get the sponge out of the water dish! All it does is breed bacteria.
 

spiderladyaaa

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 9, 2010
Messages
11
hes gone

:(I want to thank you all for the time you took to answer me post. After I put him in the container, and changed the soil, i went back to check on him. He died. :( I guess it was a mature male at the end of his time. I had my T for 4yrs, and id say it was a fair size when i got him in 06. God bless you all. Thank you.
 

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Caramell

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
Messages
145
Could you post a photo of its front legs, preferably from the bottom? Just so we can be sure it was a mature male and not just a weird death.
 

Salamanderhead

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
410
Like was said, please post a picture of the front of the tarantula. A mature male will get whats called "tibial hooks". If it really is a mature male you will see them hanging down from its 2 front legs. Pointing outwards.
 
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