OBT in bad shape, and advice?

c'est ma

Arachnobaron
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Aw, crum. As of yesterday I was sure the little bugger was just dehydrated. So sorry, Betuana. Some things are just beyond our control...
 

Pacmaster

Arachnoangel
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Man, she is a beautiful spider tho . . .
Sorry to hear she has not improved, dehydration( if thats even the culprit) directly affects so many vital life functions.
Im gonna go give my OBT a drinking dish right now!


Hey, I just did a search, and the amount of pages that came up w/obt is unreal . . .
Can someone tell me where these Ts come from in nature/part of the world/country?
I couldnt find it in my search, and adding other keywords didnt really help me . . . somebody knows off the top of their head!
 
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c'est ma

Arachnobaron
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Man, she is a beautiful spider tho . . .
Sorry to hear she has not improved, dehydration( if thats even the culprit) directly affects so many vital life functions.
Im gonna go give my OBT a drinking dish right now!


Hey, I just did a search, and the amount of pages that came up w/obt is unreal . . .
Can someone tell me where these Ts come from in nature/part of the world/country?
I couldnt find it in my search, and adding other keywords didnt really help me . . . somebody knows off the top of their head!
LOL. Try Pterinochilus murinus. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterinochilus_murinus
 

Pacmaster

Arachnoangel
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Tried p murinus, still just get question/advice/for sale threads . . .
Nobody knows where they come from?
I guess they just come from Oregon??? ;)
:?



K, Africa of course it says, but thats a big place . . .
Couldnt find more specific.
Guess Ill hit up google!

Duh . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterinochilus_murinus

Read more about Angola and that region, and its mostly tropical rainforest.
Lots of rain.
Im gonna start spraying my OBT cage as regularly as my avics.
 
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jr47

Arachnobaron
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T's extend their limbs by forceing fluid in and retract them with muscles. If there is not enough fluid in their system to Extend their legs they will of coarse curl because they cant pump fluid into the legs.
last time I seen one this bad was an H. gigas at the pet store. I had the manager put water in the kk., Moved the T on top of it and left her there. KKtiped so it made a small puddle and was away from the lungs. And the next day it was up and running around like normal.
I think if you can get some fluid in it things will more than likely inprove.
 

Pacmaster

Arachnoangel
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That story is amazing, but then alot of things about spiders are!

They are just like little hydraulic pumps with legs, arent they!

This makes perfect sense to me, if they are dehydrated, the pump has nothing to pump, so it is useless(or lifeless as it were).
 
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jr47

Arachnobaron
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They are interesting and the more I learn the more I want to learn. I find it amazing that the way they work they can be so quick.
Only thing I really hate is it seems there is alot more incorrect imfo out than correct. It gets a little frustrating some times. You read a lot of conflicting imformation. And real research on T's is just not easy to find.
 

Pacmaster

Arachnoangel
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I know that sometimes people take me as being arguementative, but you are exactly right and that is exactly why I ask so many questions and/or present the "con" side of the debate.

Its one thing to offer someone elses advice, its quite another to be able to offer your own and be able to back it up with facts/knowledge/experience.

So many new things are being learned every day about spiders.
There is probably no ONE way of doing things- oh wait there is . . . the right way.


I feel really sorry for the op, but this is a good learning experience for us all.
(still assuming the T is dehydrated . . .)
Whether or not dehydration is the case here, I learned alot about the subject in reference to tarantulas from this thread, so thankyou everybody!
 

betuana

Arachnobaron
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No change at all this morning. The droplet of water I put over the mouth yesterday is even still in place. Its looking bad for my little guy.

Still, glad to know the thread is proving educational and informative for some people. Its something good out of it all. As some added info - my 1/2"+ G. Aureostriata was in a full curl and unresponsive when I checked on it at one point - no apparent reason (darned slings! sometimes they are frusterating...). I put it in the same sort of set up (but smaller), face down on dampened paper towels so it could get water. The next day there were maybe slight twitches, but I couldn't tell for sure if I was just tricking myself into thinking there was, but I kept up. A few days later there was leg movement, and a week after I first put her in she was up and walking around like normal. I have since put her back and she's eaten (taken down live food even), dug a burrow that would put some haplos to shame, molted, dug a second burrow, and taken down more food. I'd say she's fully recovered! So even in extreme seeming cases, its worth trying! Thats why the OBT is still in ICU, even though I have a feeling there is probably more going on in this case - there isn't anything else I can try, and I don't want to give up to early.

Its been said in other threads, and in the new Tarantula Keeper's Guide (reading through it now, read and own the old one too - but I jumped around a bit in this one) that its better to keep trying until they are obviously, and clearly dead (smelling dead for instance, some will start dessicating despite being in an ICU, etc). Doesn't really take alot of time, effort, or money to try to stick them in an ICU in hopes of helping, and it would really be a shame if that would have fixed it and someone gives up too early. So I always try...and have in several instances succeeded.

We'll see whats going on with this one tonight, although the fact that its not even taking in water put directly into its mouth seems to be a bad sign...
 

jr47

Arachnobaron
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I think that is the only part of keeping T's that I dont like. It can be impossible to know what is going on with them and many times if we do figure it out its to late. Can be frustrating.
I agree it doesnt hurt to give it a day or so to be sure. Never know.
 

betuana

Arachnobaron
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Update, more info

Well, its been quite a while without any sign of anything from the OBT, not a twitch of movement, and even the drops of water put on its mouth don't disappear. Seems like its time to call it. :(

I decided to take it out today and look it over to try and find anything that might explain what happened, and found something that wasn't on the original pictures above, but is VERY apparent now - there is a large lump on it's abdomen. It has obviously appeared there in the past few days, but I can't help but think that it is related somehow to the illness my OBT had. I don't think its just a result of dehydration of the abdomen, since the abdomen doesn't seem to have shrunken, but the lump has more grown onto it. But then I've also never seen anything like this in one of my own T's either.

I don't know how many layers of 'skin' or exoskeleton T's really have, or if its possible for them to get a hernia like humans. If they could, perhaps there was some sort of internal rupture during molting that resulted in this? Hernia's don't always show up immediately in critters, so I guess it could be a possibility...I just have quite enough knowledge of T anatomy. (I know the basics, but not if something like a hernia can occur.)

Anyways, here are some pictures, just to share, and maybe get some feedback if anyone else had experience with stuff like this. There does also seem to be a very slight swelling on the side opposite the lump, but the lump is significantly bigger and more apparent. Oh, and it was in a death curl in the ICU, but I spread out its legs to get a better look at it and see what was going on.











 

betuana

Arachnobaron
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I'm sorry too, though at least the lump gives a bit more idea that something physically wasn't right. I wonder if there was a weak point there where the exoskeleton didn't form properly. The lump didn't appear until I had had the non-responsive, non-moving T on its back for a while a last ditch effort to rehydrate it by putting water directly into its mouth. This to me suggests that fluid or whatever might be in it moved into it with the help of gravity, which is why I didn't see it when the T had been upright. It might not be a hernia persay, but a weak area, or if there are multiple layers (I know there are in premolt, when the new exo is forming, but not sure if there are still multiple layers postmolt. All the books say is the exo on the abdomen is leathery and flexible, not how many layers it is...) maybe part of one of the underlayers didn't form properly, and the molt just aggrevated the problem. Hard to say what happened, but I have to think the lump was part of it.

It is very sad, but it at least reassures me that it may not have just been my exceedingly dry house. Even so, there is a second humidifier running in that room, and the room is now usually around 40% humidity, up about 20%. The dry enclosures still have dry substrate, and the moist still have damp substrate, but not everyone has a bit more humidity in the air..

But I figured the pictures might be an interesting update for people who are wanting to learn more. I know there are probably several threads of abscesses and the like, but I thought a random lump with no external injury, on the top side of the abdomen...that was a bit strange for me.
 

treeweta

Arachnobaron
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betuana.

what type of movement does the spider make?

I have a goliath adult female (shes described in another thread) who moves very shakily on her own and more of a 'scramble' on the substrate when i gently prod her, she lies with her legs almost in a death curl then she will walk around again, i expect to lose this spider (still young, 4 years) i have no idea whats wrong with her, but the way your looks reminds me of my own.

the goliath doesnt seem to have 'dyskinetic syndrome' its not that fast and skitterish movement.

EDIT, ah, i just saw the lump update, probably not similar to what my goliath has then.

I did have a spiderling pink foot goliath years ago who moulted and had a huge 'hernia' at the front of her abdomen, as she fed it actually split open! it scabbed over and with subsequent moults it repaired leaving just a tuft of odd looking hair.
 

Neophyte

Arachnobaron
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A lump appearing near or after the death of the spider could be a pretty good indication of a parasite. Once the spider is dead it will go search for a new 'home'.

I don't know where youre keeping it, but keep it far away from any of your other inverts :(
 

jbm150

Arachnoprince
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I was thinking the same thing. This lump could be a developing larvae of some sort. If you still have the spider and you aren't too squeamish, you might see if something does emerge or cut it open to find out what the lump is. It might be nothing but a hernia but it might be more. At least its more info for you and all of us to keep in mind with our own Ts
 

jbm150

Arachnoprince
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Betuana,

Did you ever figure out what it was in your obt's abdomen?
 

m3z

Arachnosquire
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dude that sucks that happened man. i think that i am loosing my a versicolor looks the same way - the lumps :(
 
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