OBT loses arm trying to teleport during feeding time

[MrsHaas]

This is bonkers!!

I was feeding my tarantulas, and I went to go and give my OBT some crickets… when I cracked the lid, it dashed off super fast, teleporting down to the bottom where it had its little tunnels in the substrate. And as I lifted the lid more really carefully, I saw an amputated arm stuck to the top by the fingernails, pulled off at the “shoulder” and it was still kicking (pun intended. I pulled it off the top with tongs and it twitched like this for a long time!

Even tho it was an accident, I still feel terrible, but I know it’ll come back after the next molt.

I thought it would be cool to share, as I’ve never seen this ever before.

RIP OBT arm!! The T itself is doing well, tho!

 

[cold blood]

fascinating

 

[bonewax]

How was it stuck to the lid? Was it a mesh screen, or did you close the lid on it?

 

[fcat]

Thanks I hate it

what a catch on film though, I had no idea!!

 

[Wolfram1]

distracting the predator obviously worked

 

[jennywallace]

That's interesting, thanks for sharing.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Wow I’ve never seen that happen before except on a daddy longlegs. Interesting !!

 

[Mustafa67]

This is bonkers!!

I was feeding my tarantulas, and I went to go and give my OBT some crickets… when I cracked the lid, it dashed off super fast, teleporting down to the bottom where it had its little tunnels in the substrate. And as I lifted the lid more really carefully, I saw an amputated arm stuck to the top by the fingernails, pulled off at the “shoulder” and it was still kicking (pun intended. I pulled it off the top with tongs and it twitched like this for a long time!

Even tho it was an accident, I still feel terrible, but I know it’ll come back after the next molt.

I thought it would be cool to share, as I’ve never seen this ever before.

RIP OBT arm!! The T itself is doing well, tho!

Poor T

 

[Glorfindel]

drop an appendage as a decoy and make an escape

 

[Introvertebrate]

drop an appendage as a decoy and make an escape

No. It's not like a lizard tail. That leg must have been caught on something.

 

[MrsHaas]

Poor T

I know I feel sooooo bad!!! But I’m not sure the Ts is really all that bothered. It’s just as feisty As ever.

No. It's not like a lizard tail. That leg must have been caught on something.

It was - it was caught by the toenails on the top of the container… I’ll post a pic of what the top looked like…

How was it stuck to the lid? Was it a mesh screen, or did you close the lid on it?

.

It’s “toenails” were hooked onto the holes previously cut into the the top. I did not make the lid myself, it just came that way. I wouldn’t know how to cut plastic like that even if I had all the tools.

It happened soooo fast (hence the notion that OBTs “teleport”) and I really wish that I had had more time to see exactly what occurred.

from what I could make out:The leg pulled off clean at the “shoulder” as the Ts shot down into its substrate below. And if I had closed the top on it it probably would’ve either lost other legs, suffered damage on its care, or maybe even something worse. It still has all of its other legs, and it uses them all very easily, which makes me think that they were not injured at all.





….but honestly, I really cannot tell anyone what exactly happened. I’ve never seen anything like this and I had to share it.

Thank you to everyone for not ripping me a new one, I was not sure if I wanted to put this on here because I didn’t want people to think I was an awful human being!! I already feel bad enough! My main splice is knowing it will eventually regenerate…

And, FYI, all of that discoloration on the lid in the above pictures is just the humidity created from the water I had just put in.

 

[Introvertebrate]

That's your basic vented insect cup. I don't see anything on there that a claw could get caught in.

 

[MrsHaas]

That's your basic vented insect cup. I don't see anything on there that a claw could get caught in.

I didn’t think it could get its foot caught either…! I don’t have any good excuses. But I guess crazier things have happened… I wish I had more insight and info on this. For now, the T is fine, just missing one leg… and I just have to be more gentle/vigilant in the future.

 

[Wolfram1]

now that you mentioned that its foot got caught it makes sense.
it still dropped it actively/willingly in order to escape.

What i personally struggle with is the question if they can really drop it without getting caught?


Not sure about that one and it worries me that sometimes we assume they can detach a malformed leg but in reality they may not be able to if they can't intentionally "pull it off" so to speak.

I mean i know the autotomy process happens at the attachmentpoint in the prosoma, but i wonder if it needs some kind of neural input/reflex that results from it getting caught on something.

has anyone ever seen autotomy that happens on its own, without a physical component like getting caught or grabbing on to physically pull the leg off?