scorpionguy77
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2011
- Messages
- 45
Okay, I am starting to think my female P. imperator giving birth was a terrible thing. As far as the babies are concerned, she gave birth to anywhere from 13-17 (I still haven't gotten a solid count due to them laying on each other and such). Of those 4 have come off the back. One died without any sign of doing pretty much anything. Three others have molted to second instars, one perfectly healthy, one molted fine but hasnt moved out of its spot (though it is alive and moving all appendages) since the molt was complete and the third got completely out except for the tail and has since passed. I was told to expect a high mortality rate, so I am dealing with some losses. Now, the mother is acting very odd. She is eating fine and is not attempting to harm the babies in any way, in fact she runs to protect the molting ones if I go in the tank to water or mist. But her exoskeleton is duller than it has been, which I have heard is a sign of dehydration. She is also doing "pushups" by that I mean she rests against the substrate and stands right back up and repeats, it's like she is very restless. This morning at roughly 5AM/EST I observed her completely straightening out her tail against the substrate and her telson was, for lack of a better word, spasming/jerking. She held the posture for about 1 minute or so and curled her tail back up to normal. Now her telson/anal area looks odd. Not bad or injured, it just looks different than it did recently and her poop is thick, almost with the appearance and consistency of Elmer's glue. This behavior has gone on for about 48 hours. I have had her for about 6 months and to be honest, before this stuff started, I wouldnt be able to tell you where she pooped, let alone what it looked like, but this is very thick and milky. Any ideas? Should I be concerned because losing her would be pretty hard for me, especially since she has a lot of first instar babies and I take incredible care of her and them. Now if it IS a dehydration issue, I don't understand why since she is NEVER without drinking water and I almost always use bottled water to avoid junk in the tap. Any help would be astounding. Thanks in advance.
J
J