Omothymus troubles...

Venom1080

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Found my 3" O sp hatihati death curled by its dish a hour or so ago, I've been ignoring the dry water dish for a few days now thinking the humid cage and feedings would be more than enough. Well, I was dangerously wrong on that count.. probably would have lost her by tomorrow morning. :banghead: she's still not out of the woods yet either..
Guess this can serve as a reminder to the humidity needs of this genus to others.. any help or advice would be appreciated...
She can walk well enough, but looked dead close up. Pics included.. IMG_20170503_151842153.jpg
Before incident.. IMG_20170608_184507339.jpg
Current set up. If no improvement by tomorrow, will set up ICU.
 

Grimmdreadly

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Found my 3" O sp hatihati death curled by its dish a hour or so ago, I've been ignoring the dry water dish for a few days now thinking the humid cage and feedings would be more than enough. Well, I was dangerously wrong on that count.. probably would have lost her by tomorrow morning. :banghead: she's still not out of the woods yet either..
Guess this can serve as a reminder to the humidity needs of this genus to others.. any help or advice would be appreciated...
She can walk well enough, but looked dead close up. Pics included.. View attachment 242748
Before incident.. View attachment 242749
Current set up. If no improvement by tomorrow, will set up ICU.
The non poecilotheria Asian species are the fastest to dehydrate in my experience. I have to stay up on my Cyriopagopus and once I break in to Lampropelma/Omylthymus I know I'll have to triple up my efforts. Hopefully she makes it
 

CEC

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If a full water bowl was a must, all mine that I raised would be dead a long time ago. My bro has also raised and bred many Asian arboreal species without the use of waterbowls. Honestly, I believe the cause was another factor... That enclosure looks too wet, if that's the way you were keeping it? That maybe your problem, or maybe not, can't tell the amount of ventilation from the pic. If the pic is misleading, I'd chalk it up as bad luck... Anywho, good luck with her recovery.

PS. I always advise against an ICU, I find them to be pointless or actually worse than not doing anything at all. ICU won't help but rather kill them faster if too stuffy of an enclosure was the problem. If dehydration is the problem, set her mouth in a big bowl of water, only thing you can do.
Just my 2¢.
 
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Venom1080

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If a full water bowl was a must, all mine that I raised would be dead a long time ago. My bro has also raised and bred many Asian arboreal species without the use of waterbowls. Honestly, I believe the cause was another factor... That enclosure looks too wet, if that's the way you were keeping it? That maybe your problem, or maybe not, can't tell the amount of ventilation from the pic. If the pic is misleading, I'd chalk it up as bad luck... Anywho, good luck with her recovery.

PS. I always advise against an ICU, I find them to be pointless or actually worse than doing anything at all. ICU won't help but rather kill them faster if too stuffy of an enclosure was the problem. If dehydration is the problem, set her mouth in a big bowl of water, only thing you can do.
Just my 2¢.
Cage was a bit drier, I wet it down a fair bit after finding her. Vent is fairly high. Almost what I would do for an Avic. I probably overreacted, just one of my favorites and I'd be pretty frustrated if it passed. Thanks for the help, these guys make Avics seem easy.

@Grimmdreadly I believe moisture levels should be about the same for all three of those genera.
 

Grimmdreadly

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Cage was a bit drier, I wet it down a fair bit after finding her. Vent is fairly high. Almost what I would do for an Avic. I probably overreacted, just one of my favorites and I'd be pretty frustrated if it passed. Thanks for the help, these guys make Avics seem easy.

@Grimmdreadly I believe moisture levels should be about the same for all three of those genera.
It should be. I live in a dry apartment though, so I have my work cut out for me
 

grayzone

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I dont use waterdishes for any of my ts, and i dont give them wet sub either. Never lost a single one.

I may mist once or twice every a couple weeks, or dump a bit of water in any given corner, but thats about it.
I pretty much only keep OW arboreals too btw
 

Venom1080

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I dont use waterdishes for any of my ts, and i dont give them wet sub either. Never lost a single one.

I may mist once or twice every a couple weeks, or dump a bit of water in any given corner, but thats about it.
I pretty much only keep OW arboreals too btw
That sounds pretty poor for some species. I'm sure it's possible, just seems lazy and uncaring. I'd like to see you raise Lampropelma slings or Theraphosa.
 

Grimmdreadly

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I dont use waterdishes for any of my ts, and i dont give them wet sub either. Never lost a single one.

I may mist once or twice every a couple weeks, or dump a bit of water in any given corner, but thats about it.
I pretty much only keep OW arboreals too btw
Most old world arboreals drink from mist in the wild anyway. So not having a dish wouldn't hurt too much
 

grayzone

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That sounds pretty poor for some species. I'm sure it's possible, just seems lazy and uncaring. I'd like to see you raise Lampropelma slings or Theraphosa.
Ive had plenty lampropelma over the years.
I have 5 of various size to adulthood right now. Zero deaths ever. Ill do what keeps working
 

Venom1080

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Ive had plenty lampropelma over the years.
I have 5 of various size to adulthood right now. Zero deaths ever. Ill do what keeps working
Whatever works. ;)
Do you use bone dry substrate? Or do you keep it slightly moist? By wet sub, did you mean my subs too wet?
 

Nightstalker47

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It looks too moist in there, good ventilation is more important than ambient humidity. It gets very humid during the summer here in MTL, I keep most of my Asian arboreals a lot dryer, although they do have a water dish available at all times. Stuffy cages are their kryptonite, you could keep it quite moist but in that case you need to add more ventilation holes.

What makes you so certain it was dehydrated? Can you share a better picture of your setup? My pair of hati hati are thriving and I don't keep them that moist, they're also slings so I think you may be overestimating their moisture requirements.

I wouldn't go the ICU route as @CEC pointed out it would likely do more harm then good, I would increase ventilation and let it dry out a bit. If you really think it's dehydrated try to coax it towards it's water dish, if it drinks you were probably right.
 

Venom1080

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It looks too moist in there, good ventilation is more important than ambient humidity. It gets very humid during the summer here in MTL, I keep most of my Asian arboreals a lot dryer, although they do have a water dish available at all times. Stuffy cages are their kryptonite, you could keep it quite moist but in that case you need to add more ventilation holes.

What makes you so certain it was dehydrated? Can you share a better picture of your setup? My pair of hati hati are thriving and I don't keep them that moist, they're also slings so I think you may be overestimating their moisture requirements.

I wouldn't go the ICU route as @CEC pointed out it would likely do more harm then good, I would increase ventilation and let it dry out a bit. If you really think it's dehydrated try to coax it towards it's water dish, if it drinks you were probably right.
I'll be cleaning out and resetting it's cage tonight. Should work out fine. Thanks for the response, always good to learn new things.
 

Venom1080

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1497036540895-2092202810.jpg Cage 1497036305642-1484968506.jpg
Internet wasn't really working last night. There was a couple of uneaten dead mealworms and a ton of mold. Shes very sluggish like she's in premolt, but she's not due for one. Not at all dehydrated either, nice and fat. I believe the mold infestation was the culprit here.
 

CEC

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View attachment 242820 Cage View attachment 242819
Internet wasn't really working last night. There was a couple of uneaten dead mealworms and a ton of mold. Shes very sluggish like she's in premolt, but she's not due for one. Not at all dehydrated either, nice and fat. I believe the mold infestation was the culprit here.
That's possible because no one TMK has scientifically researched the effects of certian types of mold on tarantulas, although, I highly doubt mold was the culprit, especially when it isn't abundant (like every inch of the substrate is covered in mold). The problem with that statement is people might believe that any mold is the death of tarantula, which is not true. IME the common molds found in enclosures are no more than a nuisance. I do my best to not let it get outta hand but I have had it happen a few times before because it can quickly develop. None of those cases ever resulted in a dead tarantula.

You will pull your hair out trying to blame yourself for what you may have done wrong. Don't forget that even the best known care can still result in a death.
It's far easier to figure out if you did something wrong when you have multiple of the same species dying under the same care. When you have multiple that are fine under the same conditions and one croaks, it's usually that individual specimen's problem, not the keepers doing.

Everyones specimens, enclosures, container humidity, room humidity, temperatures, feeders and water etc. is different, therefore only general guidelines can be given. So In reality everyone goes through a trial and error period with new species until you figure out what works best for you. You'll figure it out if you stick with it. Never feel bad if you did all you could to make it thrive because honestly, that's all that matters.
 

Venom1080

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That's possible because no one TMK has scientifically researched the effects of certian types of mold on tarantulas, although, I highly doubt mold was the culprit, especially when it isn't abundant (like every inch of the substrate is covered in mold). The problem with that statement is people might believe that any mold is the death of tarantula, which is not true. IME the common molds found in enclosures are no more than a nuisance. I do my best to not let it get outta hand but I have had it happen a few times before because it can quickly develop. None of those cases ever resulted in a dead tarantula.

You will pull your hair out trying to blame yourself for what you may have done wrong. Don't forget that even the best known care can still result in a death.
It's far easier to figure out if you did something wrong when you have multiple of the same species dying under the same care. When you have multiple that are fine under the same conditions and one croaks, it's usually that individual specimen's problem, not the keepers doing.

Everyones specimens, enclosures, container humidity, room humidity, temperatures, feeders and water etc. is different, therefore only general guidelines can be given. So In reality everyone goes through a trial and error period with new species until you figure out what works best for you. You'll figure it out if you stick with it. Never feel bad if you did all you could to make it thrive because honestly, that's all that matters.
True. I've never noticed ill effects from mold with any species. Only other thing I can think of is impaction. Do you know any thing about impaction?

On a side note, she's climbing around in the temporary set up. Still sluggish though. Very able to move however.
 

CEC

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True. I've never noticed ill effects from mold with any species. Only other thing I can think of is impaction. Do you know any thing about impaction?

On a side note, she's climbing around in the temporary set up. Still sluggish though. Very able to move however.
Yes, but only a few cases. All I have witnessed and heard about showed obvious crustiness around the anus and spinnerettes. Though, that's how we knew it's probably what killed them but we still don't know what causes it...

If you don't see that and she seems to be getting better I won't believe that's her problem either.
 

grayzone

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Whatever works. ;)
Do you use bone dry substrate? Or do you keep it slightly moist? By wet sub, did you mean my subs too wet?
nah. I mist the sides of their enclosures fairly heavy maybe omce a week and let the excess roll down.
Maybe near a molt i saturate one corner
 

Venom1080

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Update. No better but slightly worse. No longer moves from her current spot. Still alive however. Did take a prekilled cricket and defecated in her dish. Hopeful for premolt. Def fat enough for it now. Fingers crossed.. IMG_20170614_154658989.jpg
 

mconnachan

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Update. No better but slightly worse. No longer moves from her current spot. Still alive however. Did take a prekilled cricket and defecated in her dish. Hopeful for premolt. Def fat enough for it now. Fingers crossed.
My fingers are crossed as well, this situation is worrying for me too, I have an Omthymus Schioedtei sling, keeping the substrate quite damp, I wet the enclosure once weekly, she's coming on great has molted once in my care, and I'm expecting her to molt soon, am I keeping her the way I should be, BTW she's made burrows as most slings do, taking dubias almost as large as she is(estimated)I haven't seen her since her last moult in the open, fortunately her burrow is on the outside of the enclosure so I can see her moving and taking down prey. Thanks for any feedback.
 
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