Onyx goes to meet the big spider as I write

[Gail]

Well, when I checked her a few minutes ago to change her ICU she was worse. Could barely move, fluid leaking from booklungs, and a new development - encrustation of her anal area with white stuff.
The ATS medical manual states "A white, hardened crusty substance covers the anus and surrounding areas of affected individuals. It appears to plug-up the tarantula, preventing normal excretion of wastes. Although the excrement of tarantulas is most often white, the solidified patch doesn't appear to be simply dried excrement. The only treatment known is dabbing the area with glycerin or some ofther softening agent using a cotton swab. Reguardless of treatment, tarantulas afflicted with the condition die within a few months after it is first noticed."
I didn't want her to have a lingering death, and she really was so much worse, I felt the best thing for her and for the rest of the collection was to put her in the freezer. I will clean the entire room with mild bleach and just hope this disease doesn't affect anyone else. I am truly depressed now - she was my favorite. This just sucks.

Gail

 

[Joy]

So sorry, Gail. My deepest condolences.

Joy

 

[King_Looey]

My condolences also, its also hard to lose a close pet.

 

[looseyfur]

damn

I thought you were on the right path to saving her, I am sure in some way you eased her pain and freezering her was a good choice. A clean up is in order as is with most any transmittable infection. I wish you and your present sling and T's nothing short of the best- your efforts to help and save your pet may help others help or deal with a loss so.... thank you

Ed.

 

[Code Monkey]

That "anal plug" is such a bad sign. My emilia had that for about a week before she died. My condolences at the loss of a pet that you clearly went to the extremes to save.

The buttplug of doom seems to be the leading cause of non-accidental, non-age related deaths for these guys. Here's to hoping we'll figure out a way to beat these sort of infections one of these days. Dammit, Gail, you were supposed to win one for the hobby

 

[belewfripp]

That stinks. I had a mature female rosea pass away a week or two ago, one of the first Ts I bought. I think it was odl age though, so it was easier to deal with. It is always sad when one dies disease or illness.

Adrian

 

[belewfripp]

I heard from Mike "troll" once awhile ago that Kelly Swift has saved Ts in that condition before (anal encrustation) but I never verified it or checked it out.

Adrian

 

[TigerWoman]

Sorry to hear about your loss... That just sucks... Hope the rest of your T`s dont get the same thing!

 

[Alonso99]

My condolences, Proper cleaning will prevent any propagation.

 

[Henry Kane]

Poor T.
Sorry Gail. You did your best for her.

Atrax

 

[chid]

So sorry to hear your bad news.

 

[Gail]

Originally posted by Code Monkey
My emilia had that for about a week before she died.

OK, Code, reassure me one more time... you had T's die of the evil buttplug and it didn't spread to your whole collection and you didn't do anything more than clean and disinfect your tools and cages they were in, right? Oh, and how big was that emilia?

Dammit, Gail, you were supposed to win one for the hobby

I tried

Thanks for the kind words everyone - it's nice to have people who understand that it wasn't just another "stupid spider".

Gail

 

[Code Monkey]

Originally posted by Gail
OK, Code, reassure me one more time... you had T's die of the evil buttplug and it didn't spread to your whole collection and you didn't do anything more than clean and disinfect your tools and cages they were in, right? Oh, and how big was that emilia?

She was about 1.25" and died after about a week in the ICU, no one else became ill and I didn't even sterilise anything, just washed it off.

 

[Gail]

Thank you Code

Gail

 

[conipto]

Originally posted by Gail
Well, when I checked her a few minutes ago to change her ICU she was worse. Could barely move, fluid leaking from booklungs, and a new development - encrustation of her anal area with white stuff.

Hey Gail,

Sorry to hear about your loss, I was hoping she'd pull through and we could document a rare success story. Any idea what causes this type of infection?

Bill

 

[Exodus]

Hey,Sorry to hear about Onyx.I can't imagine my T's dieing....:8o

 

[Code Monkey]

Re: Re: Onyx goes to meet the big spider as I write

Originally posted by conipto
Hey Gail,

Sorry to hear about your loss, I was hoping she'd pull through and we could document a rare success story. Any idea what causes this type of infection?

Bill

Bill, there has been a lot of traffic about this on the ATS list in the past few months. There are two working interrelated theories. Often the butt plug goes hand in hand with similar crud at the mouth if the infection goes on long enough. Microscopic examination of the crud usually reveals nematodes.

Enter the chicken and egg hypotheses. In theory, nematodes should not be able to enter a tarantula except possibly via a wound or the book lungs because even eggs should be filtered by their mouth parts (another potential route of entry is the anus itself, though). Someone was doing autopsies and cultures of internal goo to see if the nematodes were actually infecting the Ts but I'm a bit behind on reading all my mailing lists so I haven't seen if the results were ever released.
The second theory is that the infections are bacterial and the nematodes are opportunistically breeding out of control at the slimier orifices of the T but not necessarily making their way inside.

A third theory combines the two and suggests that the actual infection might be bacterial but that its being carried by externally parasitic nematodes which are infecting scuttle flies (which would provide a vector for transmission. This theory is interesting, but there are always bacteria and nematodes present, so unless culturing reveals specific and unusaul types associated with the infections, we're still back at an opportunistic infection for the explanation.
Somewhere between the all the ideas is the cause. If nothing else, it's another good reason why you shouldn't keep Ts too moist as that just promotes nematode and bacterial growth.

 

[Lost_Tarantula]

I really am sorry for your loss. You did what you could...sometimes things just don't work out. I wish you the best of luck with your other tarantulas, and I hope you never have to put up with this kind of thing again. You did a brave thing in the interest of your tarantula; I doubt I could put mine in the freezer. You really are taking this well. I would have broken several things by now. Someone's bones, included.




-LT

 

[Gillian]

I'm sorry

Gail,
I'm so sorry you lost one of your babies. No, she isn't "just another stupid spider". These precious little beauties we invite into our lives are anything but stupid.

Peace,
Gillian

 

[Immortal_sin]

Gail
so sorry to hear about that
In the interest of science, are you going to send her off for autopsy?
I know there are people on the ATS list working on this, like C_M said, and it would be interesting to find out if this is related