pinktoes died; why

mamadori

Arachnosquire
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I have had the strangest thing happen. I gave a pinktoe to a friend of mine for his birthday. About two weeks ago, he frantically called saying it had died. He tok excellent care of it and gave me updates all the time. It was his baby. About a week ago, I was doing my rounds with my t's and found one of my slings (pinktoe) that was so tiny, it looked dead. I set it back and hoped it was actually turned over molting. Then, several days ago, I checked it again, and yes, dead. Not only that; ALL of my pinkies were dead. Even my adult female! I have many many different species of T's in all sizes and nothing else was dead. :?
Now, the water dish I had in the adult's tank is shallow and it kept drying up on me faster than I could keep it full. And she was in the dish with no water and dead. Is this a horrible coinsidence? Or is there something that pink toes need this time of year that the others don't. THis is all very strange.:confused:
 

AlainL

Arachnoprince
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I have had the strangest thing happen. I gave a pinktoe to a friend of mine for his birthday. About two weeks ago, he frantically called saying it had died. He tok excellent care of it and gave me updates all the time. It was his baby. About a week ago, I was doing my rounds with my t's and found one of my slings (pinktoe) that was so tiny, it looked dead. I set it back and hoped it was actually turned over molting. Then, several days ago, I checked it again, and yes, dead. Not only that; ALL of my pinkies were dead. Even my adult female! I have many many different species of T's in all sizes and nothing else was dead. :?
Now, the water dish I had in the adult's tank is shallow and it kept drying up on me faster than I could keep it full. And she was in the dish with no water and dead. Is this a horrible coinsidence? Or is there something that pink toes need this time of year that the others don't. THis is all very strange.:confused:
How was your humidity in there? they need it quit high.
Good ventilation is important for avicularia,I assume it was ok if the water was evaporating that fast.
What substrat do you use?
Does she had a hide?
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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First off I am sorry to hear that, second it could be many things,

are they in direct sunlight?
was there a water dish?
what was the temp of the room?
When was the last time they ate something?
Do you mist?
Are there plenty of ventilation holes?

And this should be pointed out. Avics just die sometimes. I have had a few unexplained deaths over the years, where they were active one day and dead the next so no on can say for sure.
 

P. Novak

ArachnoGod
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I have had the strangest thing happen. I gave a pinktoe to a friend of mine for his birthday. About two weeks ago, he frantically called saying it had died. He tok excellent care of it and gave me updates all the time. It was his baby. About a week ago, I was doing my rounds with my t's and found one of my slings (pinktoe) that was so tiny, it looked dead. I set it back and hoped it was actually turned over molting. Then, several days ago, I checked it again, and yes, dead. Not only that; ALL of my pinkies were dead. Even my adult female! I have many many different species of T's in all sizes and nothing else was dead. :?
Now, the water dish I had in the adult's tank is shallow and it kept drying up on me faster than I could keep it full. And she was in the dish with no water and dead. Is this a horrible coinsidence? Or is there something that pink toes need this time of year that the others don't. THis is all very strange.:confused:

It seems like you had a problem with dehydration. Avicularia spp. need high humidity to thrive and ironically high ventilation. I say ironically because it can be difficult to maintain both at once, but it is possible. About your slings they could have died for the same reason, but then again Avic slings are known to be well one day and drop dead the next. So it really could be a number of things. Sorry about your loss.
 

ShadowBlade

Planeswalker
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It sounds like either too wet, or too dry, or too hot... if that helps.:)

Do you mist, have plenty of holes in the containers, and has it been particularly warm out lately?

-Sean
 

mamadori

Arachnosquire
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THaks everyone. ANd most of all, thanks for understanding, unlike other "normal" (I laugh) people who don't understand my grief. I suspected dehydration of the adult because her butt was deflated looking. I just couldn't believe it could happen so fast without me catching it. Whe WAS fine! I had her in a critter keeper with heavily baked potting soil. THe slings had soil that was damp. I did notice her favorite spot was in her web right at the vents. I never sprayed them because she ran when I did, so I thought they were kind of like Rosies, not liking to be wet.

THe weather here has been aweful here. Even with my air just installed it has still been hot in the pocket pet room where I moved them recently.

THey hasd all pretty much refused food te last week, but that is not out of the ordinary. THe slings were probably about to molt so I knew they might not be hungry. The adult had eaten a dubia roach.

What is the right temp for the pinks? And I was just about to buy a different kind pink toes, are they all the same?

I probably didn't give them enough ventilation as I keep the slings in cups with holes poked in the sides and top, maybe not enough. And the critter keeper the adult was in had vents all the way around but only at the top. oh sigh. Also, the temp in the house has been hot, then rainy and cool and back and forth. I have an air conditioner in the room next to theri room tat blows in with a fan. Sometimes it just can't chug hard enough when it is really hot. But it hasn't been unbearable.

And no, no hides. The adult seemed happy, but I did have one I had not unpacked yet. And I didn't want to lose the slings in hides. I have a bunch of OBT's I gave hides (shells) and I have no idea if they are stil in there, alive, or what. I watch the food closely and remove old but sometimes it burrows and I don't know if anything in that cage is eating. So I didn't give hides to any more slings.
 

P. Novak

ArachnoGod
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THaks everyone. ANd most of all, thanks for understanding, unlike other "normal" (I laugh) people who don't understand my grief. I suspected dehydration of the adult because her butt was deflated looking. I just couldn't believe it could happen so fast without me catching it. Whe WAS fine! I had her in a critter keeper with heavily baked potting soil. THe slings had soil that was damp. I did notice her favorite spot was in her web right at the vents. I never sprayed them because she ran when I did, so I thought they were kind of like Rosies, not liking to be wet.
Just goes to show you how perfect their conditions need to be.:8o

Did you spray it right at her? Ts don't like being directly sprayed; just mist the inside walls and furnishings of the enclosure.
 

mamadori

Arachnosquire
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Yes, I misted HER. Oh boy, that's a hard way to learn.:8o It's not like having dogs and cats. You have to know what to ask to be told. Man, I am so bummed out. But I'm one lesson farther in my endeavors.
 

P. Novak

ArachnoGod
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Yes, I misted HER. Oh boy, that's a hard way to learn.:8o It's not like having dogs and cats. You have to know what to ask to be told. Man, I am so bummed out. But I'm one lesson farther in my endeavors.
I don't think misting her directly could have caused her death, maybe just stressed her out a bit? We ain't living if we ain't learning.
 

mamadori

Arachnosquire
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No it has been a long time since I misted, but I think what killed her was that I stopped, becuase she ran from it. Thanks for the support. Yeah, apparently I am learning quite often. lol
 

Daniel_h

Arachnoknight
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if you say all of them died maybe it could be something wrong with the food they all last ate?
 

P. Novak

ArachnoGod
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if you say all of them died maybe it could be something wrong with the food they all last ate?
I was also thinking that, but then he said that the abdomen of the female kind of deflated which is usually a sign of dehydration.
 

lunixweb

Arachnobaron
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those were really bad news & is sad to hear about that, I think We should get information about how to take care any different specie and not to learn of the mistakes and dead ones.
 

JMoran1097

Arachnoangel
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THaks everyone. ANd most of all, thanks for understanding, unlike other "normal" (I laugh) people who don't understand my grief. I suspected dehydration of the adult because her butt was deflated looking. I just couldn't believe it could happen so fast without me catching it. Whe WAS fine! I had her in a critter keeper with heavily baked potting soil. THe slings had soil that was damp. I did notice her favorite spot was in her web right at the vents. I never sprayed them because she ran when I did, so I thought they were kind of like Rosies, not liking to be wet.
Did you put her in an ICU? that will usually cure an ailing T.
THe weather here has been aweful here. Even with my air just installed it has still been hot in the pocket pet room where I moved them recently.

THey hasd all pretty much refused food te last week, but that is not out of the ordinary. THe slings were probably about to molt so I knew they might not be hungry. The adult had eaten a dubia roach.

What is the right temp for the pinks? And I was just about to buy a different kind pink toes, are they all the same?
generally between 75-85 F although they can live in room temp settings. not all pink toes are the same. there are always different species from within the same genus.
I probably didn't give them enough ventilation as I keep the slings in cups with holes poked in the sides and top, maybe not enough. And the critter keeper the adult was in had vents all the way around but only at the top. oh sigh. Also, the temp in the house has been hot, then rainy and cool and back and forth. I have an air conditioner in the room next to theri room tat blows in with a fan. Sometimes it just can't chug hard enough when it is really hot. But it hasn't been unbearable.
holes in the side and top should be ok. post pics of what the enclosures look like.
And no, no hides. The adult seemed happy, but I did have one I had not unpacked yet. And I didn't want to lose the slings in hides. I have a bunch of OBT's I gave hides (shells) and I have no idea if they are stil in there, alive, or what. I watch the food closely and remove old but sometimes it burrows and I don't know if anything in that cage is eating. So I didn't give hides to any more slings.

pinks normally need something to climb on since they are arboreal. you could have put a small twig or stood a fake leaf up in their small enclosure.

included my responses in the bolded text.
 

kyrga

Arachnobaron
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I have an avic sling right now. She's probably about 1.75". I have her in a deli cup, one of the tall one's that you get soup in from a chinese food place. I have about 75-100 ventilation holes in it. The temp here has been fluctuating significantly, as it often does here in ny. I've had her at temps ranging from 65-85. In the deli cup, I have a small flat piece of wood leaning against the side, she built her web between that and the side of the container. I mist the side she's not on really well about twice a week, sometimes three times, depending on the humidity here. I also try to very lightly mist part of her web, which ever part I can without directly spraying her. I was giving her about one cricket a week, but now she's either pre-molt or post-molt (I'm still not sure!) and hasn't eaten in about 3 weeks, still has a healthy sized abdomen.

She seems to be doing well in these conditions, I haven't had any real problems or concerns, other than when the weather first started to warm up, she got really active for a couple days and paced her container, then finally went back to her web.
 

mamadori

Arachnosquire
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I think We should get information about how to take care any different specie and not to learn of the mistakes and dead ones.
Yes, I do that with each new species, not only for the T's but the different anmimals that com einto my exotic rescue. I am constantly studying and researching. But you have to remember, different people tell you different things. I have a care sheet for a Rose Hair that says to mist them. I have found everywhere else that they do not like it and don't need it. So this was certainly not a matter of roulette.

But you are right, not all T's are the same in fact they all have their own special things about them. People SHOULD do the research.

I have to also add that I also lost a few rats at the same time. Rats are VERY hardy. THinking back, the humidity was what got the rats. I could not have waited one more day for air. I hate relying on other people. The weather was all ****ed up. I had a volunteer open the windows today and I got pretty grouchy with him and told him to just leave things alone and let the environment stay consistant.

I'll try to get some pix of the enclosures if I can.
 
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Becky

Arachnolord
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Sep 17, 2006
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You didn't spray them to keep them humid which is probably why they died. They need high humidity to survive, and a lot of water. I fill my avics water bowl everyday and spray them twice a week and haven't had any problems.

Sorry to hear of your losses... I guess you have to just count it as a learning curve and know for next time :)
 

ctsoth

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I don't think I would be the first person to argue that Avic's don't need the amount of humidity that is widely claimed. Water availibility is key. In fact, I have heard of many cases where the avics have died because because they have been kept too moist.... I keep mine dry with a water dish.

Being that all of your avics died at about the same time, I think that it is likely that they came into contact with somesort of contaminate... It would have to be one hell of a coincidence for them all to bite it at once.
 

monitormonster

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The humidity issue is obviously important for Avics....I, for one, spray all of cages of my Avic spp. each morning before I go to work. Also, if you think you have poked enough holes in their cage, go ahead and poke a lot more anyways.

I dont think it's necessary for them to have hides. I have an A. Avic and 2 Versicolors, and all three of them have little web pockets that they hardly ever come out of. A hide would be a waste of money for mine.....

I am wondering if they somehow accidentally got poisoned....did you have an exterminator come by recently?
 

ctsoth

Arachnosquire
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Unless you soak down the substrate, your misting is only going to temporarily increase humidity levels for a few hours at most given good ventilation. Avics are very sensitive to mold, and humid environments promote mold growth. Many keepers have -only- had success in keeping avics dry. There is also speculation and even some proof that the part of the rain forests that the avics occupy are not actually that humid, being that many species are on the outskirts of the forest.

Moral of the story, I doubt humidity levels were the cause of the deaths you experienced. I would look for another common factor, such as bad water, feed or maybe contaminated substrate. Were farms getting sprayed with pesticides in the area or was anything taking place in your local environment that is out of the ordinary?
 
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