Please Help - Does anyone know why my Amblypygi is on the floor of the enclosure, upside down?

kryswolf

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 5, 2016
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I am fairly new to keeping arachnids, I only have one tarantula and my Amblypygi. I am not familiar with how Amblypygi appear when they are dehydrated, sick, dead etc. My Amblypygi is on the ground of the enclosure upside down. Does anybody have any info that could help? Thanks
 

BobBarley

Arachnoprince
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Sep 16, 2015
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1,486
It doesn't look too good. Try to flip it back over, but I fear that it's time is almost up. :(
 

kryswolf

Arachnopeon
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Jan 5, 2016
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It doesn't look too good. Try to flip it back over, but I fear that it's time is almost up. :(
Thanks for the reply - do you know if amblypigis curl their legs under themselves during death like tarantulas or if their death looks the way mine does in the picture?
 

sdsnybny

Arachnogeek
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Apr 29, 2015
Messages
1,330
It doesn't look like there is ant substrate in that enclosure, if so how can you keep up the humidity? Misting even daily would not do it especially in winter when heaters run more often drying out the air very quickly.
 

schmiggle

Arachnoking
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Nov 3, 2013
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2,220
I have seen one person who's D. diadema molted on the substrate, I think. Is yours responsive?

Hope this is resolved and yours ends up healthy.
 

kryswolf

Arachnopeon
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Jan 5, 2016
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It doesn't look like there is ant substrate in that enclosure, if so how can you keep up the humidity? Misting even daily would not do it especially in winter when heaters run more often drying out the air very quickly.
Thanks for the help :)
 

kryswolf

Arachnopeon
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Jan 5, 2016
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15
I have seen one person who's D. diadema molted on the substrate, I think. Is yours responsive?

Hope this is resolved and yours ends up healthy.
Thanks for the help :) Hopefully that's the case here too
 

chanda

Arachnoking
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Jun 27, 2010
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I'm so sorry. I hope it turned out ok, but it doesn't look good. I've only ever found one of mine upside down on the substrate like that, and that was immediately post-molt. As far as I can tell, it fell after molting because I had the wrong kind of wood for it to cling to while molting. (I used a chunk of palm frond which was apparently too slick for it to get an adequate foothold.) It was still alive when I found it but died shortly after.
 

wizentrop

to the rescue!
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Sorry to join the conversation late, I only saw this now. This looks to me like the result of poisoning. When exposed to harmful chemicals, Amblypygi flip themselves upside down and lay motionless, and eventually give in. The questions that should be asked here are:
How long have you had it for?
While in your possession, did it feed without problems? What did you feed it with?
Did you change anything in the enclosure recently? Substrate, cork board etc'
Are there any space heaters operating in the room or in a nearby room?
Were there any chemicals being used somewhere nearby? Such as pesticides, oil etc'
Lastly, do you regularly handle your whip spider? Was it by any chance dropped on the floor or did it jump off your hand to a nearby surface?

Another option is desiccation, however I'd like to believe you keep your enclosure humid enough, and in any case Damon diadema are not so sensitive to dry conditions. In addition, dried out Amblypygi are not necessarily flipped upside down.
 

kryswolf

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 5, 2016
Messages
15
Sorry to join the conversation late, I only saw this now. This looks to me like the result of poisoning. When exposed to harmful chemicals, Amblypygi flip themselves upside down and lay motionless, and eventually give in. The questions that should be asked here are:
How long have you had it for?
While in your possession, did it feed without problems? What did you feed it with?
Did you change anything in the enclosure recently? Substrate, cork board etc'
Are there any space heaters operating in the room or in a nearby room?
Were there any chemicals being used somewhere nearby? Such as pesticides, oil etc'
Lastly, do you regularly handle your whip spider? Was it by any chance dropped on the floor or did it jump off your hand to a nearby surface?

Another option is desiccation, however I'd like to believe you keep your enclosure humid enough, and in any case Damon diadema are not so sensitive to dry conditions. In addition, dried out Amblypygi are not necessarily flipped upside down.
Thank you for the reply and info! I had him/her (<-- not sure but I'll just go with 'him' for now) for a year from an expo. I've tried been feeding him small crickets and Im not sure if the crickets are being eaten or hiding inside the cork bark and dying, but about a month ago I cleaned his tank and didnt find anything in the bark.
The only time I did find cricket remains was recently - and that was about a week and a few days before this happened. I bought crickets from petsmart and also fed one from the same batch to my tarantula (chilean rose mature female) and she seems fine. The only thing I can think of is that I didn't remove the cricket remains that he didn't eat a week ago (seemed to eat some of it). Is that something that could cause an issue in a week? It doesnt look mouldy, just dry but could there be something contagious such as a type of mould that did it? It is not very humid in that room but I tried to mist it with warm water once a week at least. I feel really bad if my neglect caused this, and I am very sad.
Also I've been out of town the past few days so these photos were emailed (2 days ago) to me and I just got back today - he is still in this position - I haven't opened the container yet and I'm nervous to or maybe just sad and don't know what to do if he isn't dead.
I want to open the container but I don't know what to do after that.
 

kryswolf

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 5, 2016
Messages
15
UPDATE : Sorry I'm not the quickest at responding, and not sure if theres a better way to update this post other than this reply - I am very sad to say that my amblypygi didn't make it. I hope some information in this thread helps out some other inexperienced people in the future and at least I learned a few things about caring for them the vender I bought her from didnt tell me, or I found out too late :(
Thanks for all the info shared :)
 
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