Please help!

Megan 03

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 2, 2010
Messages
6
I aquired an a. metallica about two weeks ago. I moved her from her deli container (in which s/he had appeared to have been in for a while as it was heavily webbed and there was lots of droppings) in to a 5 gallon aquarium with a high lid with light fixture. Four or five days after I had place her/him in the tank there was some mold developing, so I switched substrate and cleaned every thing. I also drilled holes in the lid for better ventalation. During the time my T was out of the tank she was in a large yogurt container and the container was knocked of the shelf he/r tank was on and she (in the container) fell about four feet. When I put her/him back in the tank s/he seemed fine she scurred out of the container when nudged gentally and has no visible sign of injury. S/he spent the next couple days up in the lid by the light fixture (where s/he had spent the majority of the time since coming home). For the last 36 hours or so she has been on the side of the tank half lying in the substrate.

see here:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=18459

Her/his top side legs still appear to be stuck to the glass.

In your experiance do you think she is about to molt?
Or
Do you think the fall did some internal damage?
Or
Do you think the mold has made her/him sick?

Please help, this is my first T and I am very conserned, I really hope s/he is about to molt and not about to die!
 
Last edited:

DrJ

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 11, 2008
Messages
588
Haha! Wow! When you want something, you don't mess around! Go straight for the good stuff! *amazed*

Okay...you need a screen lid. A light fixture is a no-no. It can easily overheat a T.

For now, just to make sure it's still okay, use a basting brush (to be gentle) to prod her and see if she moves.

You may also want to do some searches for molting threads that will display pics of the process. Just be sure to look at arboreal Ts as the process is different from terrestrial Ts.
 

KevinFrancisco

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 15, 2010
Messages
33
How big is he? I have a G Rosea and she's just 1 1/2inches. There was one time that she escaped her enclosure and ran towards the end of the table. She fell from 2-3feet from the ground. Her abdomen wasn't that big yet so good thing nothing bad happened to her. So in your case, if your T isn't that big yet (talking about the size of the abdomen) I think he'll be just fine. Unless the bark or something inside the enclo fell on him. Maybe he's still in shock or something. Just give him time to recover. This is just my opinion, I might be wrong.

Keep us posted. I hope he/she's okay.
 

NikiP

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 16, 2006
Messages
539
When arboreals get close to molting, they generally do loose the tackyness of their toes & may stay closer to the bottom. When I had my 4" Avic. sp. female, she stayed about 2" above the substrate for three weeks, then built her molting web & molted about a week later.

As long as she isn't leaking anything, I think at this point she's fine from the fall.

If she starts refusing food, I think you can start looking for a molt :) Although they seem to stay in premolt forever, so it may be another month or even two before you see anything.
 

WhiskyTrekker

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 10, 2007
Messages
15
With out a molting web, that looks odd...Can't tell if her feet are on the glass from your pic. A spider that's about to molt generally looks like that and a spiders thats about to die generally will curl up though so I'd imagine it's ok...
 

Megan 03

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 2, 2010
Messages
6
well s/he moved around on her/his own and has layed a slight amount of webbing where s/he was lying.
Sounds like and looks like s/he is in premolt... thanks for the tips and reassurance, I was worried.
 

Megan 03

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 2, 2010
Messages
6
Just a quick update, Twink molted about two weeks ago, she seems to still be in post molt as she wont accept food (the only time i have seen her move fast since the molt is when she ran from the cricket I offered her). Otherwise she is fine, and she looks stunning. I will post pics when I get the time. Thanks for the help and concern.
 
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