Premolt male T not moving

[SunRoseSpider]

Hi, everyone.

My male Nhandu carapoensis built his web mat last week and has since not moved at all and is completely irresponsive. He is not standing/his abdomen lays on the ground. I was worried he may be dehydrated and moistened the soil around him. 90% sure this will be his maturing molt. Is it normal for him to be completely immobile and irresponsive right now? His last molt happened pretty quickly after he built the web mat, and he wasn't immobile. I am worried he is not okay.

Here are some pictures. He just seems so lifeless.

 

[darkness975]

Hi, everyone.

My male Nhandu carapoensis built his web mat last week and has since not moved at all and is completely irresponsive. He is not standing/his abdomen lays on the ground. I was worried he may be dehydrated and moistened the soil around him. 90% sure this will be his maturing molt. Is it normal for him to be completely immobile and irresponsive right now? His last molt happened pretty quickly after he built the web mat, and he wasn't immobile. I am worried he is not okay.

Here are some pictures. He just seems so lifeless.

View attachment 437152 View attachment 437153 View attachment 437154

What happens if you touch him with a straw or other soft item?

 

[SunRoseSpider]

What happens if you touch him with a straw or other soft item?

Nothing, like I said he is irresponsive

 

[Wolfram1]

Well, it is someting i have not encountered before so i can't give you any advice based on personal experience.

Ether way you are going to find out pretty soon wheter it is dead or alive.

Fingers crossed it is nothing serious, but i have come to trust my gut over the years so whatever you think might be going on may well be the case.

 

[DonLouchese]

Hello there,

From the pictures presented I don't think there is anything wrong with it , healthy size aswell on the abdomen etc.

I've had tarantulas that made the mat long before they molted so that isn't something unusual.

If he were to die he would probably start showing signs of a death curl , even doe I've heard of cases where tarantula died without showing a "death curl" stance.

I'm pretty sure if you sprinkle some water he will move tho , but I'd advise against it since he will probably molt in the following days and that would be just another stress for him .

Best regards,

Don

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Dead T's smell reallllly bad. If he doesn't smell rancid, I'd leave him be.

 

[SunRoseSpider]

Dead T's smell reallllly bad. If he doesn't smell rancid, I'd leave him be.

Yeah, there is no smell currently nor any signs of a death curl so just a matter of leaving him and waiting I guess

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Patience is a virtue taught by Ts.

 

[joossa]

Please update us as things develop!

 

[SunRoseSpider]

Please update us as things develop!

Will do! No changes today but will post when there is one

 

[Pyrelitha]

Hes pretty! I mean overall theres nothing you can do even if something was wrong from what I understand... molting processes are all on the T. But honestly he looks fine

 

[joossa]

No updates, OP?

 

[TarantulaMan138]

Hi, everyone.

My male Nhandu carapoensis built his web mat last week and has since not moved at all and is completely irresponsive. He is not standing/his abdomen lays on the ground. I was worried he may be dehydrated and moistened the soil around him. 90% sure this will be his maturing molt. Is it normal for him to be completely immobile and irresponsive right now? His last molt happened pretty quickly after he built the web mat, and he wasn't immobile. I am worried he is not okay.

Here are some pictures. He just seems so lifeless.

View attachment 437152 View attachment 437153 View attachment 437154

As long as its legs all ate by the way are not curled completely Underneath Him he should be just fine not moving at all is pretty common for tarantulas in premolt so again as long as all eight legs are not curled underneath him he is definitely still alive and if you think he's dehydrated maybe put a bottle cap next to him filled with water and see if he will drink I would give him a few days before you get worried about anything but it seems pretty normal. Hope this helps.

 

[Jocelynn44]

does this apply to smaller T’s too? I have an Sp6 and even though he’s a year old, he’d only be about an inch big. They are famously slow growers lol. Haven’t seen him for about a month and a half (which in tarantula time is about two minutes) but his burrow is open and he’s always closed it when molting.

 

[Jocelynn44]

Dead T's smell reallllly bad. If he doesn't smell rancid, I'd leave him be.

does this apply to smaller T’s too? I have an Sp6 and even though he’s a year old, he’d only be about an inch big. They are famously slow growers lol. Haven’t seen him for about a month and a half (which in tarantula time is about two minutes) but his burrow is open and he’s always closed it when molting.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

I (thankfully) haven't lost a sling (knocking on wood), so I can't speak from experience on that one, but have lost an adult. I would guess, and it is that, that it would still smell, just maybe not as strong. I'm not familiar with Australian spiders, but is this the one you are referring to? Selenotypus sp6 wallace Was his abdomen plump when you last saw him? He may just not be hungry. Does his water dish show signs of him having come out to drink while you were asleep (like dirt in what was a clean water dish)? If you post a question with the full species name and a picture of your enclosure, I believe there are others here that could provide more species specific info from their experience. All the best!

 

[Smotzer]

So did the Nhandu end up molting? Sometimes tarantulas sit quite still but I would still expect it to react even slightly to touch or air movement across its setae.

 

[SunRoseSpider]

Update: he has died

Woke up to find him smelling putrid this morning and I flipped him over noticing his abdomen had shrivelled too. He had springtails/mites/tiny white bugs idk which, crawling over him. There was no curl or anything, he literally just died in the same position as the photos so not sure what happened?

Honestly gutted, my first ever T!

 

[klawfran3]

Honestly the only thing I can think of is that he might not have popped his carapace to molt and got stuck inside it. Like, he formed a second exoskeleton inside the old, made a molt mat, and then just didn't actually do the process of a molt, eventually dying inside it's old skin because the new one sclerotized inside. I've personally never heard of anything like it but I guess it could happen if there's a weird hormonal issue that doesn't trigger the actual ecdysis portion of the molt cycle.

Sounds like a nightmare of a way to go too... Sheesh. Makes me think of the book "Johnny got his gun"

It doesn't sound like you did anything wrong, I wouldn't let this discourage you from getting another. Sometimes weird things like this just happen.

 

[Wolfram1]

Totally understandable, my guess is your first gutfeeling was right and it was already dead when you made your post.

Still you did the right thing and kept up the hope, especially since he was close to your heart and i can still remember your posts about him when you joined up.

I haven't lost my firts one, but i usually keep more than one of a species or genus and have experienced a few unexpected and unexplained deaths, enought to tell when something isn't right with a particular spider and it allows me to be more proactive in these cases when there may still be a possibility to save them. Putting an animal into a smaller, simpler enclosure, that usually wouldn't be ideal, can sometimes save them, if they are already struggling from an exausting molt that left them thirsty and weak and they fail to reach the water dish or are too weak or timid to hunt. It just happens, sometimes.

Anyway to me a minute disturbance of a spider is preferable to possibly missing the chance to safe them, but if i thought it was dead i would certainly wait it out, as u did, just in case. So don't beat yourself up, live and learn.