Pretty sure my vegans is dead.

[Evil Seedlet]

I have a 1/4" B vagans I've had for exactly a week. I checked on it this morning around 11 AM and it was acting kind of weird, sort of sitting in one place on it's stomach and twitching. It had gotten pretty dark so I was kind of hoping it was molting, but I couldn't stick around to watch. I got home tonight at 10 and checked on it again, it was all curled up and not moving at all. There was no molt in his vial and he looked just like he did before, he was still on his stomach.

I have a trace of hope and am going to keep him around for another day or so, but I'm 99.99% sure it's dead.

It was a freebie, but I still feel pretty crappy. Not really sure what else I could have done, maybe he was too cold.. our apartment runs around 70 degrees F. There was usually a few drops of humidity in his vial and he ate a few days ago. He has always been the most active of my 3 T's.. usually moved around at least a little every time I checked on him. *sigh* :8o:8o


..yeah, just realized I misspelled it in the title, sorry.

 

[Scoolman]

Put it in an ICU for the rest of the night. A small container with air holes and a wet paper towel in the bottom. Put it on top of the refrigerator for warmth.
70F should be fine for a T. It may have become dehydrated.

 

[cacoseraph]

not really much you can do with such a little spider

i wouldn't really bother with an icu for something that tiny

70*F is not too cold, i've kept that species at 50 before

 

[Evil Seedlet]

I sort of agree with you cacoseraph but I put him in one anyway just in case, I already feel like total garbage over it, maybe at least trying will make me feel a little better about it.

 

[Scoolman]

not really much you can do with such a little spider

i wouldn't really bother with an icu for something that tiny

70*F is not too cold, i've kept that species at 50 before

All a matter of perspective I guess. I would make the effort no matter what the size.

 

[cacoseraph]

er, you misunderstand. i see no advantage to putting it in an icu. what are you going to do, put a 1/16" wide water cup in there? no, you are going to move it around to put it in a container with moist paper towels? ok... just add a drop of water to its existing vial and you are there already. going to use the papertowels to spot leaks? well... good luck finding and fixing a leak on a true 1/4" DLS spider

no possible advantage to moving it, but certainly possible disadvantages


thus, i don't bother with icus with something that small

 

[Evil Seedlet]

I put some drops of water in his vial this morning when I saw he was being weird, his substrate was pretty moist even when I got home. Blah.

 

[Evil Seedlet]

>___< Yeah he's dead, thanks anyway guys.

 

[Mister Internet]

Sorry man, this is actually the reason I rarely recommend slings to all but experienced keepers. Beginners really should keep several larger spiders first... slings aren't necessarily "delicate", but they are definitely march to the beat of their own drum. You can do everything perfectly and 5 out of 7 can still die for no reason. In the wild, their survival rate is probably quite low, but just because we're taking care of them doesn't mean it will be 100%...

I suspect far more people lose slings than they will admit publicly... they think it makes them a "bad keeper". Not at all... it just makes you discouraged if you're too new to the hobby or too emotionally invested in your bugs.

Slings will die, that's just the way of things... try moving up a couple of sizes for awhile until you feel better about it, then try again! I've had very good luck with G. pulchra and C. cyanopubescens as slings, maybe give those a try?

 

[Xian]

sorry man, this is actually the reason i rarely recommend slings to all but experienced keepers. Beginners really should keep several larger spiders first... Slings aren't necessarily "delicate", but they are definitely march to the beat of their own drum. You can do everything perfectly and 5 out of 7 can still die for no reason. In the wild, their survival rate is probably quite low, but just because we're taking care of them doesn't mean it will be 100%...

I suspect far more people lose slings than they will admit publicly... They think it makes them a "bad keeper". Not at all... It just makes you discouraged if you're too new to the hobby or too emotionally invested in your bugs.

Slings will die, that's just the way of things... Try moving up a couple of sizes for awhile until you feel better about it, then try again! I've had very good luck with g. Pulchra and c. Cyanopubescens as slings, maybe give those a try?

+ 1

 

[barabootom]

I sort of agree with you cacoseraph but I put him in one anyway just in case, I already feel like total garbage over it, maybe at least trying will make me feel a little better about it.

Don't beat up on yourself. I've kept lots of slings and sometimes they die for no apparent reason. Mr. Internet said it well.

 

[Evil Seedlet]

I have two other slings, though both of them are a bit bigger. 1/2 inch and a 2 inch

I kind of figured about the slings being sort of fussy, but it *is* a bit discouraging. He was really cute and vagans are so pretty when they grow up, I was really looking forward to it.

I have heard mixed opinions on beginners getting slings, some people say as you do and other say it's a great experience for a beginner to raise a baby. I did a lot of reading and it didn't look impossible to raise slings so I went for it. But it makes sense that a lot of the little ones don't make it for unknown reasons.

XD I'm kind of afraid of C. cyaneopubescens at this point, I think I'd like to wait a while before taking one of those on. But I'd LOVE a G. pulchra, if I could find/afford one, heh.

 

[Evil Seedlet]

Don't beat up on yourself. I've kept lots of slings and sometimes they die for no apparent reason. Mr. Internet said it well.

thanks, that is a bit comforting, knowing maybe I didn't just mess it up and kill it. It seemed to be doing really well before yesterday :/ I wonder why that happens.

 

[forrestpengra]

1/4" can be hard at the best of times. I lost a 1/4" C. elegans, that I got as 1/8" for no apparent reason. Don't think about it too much... Just get another and try again.

I think often by seperating out slings early we allow the weak to survive that often should not have made it in the first place. It really just delays the inevitable.

 

[Evil Seedlet]

I think often by seperating out slings early we allow the weak to survive that often should not have made it in the first place. It really just delays the inevitable.

That kind of makes sense, maybe not all of them were even meant to survive.

Guess I'll have to save up and go for something a little bigger. Maybe I can do another art trade Crix are cheap.. T's are not. At least with shipping >_<

 

[mhill]

Sorry man, this is actually the reason I rarely recommend slings to all but experienced keepers. Beginners really should keep several larger spiders first... slings aren't necessarily "delicate", but they are definitely march to the beat of their own drum. You can do everything perfectly and 5 out of 7 can still die for no reason. In the wild, their survival rate is probably quite low, but just because we're taking care of them doesn't mean it will be 100%...

I suspect far more people lose slings than they will admit publicly... they think it makes them a "bad keeper". Not at all... it just makes you discouraged if you're too new to the hobby or too emotionally invested in your bugs.

Slings will die, that's just the way of things... try moving up a couple of sizes for awhile until you feel better about it, then try again! I've had very good luck with G. pulchra and C. cyanopubescens as slings, maybe give those a try?

Agreed...I try to stay away from slings that small and I have been raising T's for a minimum of 10 years now. I have not lost a large amount of them, but enough to realise that I dont care for the UAD (up and die) syndrome. I try to stick to buying nothing less than 3/4-1" now...maybe the occasional 1/2" now and then.
Its discouraging to lose slings, especially when its apparently for no reason...just dont give up and think your a bad keeper...if your in the hobby long enough its going to happen, no matter what your experience level is.