Pulchripes in peril

ao4649

Arachnopeon
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Apr 17, 2016
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So my g. pulchripes sling is in a bad way-- I fed her last night (beheaded mealworm, as per usual. It's her first meal since her last molt a week and a half ago and she did, in fact, eat it), went to bed. I woke up to find her at the enterence of her burrow, in a death curl, but not dead yet. She's very lethargic, barely moved (uncurled when i picked her up, but otherwise didn't respond to being picked up at all-- a big red flag, she normally doesn't tolerate being handled). Her abdomen isn't shriveled (but I mean, she did just eat) but I applied some water to her fangs just in case.

I have an ICU ready, but I'm wondering if anyone has any idea what might have caused it? This is really out of the blue-- the only husbandry changes recently have been the room I keep my t's in getting a bit warmer (in the 70's as opposed to the 60's they were previously in; my house's air conditioning system is messed up), but I doubt that would cause something like this. She has no visible injuries and her enclosure is free of mites or mold.
 

Trenor

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Jan 28, 2016
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How long have you had it? Has anything changed recently (you moved the enclosure, started using the AC heaverier etc.)?
If you have photos of the enclosure, the T, and whats around the enclosure that would help.

Sorry your sling isn't doing well.
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
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Dec 25, 2014
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Your sling had always access to water? Anyway as Trenor said a pic would help.
 

ao4649

Arachnopeon
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IMG_0138.JPG IMG_0139.JPG
enclosure is a jamie's sling enclosure-- no water dish bc she's too small for it, but i mist the sides and keep the substrate moist so she can sip the droplets. i've had her for several months now, i got her in april and she's molted 2-3 times in my care. like i said, only husbandry change is i closed my AC vent to warm the room up. the only things i keep around the enclosure is, well, other sling enclosures lol. all my other slings and adults appear to be doing fine (except for my h. sp. columbia, who is buried where i can't see him so i can only assume he's ok).

as you can see she seems to be recovering a bit but i'd still wanna know what caused it, so it doesn't happen again.
 

Chris LXXIX

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View attachment 220113 View attachment 220114
enclosure is a jamie's sling enclosure-- no water dish bc she's too small for it
Judging from the pic (I don't use nor I know the size of those enclosures) I doubt, man. Now I really use, for little slings, enclosures where something similar to a water dish would never enter, but, again, judging yours, IMO you should use one.

For instance, this is a water dish. A 'micro' one, that, rest assured, would fit your enclosure, without nothing to your little sling to be concerned about:
http://www.thespidershop.co.uk/water-bowl-p-1974.html#.V9V7pq1HzIU
 

ao4649

Arachnopeon
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Apr 17, 2016
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Judging from the pic (I don't use nor I know the size of those enclosures) I doubt, man. Now I really use, for little slings, enclosures where something similar to a water dish would never enter, but, again, judging yours, IMO you should use one.
the enclosure is about 2"x2"x4" or in cm 5cmx5cmx10cm, but i could probably stick a lil bottle cap in there or something of the sort of it'll help.
 

ao4649

Arachnopeon
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Apr 17, 2016
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also, sorry for the double post, but uh
she'd definitely be curled up if she were dead right?
 

sdsnybny

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When is the last time it molted (date/days)? G. pulchripes slings will often eat right up to a day or two before a molt. If the ICU I see in the pic is a deli cup then your sling is big enough to use it as a new home where you can provide it with a water dish (water bottle cap). That will allow you to keep the substrate predominately dry with an occasional wetting of a diff side for humidity.
 

Venom1080

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i keep my brachypelma slings pretty dry with a water dish. your cage looks too damp IMO.
 

truecreature

Arachnoknight
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Oct 24, 2014
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also, sorry for the double post, but uh
she'd definitely be curled up if she were dead right?
Not necessarily. I don't know how common it is, but I've had an adult C. fasciatum die with her legs spread out as normal.
 

ao4649

Arachnopeon
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Apr 17, 2016
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When is the last time it molted (date/days)? G. pulchripes slings will often eat right up to a day or two before a molt. If the ICU I see in the pic is a deli cup then your sling is big enough to use it as a new home where you can provide it with a water dish (water bottle cap). That will allow you to keep the substrate predominately dry with an occasional wetting of a diff side for humidity.
the icu is a repurposed mealworm cup and is smaller than the enclosure she is currently in, which will fit a water bottle cap fine,
her last molt was exactly a week ago today.

Not necessarily. I don't know how common it is, but I've had an adult C. fasciatum die with her legs spread out as normal.
i rlly hope that isn't the case. she is very stiff though and is still not moving, though of course i'd give her a couple days to be sure anyway.
 

viper69

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no water dish bc she's too small for it
What makes you think this erroneous thought? Put a dish in there, they won't drown. I have had slings that are 1/2" w/a dish.

Your T looks OK. A little slender, but not on death's door to me.

Temps are not an issue. You are aware of their native temps I presume.

Can't say what's wrong w/out truly knowing every detail of your husbandry. Many people say "husbandry hasn't changed, things were fine"...when in fact things weren't fine and they were just getting lucky that their T was eating/molting etc. Not saying that is you mind you, just saying what is written is not enough to determine cause of issue.
 

ao4649

Arachnopeon
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Apr 17, 2016
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What makes you think this erroneous thought? Put a dish in there, they won't drown. I have had slings that are 1/2" w/a dish.
I don't find it erronous at all-- in my experience slings do fine without water dishes so long as they are given moist substrate and other sources of water (which, for that matter, slings often get a lot of their moisture from food), but the topic seems to be high debate in the community. Drowning isn't even necessarily the issue-- most of my slings move so much dirt they /bury/ their dishes on the daily and often digging them up stresses them out more than it's worth. They typically get water dishes at about 1 1/2-2 inches depending on the individual in my care.

Unfortunately, she did not make it (carcass started to smell)-- i think putting her in the icu uncurled her and is why she wasnt in a death curl when she died.

Noteably when I was removing the remains from the ICU i noticed that her abdomen was leaking-- maybe she ruptured it somehow? it's really hard to tell if this happened pre or post mortem tho.

Anyway this is my first loss and I'm pretty upset about it-- I think of my tarantulas as pets, not as a collection. But thanks for the input regardless.
 

viper69

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I don't find it erronous at all-- in my experience slings do fine without water dishes so long as they are given moist substrate and other sources of water (which, for that matter, slings often get a lot of their moisture from food), but the topic seems to be high debate in the community. Drowning isn't even necessarily the issue-- most of my slings move so much dirt they /bury/ their dishes on the daily and often digging them up stresses them out more than it's worth. They typically get water dishes at about 1 1/2-2 inches depending on the individual in my care.

Unfortunately, she did not make it (carcass started to smell)-- i think putting her in the icu uncurled her and is why she wasnt in a death curl when she died.

Noteably when I was removing the remains from the ICU i noticed that her abdomen was leaking-- maybe she ruptured it somehow? it's really hard to tell if this happened pre or post mortem tho.

Anyway this is my first loss and I'm pretty upset about it-- I think of my tarantulas as pets, not as a collection. But thanks for the input regardless.
There's a guy looking for dead Ts, he doesn't have a lot of money, but he's willing to buy them for a project he's working on.
 
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