She's dead😭 Aphonopelma seemanni (Darla)

[Smallfry]

So I'm going to start off by saying I bought my boyfriend his first tarantula 3 years ago this would be Darla our skeleton leg skeleton knee zebra striped costa rican zebra Tarantula (Aphonopelma seemanni )

About 4 days ago I noticed some weird behavior went back in to check on her a couple hours later and she had molted she was sitting outside of her hole blue a panicked put a couple things of water in there and different spots so she had plenty of options and the moisture level would go up a little bit couple hours later I went into check she was still in the same exact spot he went to bed got up the next day same spot my plan was to give her another day and try and feed her checked her all that day no movement we decided for both of our best interests to see if we could get her to move a little that's when we realized she was dead no death curl no visual damage she was just sitting there looking her cute self dead I don't know what happened I don't know how it happened I've never even heard of this happening everything I found has been death girl death girl there was no death curl she was blue that was the only visual worry we even moved her cage into a warmer room. He ended up taking her out and then started crying so I knew she was gone this was our first molt with a spider I now think Darla should have been a Donald she had lived her best life n went to spoofer heaven I don't understand why she didn't death curl I'm so distraught that she had been dead for 3 days before we figured it out was never even a thought in our head that she was dead she looks like she come out of her hole and was chilling like she always does cuz she always sits at the top right corner where her height is when she wants to be nosy that's what she was doing but she was dead we have five other tarantulas I don't want this to happen again we have a curly hair that's molted twice we have a pink toe that molted three times we have a green bottle blue we got us a sling that's molted four times we have a pet hole that's a cobalt blue he's molted I didn't think she was dead she didn't death curl!!

***first molt with this spider***

This is exactly how she looked but at the edge of her hide

 

[Sterls]

I'm sorry for your loss. The spider was almost certainly wild caught, since you bought it full grown and it had not molted in 3 years of care. There's no way of knowing exactly how old she was, but this seems like a case of old age, if that sets your mind at ease. Also, fairly certain Darla was indeed a she. A 'Donald' wouldn't have lasted 3 years post penultimate molt.

If I missed a question somewhere in that mass of text, let me know.

Tips for future posts:
1) Use complete sentences and proper punctuation. I understand you're distraught and emotional at the moment, but I had a very difficult time following your post. Many users will just ignore a post that lacks a reasonable amount of commas, periods, etc. Line/paragraph breaks are also a good idea.
2) Stick to scientific names for all of your tarantulas, especially when posting or asking questions here.

 

[Matt Man]

Was it kept in a cardboard box?

 

[Polenth]

The death curl is a dehydration thing, not a thing that happens with all deaths. It does sound like either old age or an internal issue after the moult. You can't really prevent deaths like that.

All that said, I don't understand the blue comment. The photo doesn't look blue. Possibly that was just the colour change as she hardened up.

 

[viper69]

The death curl is a dehydration thing, not a thing that happens with all deaths. It does sound like either old age or an internal issue after the moult. You can't really prevent deaths like that.

All that said, I don't understand the blue comment. The photo doesn't look blue. Possibly that was just the colour change as she hardened up.

Actually death curls can happen not due to dehydration in and of itself according to @AphonopelmaTX

 

[Craven]

1) Use complete sentences and proper punctuation. I understand you're distraught and emotional at the moment, but I had a very difficult time following your post. Many users will just ignore a post that lacks a reasonable amount of commas, periods, etc. Line/paragraph breaks are also a good idea.

Exactly! I got so annoyed, i couldn't even finish the first paragraph.

 

[LaughingLunatic]

The death curl is a dehydration thing, not a thing that happens with all deaths

I thought the death curl was the sudden lack of hydraulics keeping the limbs extended when the tarantula passes away...

 

[viper69]

I thought the death curl was the sudden lack of hydraulics keeping the limbs extended when the tarantula passes away...

If you search on the forum you’ll learn exactly why their legs move inward. It’s related to their anatomy.

Many users will just ignore a post that lacks a reasonable amount of commas, periods, etc. Line/paragraph breaks are also a good idea.

I didn’t see if the OP had a question, just one fat, long “sentence”. No time to sort through all of that

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Actually death curls can happen not due to dehydration in and of itself according to @AphonopelmaTX

I wouldn't say it is according to me exactly. Spider locomotion is described in detail in the book The Biology of Spiders. Appendage extension is controlled by hemolymph pressure to a single artery that runs the length of each appendage. The pressure to each individual artery is regulated by the contraction and relaxation of muscles in the prosoma. So basically the heart pumps the hemolymph forward to the prosoma, then from there, pressure is regulated to each leg and palp. Any illness that would weaken a tarantula in general, or its heart or prosomal muscles specifically, will cause the legs and palps to curl. Dehydration can be one cause, but not the only cause. It is still a mystery to me why sometimes the legs don't curl up fully when death occurs though.

 

[viper69]

I wouldn't say it is according to me exactly. Spider locomotion is described in detail in the book The Biology of Spiders. Appendage extension is controlled by hemolymph pressure to a single artery that runs the length of each appendage. The pressure to each individual artery is regulated by the contraction and relaxation of muscles in the prosoma. So basically the heart pumps the hemolymph forward to the prosoma, then from there, pressure is regulated to each leg and palp. Any illness that would weaken a tarantula in general, or its heart or prosomal muscles specifically, will cause the legs and palps to curl. Dehydration can be one cause, but not the only cause. It is still a mystery to me why sometimes the legs don't curl up fully when death occurs though.

Well the info I learned is from you, no need to be pedantic in this context. I wasn’t suggesting you were another Sam Marshall

The physiology I knew. I remember years ago you provided and corrected my response on this issue. I could be wrong but I thought you mentioned infection and a few other possible reasons. But those were all issues that could affect their physiology I believe based on your answer now.

Agreed on the mystery part- peeps have posted such images here.