Sick Spider...HELP!

[Kali]

Hello,
I have an ornamental baboon tarantula, an she seems very sick. When she tries to walk, she has these spasmodic little convulsions and seems to be fighting for control of her body. While I don't know if she was wild caught, (she was a pity purchase) she is immature and emaciated. I have always allowed her constant access to food and water, and she did perk up a little after purchase, but she now just lies there or curls up. I put her in a spider ICU, but is this enough? I have had her for @4 months, and she was previously very active.
thanks,
Kristin:

 

[pixi14369]

My A.Avic did this once....but it was due to dehydration.....my best advicve right now is kind nudge her over to the water dish and see if she wants to drink. It could be that she cant make it to the dish...
Sorry i cant be of more help but i have been lucky with my T's so far

 

[MizM]

If she IS dehydrated, pick her up and put her "face" in the water dish. Or, I use a clean, wet paintbrush, stick it in water an put it up under her checilerae.

 

[RugbyDave]

i've done the paintbrush in the 'face' bit as MizM stated -- i've luckily only had to do it once, but it seemed to work -- and i placed the waterdish much closer to where the T seemed to be the most -- made the trip to the waterdish alot easier..

good luck!
pce,
dave

 

[Vayu Son]

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It really shouldnt be dehydration. I saw the spider the other day and didnt recognize anything. Dehydration would show signs of being curled up.. While this H.maculata isnt curled, but still squeezed into itself. I had her put it in an ICU so keep in mind it is a humid environment. I was thinking something more along the line of CM's Special K.

-V

 

[MizM]

The "spasmodic little convulsions" thing or something similar was discussed on a thread a few weeks ago, wasn't it? It sounds familiar....

 

[Godzilla2000]

Originally posted by Kristin Cullen
Hello,
I have an ornamental baboon tarantula, an she seems very sick. When she tries to walk, she has these spasmodic little convulsions and seems to be fighting for control of her body. While I don't know if she was wild caught, (she was a pity purchase) she is immature and emaciated. I have always allowed her constant access to food and water, and she did perk up a little after purchase, but she now just lies there or curls up. I put her in a spider ICU, but is this enough? I have had her for @4 months, and she was previously very active.
thanks,
Kristin:

I whole recommend you put the poor thing in an ICU. Basically it's a deli cup with ventilation holes in it. Plus you should put a damp paper towel inside. And for extra measure I'd get a bowl, put hot top water in it, and float the ICU in it. Be sure tio check the water. If it gets cold then replace it with more hot tap water. That raises the humidity and the temperature of the ICU. I employed this strategy recently when I received a Tarantula that was suffering from cold shock and was in a death curl with great success.

 

[Kali]

more info

well, she isn't rolling over on herself while she spasms anymore. now she just flails her legs wildly in a more stationary position. she also seems to have given up on any specific direction and instead concentrates on not moving as involuntarily.
kristin

 

[MizM]

Kristin,

Click on the search button on this site and type in "spaz" for the keyword. There are a FEW threads that might apply to this.

 

[NorthwestInverts]

I've seen the convulsion thing before. I recently received a shipment of T's. and all were ice cold and almost dead. 2 of the adult female seemanni's never fully recovered and everytime you bump their cage or touch them, etc....they would go into a totally spastic convulsion moving their legs up and down about 100 miles per hour and stagger around. They also kind of naturally curl up and grab the substrate. I was able to save the rest of the shipment with no long term effects. don't know if that's the situation with yours, but just thought I would share that info.

Dean

 

[belewfripp]

The symptoms you state seem to reflect some form of neurological damage. Spiderdad's frozen Ts likely were damaged neurologically (among others) by the freezing cold. Another item that can cause neurological disorder is poisoning, like insecticides. This can run the gamut from Raid to uncombusted nicotine residue. Lack of proper hydration can in severe cases also cause similar symptoms, these may be due to sheer weakness or the dehydration may somehow damage the motor skills of the tarantula. And of course the cause could be unknown, as well. I would hope it is a dehydration issue that can be mended, as there is likely no way to recover a T from severe insecticidal poisoning. If it had come under environmental extremes severe enough to cause this sort of behavior, the damage likely is permanent and possibly fatal. Best of luck,


Adrian