Sudden sling death numbers

[Cyriocosmus]

Hi everyone, I know that slings sometimes die for no apparent reason, especially small ones (like 1st instar). I wonder, how often does this happen in your experience?

I'm asking since one of my first instar C. aueri slings seems to have died while its siblings thrive in the same conditions.

 

[Tigger]

I've bought 32 slings over the last seven months and have had three deaths. One was dead on arrival. One seemed to have something wrong with it on arrival and was dead the next morning. Both were replaced by the seller and I assume the deaths were due to shipping. The third I had for about two months and it had molted ten days earlier and seemed fine. There was no death curl. It died upright in a natural looking position. It was one of four from the same sac and the other three are doing fine.

The first two don't really qualify for what you are talking about so I have had one mystery death out of thirty two slings. None of the slings were larger than 1/2 inch when I got them and many were as small as 1/4 inch. Doesn't seem too bad.

 

[moricollins]

Hi everyone, I know that slings sometimes die for no apparent reason, especially small ones (like 1st instar). I wonder, how often does this happen in your experience?

I'm asking since one of my first instar C. aueri slings seems to have died while its siblings thrive in the same conditions.

First instar slings are quite fragile, what would normal be a minor environmental change could be fatal.

 

[draconisj4]

I've raised all but 2 of my T's from slings ( some only 1/4 inch) 53 in total. I lost one in a bad molt, one for unknown reasons and recently had a juvenile die. The rest have either matured, are sub adults or juveniles. Seeing as I was a beginner, I think that's pretty good.

 

[viper69]

Death happens- we rarely know why

 

[cold blood]

I'm asking since one of my first instar C. aueri slings seems to have died while its siblings thrive in the same conditions.

First instar slings shouldnt be being bought or sold, they should still be in an incubator.

 

[Reezelbeezelbug]

That's a bummer. I haven't had many deaths across 50 slings so far, but I got 2 c Aueri and one died and the other is still going. Strange death, the sling wasn't curled up like dehydration and was still plump with no obvious signs of puncture. I read somewhere that this species is fragile, but my experience is certainly just anecdotal.

 

[Cyriocosmus]

@cold blood Sorry, must be a translation issue there. 1. FH means "first feeding instar" here, nymphs (=stage after egg) are not seen as a "proper instar" here. I concluded it would be the same in English, but it apparently isn't. Would you call it second instar then?

@everyone else, thanks a lot for your experiences!

 

[cold blood]

Yes, first you have eggs, then EWLs, then first instar....second instar is when they get first meals....so yeah, id assume theyre 2i.

 

[Chebe6886]

Out of about 30 new slings in the past few months I had 1 DOA and one die molting. Not sure either really qualify for sudden sling death.

 

[purplephilia]

I got my very first Ts in November 2017, so far 19 slings and no deaths except 1 DOA because it wasn't packed appropriately and got injured in transit. On the other hand I have a friend who got an Aphonopelma hentzi sling and I helped her set it up and learn how to take care of it and it died during a molt.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

I wonder, how often does this happen in your experience?

Very rarely, I've purchased the vast majority of my tarantulas (easily over 100 specimens over a 4 year period) as slings and I can count the amount of slings that have died in my care on one hand. Same with DOAs.

 

[Olan]

Probably around 5% for most species. Maybe higher for some species that seem fragile in captivity. Some of the Asian arboreals seem to die at a higher rate for instance.