T arrived with twisted abdomen, liquid and mites. HELP PLEASE!

[Charliemum]

Hi all

My new psalmopoeus irminia came today, I have a few psalmopoeus but was missing the irminia from my collection so I got one. When she came instead of the 3-4 cm sling i expected i got an 8-10 cm female, i couldn't believe my luck, when I opened her pot she bolted straight for cover i didn't get a good look at her but thought nothing of it and left her to acclimatise. I have come bk i the room to check on her and the phormictopus i ordered with her n noticed she was out, then noticed her abdomen was twisted and appears to have liquid marks in-between her abdomen and carapace, she is also infested with mites.
I have obviously tried to contact the shop i got her from but have had no reply, I am worried about her though and am at a loss what to do. I have never received a t in such poor shape before. The liquid doesn't look like it is leaking anymore so I am not sure if the corn starch trick will help, and I also have a large collection i don't want the mites to spread into my other tarantulas, does anyone have any ideas what I can do because I can't get past 'need to punch the seller in his face! ' sorry panicking. Any help would be appreciated my t's mean the world to me and if theres anything I can do to help her then I need to know.
Thank you in advance.
Picks look gruesome so be warned.

She has had a drink and is at the top of her bark but keeps moving around like she can't get comfortable, every 30 seconds or so she changes position but isn't moving from the top of the bark. Please as I said any help is appreciated.

 

[Liquifin]

Those are predatory mites for sure. If they latch on to your T. like that then are for sure predatory mites. I'm not too sure myself on what the proper way to remove them from a T. since people have so many different recommendations. For starters I would isolate the T. from the rest of the collection. But as for how to approach them, I would really like to know as well what other people have done in this situation. Are the mites only on the pedicel and abdomen area? Or are they also located on other parts of this T.?

 

[Wolfram1]

Was it from a breeder or do you suspect it was WC? If it was a breeder he/she might be dealingh with this problem in their entire collection.

 

[darkness975]

Whoever knowingly sent a spider that is that badly infested with parasitic mites should be completely written off from any future order considerations.

Look up mite threads by the user @boina

 

[NMTs]

Here's Biona's thread:

All you need to know about mites

Mites are one of the big topics that turn up over and over again. I can't count how often I've posted about them and tried to put a rational view on some rather phobic reactions. So, here is a consolidated post with everything about mites that I (and others) can link back to: Mites are harmless...

arachnoboards.com

According to her, these would only be parasitic mites if this is a wild caught specimen, and given it's size, that seems like a possibility. I would catch the T up in a small cup and try to remove as many of the mites as possible using a cotton swab. Clean out the enclosure thoroughly, add new substrate, reintroduce the T and isolate from the rest of your collection while you observe it to see if any more mites appear.

 

[Charliemum]

Thank you all ! she's ment to be cb and came from a well known t shop here in the uk, I have messaged them they have opened and read my message but not replied . I will definitely be looking that user's thread up ty @darkness975 , I have tried to put corn flour on the wound in the hope of drying up the spot she looks injured on and hopefully them with it. I will research how to get rid of them in the mean time, I just hope I can and she survives.

 

[corydalis]

Not 100% sure about they are parasitic, also possible they are just feeding on the leaking fluid opportunistically, and they are not obligate hemotophages. Nevertheless, I would also suggest to remove them.

 

[Charliemum]

Here's Biona's thread:

All you need to know about mites

Mites are one of the big topics that turn up over and over again. I can't count how often I've posted about them and tried to put a rational view on some rather phobic reactions. So, here is a consolidated post with everything about mites that I (and others) can link back to: Mites are harmless...

arachnoboards.com

According to her, these would only be parasitic mites if this is a wild caught specimen, and given it's size, that seems like a possibility. I would catch the T up in a small cup and try to remove as many of the mites as possible using a cotton swab. Clean out the enclosure thoroughly, add new substrate, reintroduce the T and isolate from the rest of your collection while you observe it to see if any more mites appear.

I just read this she says leave the mites alone trying to remove them could cause damage to the t's carapace where they are attached and apparently they won't hurt my t plus with her abdomen being twisted idk if its coz of an injuryor the mites and i am frightened to try and stress her in anyway incase it makes her wound worse from her bolting while i try n catch her or even worse if i was too rough... I am still going to separate her she is already in a brand new viv as she only arrived 6 hours ago or so keep her waterdish full put her in a quiet spot and hope for the best. Thanks again everyone I really appreciate it I just panicked I have never seen a t in such bad shape and never seen one with a twisted abdomen like that. Poor girl. I will keep updating on this thread if anything changes.

 

[NMTs]

I just read this she says leave the mites alone trying to remove them could cause damage to the t's carapace where they are attached and apparently they won't hurt my t plus with her abdomen being twisted idk if its coz of an injuryor the mites and i am frightened to try and stress her in anyway incase it makes her wound worse from her bolting while i try n catch her or even worse if i was too rough... I am still going to separate her she is already in a brand new viv as she only arrived 6 hours ago or so keep her waterdish full put her in a quiet spot and hope for the best. Thanks again everyone I really appreciate it I just panicked I have never seen a t in such bad shape and never seen one with a twisted abdomen like that. Poor girl. I will keep updating on this thread if anything changes.

She probably just has her abdomen twisted because she's uncomfortable from the passengers she's carrying. Good luck with her - hopefully the seller makes things right for you.

 

[Charliemum]

She probably just has her abdomen twisted because she's uncomfortable from the passengers she's carrying. Good luck with her - hopefully the seller makes things right for you.

I hope its only coz of the mites but because of the liquid marks on her carapace and abdomen I am weary. I will try what that thread suggests and put some veg stuff in the corner of her viv and hope the mites move and she can heal n in the meantime just keep my eye on her and the mites.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Pulling for your beautiful girl!

 

[spideyspinneret78]

Poor baby. I hope she starts doing better.

 

[Charliemum]

Small update.
The seller has gotten in touch and offered a refund or replacement and a freebie on the next order... I was polite and declined all 3 but said thank you for the offer and that I had put the mites on here as I have 75 t's and needed to know what they were and have been told they could be predatory so he may want to check his stock atleast next to where she was.

Here she has been isolated from my other t's she has a nice dark quiet room upstairs on the other side of my house away from any other t in my care, and I have put some portobello mushroom in the corner of here viv to see what the mites do. they go to it instead of her.

 

[DaveOB]

Hoping your T pulls through!

 

[coolnweird]

Anesthesia of tarantulas

Hi everyone I guess you all know Vonwirth or at least heard his name when talking about Cyriopagopus vonwirthi I just found a post of him explaining how he deals with important problems with Ts. Here is the link: https://m.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=von.wirth.3&set=a.1494822800679898 I...

arachnoboards.com

This post could be helpful if you decide to try removing them! Not to say that such measures will be necessary, but I think it's good information to have.

 

[l4nsky]

These aren't predatory mites. Predatory mites eat other mites, they don't prey on tarantulas. The "bad" mites are parasitic mites, but if I'm being honest, I don't think these are parasitic mites. The one confirmed case I remember finding on the boards during my avid lurker days was on a confirmed wild caught T and the mites were triangular in shape. These don't look like the images I remember. They look like grain mites that have attached to her injury because they need the moisture.

She looks very near to a molt, so I would leave some organic material in her enclosure to attract the mites and then remove the old molt and all the food once she does molt to remove the mites.

 

[Wolfram1]

Small update.
The seller has gotten in touch and offered a refund or replacement and a freebie on the next order... I was polite and declined all 3 but said thank you for the offer and that I had put the mites on here as I have 75 t's and needed to know what they were and have been told they could be predatory so he may want to check his stock atleast next to where she was.

Here she has been isolated from my other t's she has a nice dark quiet room upstairs on the other side of my house away from any other t in my care, and I have put some portobello mushroom in the corner of here viv to see what the mites do. they go to it instead of her.

good to see there are decent sellers around, and decent customers, well done

while i understand the "get a refund" mentality, i feel like many sellers are also hobbyists and we should communicate and support each other

 

[l4nsky]

https://arachnoboards.com/threads/my-predatory-mites-dont-seem-to-be-doing-much.310057/

Here's the thread with actual parasitic mites if you're interested.

 

[MariaLewisia]

My first thought was that she, somehow, tore her pedicel and that's why her abdomen is held at an angle. It would explain the liquid (bleeding) and the mites gathering around to slurp it up. I don't think they're parasitic, they just want the liquid. As people have already pointed out she looks to be in premoult so finger's crossed she pulls through.

 

[viper69]

Those are predatory mites for sure. If they latch on to your T. like that then are for sure predatory mites. I'm not too sure myself on what the proper way to remove them from a T. since people have so many different recommendations. For starters I would isolate the T. from the rest of the collection. But as for how to approach them, I would really like to know as well what other people have done in this situation. Are the mites only on the pedicel and abdomen area? Or are they also located on other parts of this T.?

I think I read there are predatory mites for those types of mites but we’d need to know the species of those mites if I recall.