T having difficulty walking

MindUtopia

Arachnoking
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Hi all,

Just wanted to get the opinion of some folks who may have experienced this before. I got a new sling (about an inch +) a few weeks ago. It ate fine the first week I had it. I didn't feed last week because I just ran out of time, and this week when I did my feedings it refused to eat. When I went it last night to remove the cricket, I noticed that it seemed to be having trouble walking and holding its weight up with its legs. It was also very lethargic. It's normally fast and aggressive, but I was able to easily move it to an ICU without any fight. I placed it in the ICU overnight. This morning, still not much change. It looks like its legs are splayed out and it can't lift its body up off the ground much. When it does its legs seem not very stable, almost too "bendy" to give it much support. I'm leaving it in the ICU for today while I'm at work. Just wanted to get some thoughts from anyone who may have experienced this before, what you did, and what the outcome was. I already lost a snake this week, and I'd really like to not lose this one too. :(

Thanks,
Karen
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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I had a P. Striata sling go through this myself over the last weekend. I did what you did and moved her to an ICU, but in my case it did not get much better. She started dropping limbs and eventually over the course of 4 days curled up and died.
I hope this does not happen to yours! Sounds like you have done what you could. Are there any signs of premolt? Keep her dark and warm and moist and cross your fingers.
 

Talkenlate04

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I dont know about hers but mine was not dehydration she had just eaten the day before and I caught her drinking out of her bottle cap. I still dont know what happened.
 

ShadowBlade

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What species is this?

I've had this happen to E. pachypus. It would try to threat display and just fall back down. It held an awkward position, and would not eat for two weeks before it kicked the bucket.

One possible reason would be nematodes. Have you checked its mouth?

-Sean
 

arrowhd

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Karen, I read your post and thought wow sounds like what happened to me. I had a 1/2" A. bicoloratum that molted and seemed fine. Two weeks after molting it started to stumble and walk very awkwardly. I did the same thing and put it in ICU. It just got worse and worse and died about a week later. I have no idea what happened. I hope someone can help you figure out whats wrong. Its very disappointing to lose a sling.
Keith
 

MindUtopia

Arachnoking
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Thanks for the input, guys. It's a Phormictopus sp. (possible atrichomatus). I thought it might possibly be dehydration since I didn't feed last week and it's too small for a water dish, but T's I've seen that became dehydrated tend to curl up pretty quickly and there is no shriveling of the abdomen. No sign of nemotodes as I was able to lift it up on the tip of my finger to place it in the ICU and got a pretty good look at its mouth. Actually, it tried half-heartedly to show me its fangs, which I take as at least one good sign. I don't think it's in premolt because there appeared to be a somewhat fresh molt in the container when I bought it and its abdomen still had that "I just molted and am still skinny" look to it. Plus, when T's are this lethargic, they usually flip over pretty soon, but that hasn't happened yet. And sadly, molting wouldn't explain the coordination problems. *sigh* I'm just going to keep him warm in the ICU and wait it out. Fortunately, it's a pretty inexpensive T and could be replaced, but I really took a liking to this guy and would be really sad to lose him. I'll post an update when I get home tonight. Thanks, guys!
 

Tim St.

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Maybe its still a lil wonky from the moult, that'd be my gusse :?
 

DrAce

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I'm trying to diagnose a problem from basic spider anatomy and your description, and I suspect that your describing something nasty and internal.

Spiders maneuver in part through hydrostatic pressure... they pump their legs with water to make em move. If your wee fellah can't do that, then there's some pretty major internal issues going on.

Unfortunately, my money is going on your little man not making it. I would guess that there's either some damage arising from a previous moult, or an internal bug of some kind... microscopic (bacteria, virus, fungus), or macroscopic (fungus, nematode, other parasite).

I hope I'm wrong.
 

MindUtopia

Arachnoking
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I'm trying to diagnose a problem from basic spider anatomy and your description, and I suspect that your describing something nasty and internal.

Spiders maneuver in part through hydrostatic pressure... they pump their legs with water to make em move. If your wee fellah can't do that, then there's some pretty major internal issues going on.

Unfortunately, my money is going on your little man not making it. I would guess that there's either some damage arising from a previous moult, or an internal bug of some kind... microscopic (bacteria, virus, fungus), or macroscopic (fungus, nematode, other parasite).

I hope I'm wrong.
Yes, that's what I was thinking too. I have him quarantined...or quanantined as much as is possible when you live in only one room and am just waiting to see. When I peaked in on him tonight he jumped and ran to the other side of the ICU container which is quite a bit more than he was able to do this morning. But I did notice a slight twitching that wasn't noticeable this am, so possibly dyskinetic syndrome, but still I don't think anyone really knows what causes that so who knows. I'm going to give him another couple of days in the ICU and see what turns up.
 

edesign

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is it moving in a spastic/twitchy fashion? if so both my A. hurianas had this (one very young, the other a mature male) and also the N. chromatus I used to have...all three ended up being terminal afflictions. Some kind of nervous system problem, refusing food and moving as if there was no control over the legs.
 

syndicate

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hope all turns out all right.mabey try offering water with a dropper into his mouth
 
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