crlovel
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2011
- Messages
- 46
My T. stirmi is in a 20 gallon terrarium on my desk. Substrate (coconut fiber and peat moss mix) kept moist - not wet - with dry leaves on the substrate. Numerous isopods in the substrate to keep mold down. She had about 10-12" of substrate, with a cork bark log that she tunneled into, under, and back out the other side. A large water bowl (the bottom of a 1 liter soda bottle) that I always over filled to overflowing.
I purchased her back in March or April, I think it was. The spring Hamburg show. She was already large, and she had several large abnormalities on her abdomen. I figured she'd molt them out. I keep saying "she," and not sure if she's a she or a he, since this species doesn't have hooks. I assumed, by size, that she was a she. I suspect now I may have gotten a mature male or a very old female.
Anyway, yesterday, I'm working at my desk, when I see her come out of her cork hide. She's already in a death curl. She came out, came to the glass, and literally collapsed. By the time I got the top open and used tongs to very, very, very gently lift her to some moist paper towel, she was completely non-responsive. Not even a twitch. This wasn't molting behavior. No more than three or four minutes from seeing it, grabbing paper towel, moistening it, and opening her enclosure. I carefully placed her back in her enclosure and left her alone. This morning, I checked again, and no doubt - dead. I put her in the freezer in a ziplock bag.
She was always active, always moving, always digging, and ate like a hog until about a week ago, when I last offered her a roach, which she killed and then dropped.
So I'm at a loss here. Old age? It couldn't have been internal parasites (although she is wild caught), because wouldn't they have manifested a long time ago?
I purchased her back in March or April, I think it was. The spring Hamburg show. She was already large, and she had several large abnormalities on her abdomen. I figured she'd molt them out. I keep saying "she," and not sure if she's a she or a he, since this species doesn't have hooks. I assumed, by size, that she was a she. I suspect now I may have gotten a mature male or a very old female.
Anyway, yesterday, I'm working at my desk, when I see her come out of her cork hide. She's already in a death curl. She came out, came to the glass, and literally collapsed. By the time I got the top open and used tongs to very, very, very gently lift her to some moist paper towel, she was completely non-responsive. Not even a twitch. This wasn't molting behavior. No more than three or four minutes from seeing it, grabbing paper towel, moistening it, and opening her enclosure. I carefully placed her back in her enclosure and left her alone. This morning, I checked again, and no doubt - dead. I put her in the freezer in a ziplock bag.
She was always active, always moving, always digging, and ate like a hog until about a week ago, when I last offered her a roach, which she killed and then dropped.
So I'm at a loss here. Old age? It couldn't have been internal parasites (although she is wild caught), because wouldn't they have manifested a long time ago?