Tarantula bitten by ants..

[SPooN_GTP]

Just curious if there is any kind of treatment for this i caught him nearly a year ago and today i went out to the kitchen near where his aquarium is located i seen a trail of small black ants going across the floor and leading into his aquarium i took him out immediatly and he had several on him id say 30+ just going at him i brushed them off and moved him to a different room and killed the ants

is there anything i could do for him or does he have to just wait it out till hes healed it didnt look severe and hes not behaving any diffently then usual

is it more likely he will heal or die from this shortly??

this is where it looked like most the ants had gotten him since he was standing up in the corner...

Also does anybody know what kind of tarantula this is i have been told many different names for it

any help will be very much appreciated

 

[Malhavoc's]

Is there any damage aperent? ants will spray him in a type of acid [usualy to subdue or kill prey] not much you can do there, but if they did manage to bite through his exoskeleton apply supperglue or nail polish to any wounds that are profusely bleeding

 

[SPooN_GTP]

there is no bleeding looks slightly swollen though.. his legs on the last joint dont look bad at all just less hair there now

i belive its called a spinneret on the very back of him one of them looks a bit injured hes holding it out straight behind him

 

[Malhavoc's]

Most likely hes got the acid sprayed upon him [causing the swelling] Your lucky you goth im out of their I'veh eard a few stories of people loosing their t's to ants. Let me be for a few days provide lots of water and see how he does. I don't believe the acidic spray of the ants can spread like that of venom of persay a spider of scorpion. he will msot likely have to work it out of his system. as I said before as long as he isnt bleeding thers not much you can do. but someone more experience in the spray of ants and the reaction of it in invertabrats will have to post.

 

[Socrates]

Hi Spoon,

And welcome to AB. Unfortunately I know nothing about your T being attacked by ants, and even though identifying a species from just a picture is extremely hard (often impossible), I'll say that it looks like a Texas Blonde. (Aphonopelma Anax) Check out this thread and see if you find similarities to your tarantula. http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=32866

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Wendy
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[cichlidsman]

welcome to the boards. chances are that there are more ants around somewere. usualy if there is a nest then there is another one close by. keep an eye out for them.

 

[Malhavoc's]

Well, I have been talking to horrido and he says the t should be just fine.. any damageshall be lost with the next moult.

 

[metzgerzoo]

My thoughts would be to try and find the source of the ant colony and kill it...in the mean time, keep your T in a different room that is ant free. The kitchen is usually not the best room for Ts because of this very potential for pest problems due to the food. Put him/her in an ICU for a few days and leave him be. Check on him periodocially, offer food and just allow him the time to recover. Ants can reap havoc on a T in a very short amout of time....kill the little suckers!

 

[cichlidsman]

My thoughts would be to try and find the source of the ant colony and kill it...in the mean time, keep your T in a different room that is ant free. The kitchen is usually not the best room for Ts because of this very potential for pest problems due to the food. Put him/her in an ICU for a few days and leave him be. Check on him periodocially, offer food and just allow him the time to recover. Ants can reap havoc on a T in a very short amout of time....kill the little suckers!

If the spiders is'nt bleeding, it should be ok. I would'nt put it in the icu, unless it is needed. I heard that sometimes causes stress in the spider.

 

[xelda]

Ohh... poor baby. Do you know what kind of ants they were?

 

[SPooN_GTP]

it does look very simular to the one in those pics in the other thread

im in an upstairs apartment and i did take care of the ants they got in threw a hole behind my washing machine in the landry room and some how found there way to him in no time at all he was about 20 ft from there entrance
i killed atleast 400 of the bastards and sealing the hole up very shortly

thanks for the help and welcoming me to the forum

and another thing ive had him since last october and he has never molted should i expect it soon?

 

[reverendsterlin]

if you suspect ants could be an on going problem (due to inability to use pesticides) a container filled with water placed under the enclosure will prevent most ants found in the U.S. from getting to the container (a cookie sheet will handle a 10 gal. aquarium). Good luck with your tarant, looks like an anax to me as well.
Rev

 

[Socrates]

Spoon,
Do you know with certainty that your tarantula is a boy? Could he possibly be sexually mature already? (Does he have "boxing gloves" for pedipalps", does he have tibial spurs or "hooks" on his front 2 legs? If he is sexually mature, then he can't ever molt again.

If you are uncertain of his sex and age, then of course it's a possibilty he may molt soon (or not), it's always hard to tell with WC (wild caught) tarantulas. How are his eating habits?

---
Wendy
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[Randy]

that is why i hate ants!! i've posted several threads on how much i hate ants disturbing my T ... clean the tank often , to keep the ants out..

 

[cricket54]

I'm so sorry your tarantula was attacked by ants, but glad to hear he is surviving. Poor little guy. I have ants that keep coming into my kitchen, but haven't been successful in killing them off or stopping them from coming in.
They haven't seemed to find my tarantulas thankfully. They are coming in on the counter and from arround the sink attracted to any crumbs they can find.
I think they could be carpenter ants, but with my husband out of work, and I
just got layed off, we can't afford an exterminator. I've been afraid to use any insecticides because of it being a food preperation area. So I just kill them as they show up. Hopefully things won't get this bad for you.

Sharon