Tarantula dehydrated/dying or molting?

[crown703]

Hi I have a Goliath bird eater and for a few months she’s been doing fine. A little bit ago her movement slowed down a lot and then it stayed within the one spot and its legs started to curl. I added another water dish and sprayed the tank again and for 2 days she moved one time and it was to look in a different area. I took it out of its enclosure and now have it in a container with a damp napkin hoping that’ll help or get it to drink water if it’s dehydrated. In the photo it looks like it’s in terrible condition and truthfully dead but moved yesterday mid day and since that is hasn’t again

 

[Ratmosphere]

Looks severely dehydrated and dead.

Post pics of the enclosure. Are you sure it was a female and not a mature male?

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Try flipping him over and putting a drop of water on his mouthparts. Be patient, they drink very, very slowly

 

[A guy]

It looks dead. Any movement?

 

[crown703]

Truthfully it’s gender I’m not positive on and it’s enclosure is a 40 gallon tank with dirt and a hiding place as of now. Is there anything I can do rather than have it inside of the container with the paper towel?

 

[crown703]

Yesterday it was moving away from the water spot on the dirt but since then no I wouldn’t say there has been.

 

[A guy]

Truthfully it’s gender I’m not positive on and it’s enclosure is a 40 gallon tank with dirt and a hiding place as of now. Is there anything I can do rather than have it inside of the container with the paper towel?

That looks extremely dry and unsuitable for a Theraphosa species which needs moist conditions to thrive.

 

[crown703]

I normally spray it every other day. The water seems to dry somewhat fast. I haven’t sprayed it in 2 or 3 days when I saw the legs curling. I was adding a new water dish and started to pour some water near its mouth

 

[A guy]

I normally spray it every other day. The water seems to dry somewhat fast. I haven’t sprayed it in 2 or 3 days when I saw the legs curling. I was adding a new water dish and started to pour some water near its mouth

Spraying is useless. It doesn't retain moisture. For moisture dependent species, you gotta literally pour water into the substrate.

I'd bet that it's that extremely dry condition is what killed it.

 

[crown703]

Aright thank you. I was always told to spray the tarantulas enclosure never to pour water into the substrate

 

[A guy]

Aright thank you. I was always told to spray the tarantulas enclosure never to pour water into the substrate

Exact opposite of what you should do. Never listen to whoever told you that again.

 

[crown703]

Alright thank you for the information

 

[TheraMygale]

Aright thank you. I was always told to spray the tarantulas enclosure never to pour water into the substrate

im really pissed off that someone gave you bad advice.

is it dead?

if its not, and you have a smaller enclosure handy, make a new one with moist sub. NOT OVER SATURATED SUB. Basicaly, when you squeeze it, maybe one drop comes out.

by putting it in a new moist enclosure, smaller, it might have a chance.

thats such a gorgeous adult tarantula too. Its such a shame. Please come here FIRST in the futur. You will get solid advice.

send us more pics of whole body incase is might be a mature male, but youd have noticed this…

a picture will help us notice if it has some crookedness due to falling.

the advice you recieved sounds like someone from the 90s in a reptile shop

 

[crown703]

It’s sad it’s going like this. As far as I can tell it’s dead. I do have it inside of a container with holes and a moist towel but since I’ve put it inside of that I haven’t see any movement neither with its mouth or fangs.

ill have to come here for more advice. It has been moving around quite good until this happened. I’ll have to get more pictures later on in the day.
The two people at the store both said to get auto misters because it’s annoying to spray.

 

[LucN]

It’s sad it’s going like this. As far as I can tell it’s dead. I do have it inside of a container with holes and a moist towel but since I’ve put it inside of that I haven’t see any movement neither with its mouth or fangs.

ill have to come here for more advice. It has been moving around quite good until this happened. I’ll have to get more pictures later on in the day.
The two people at the store both said to get auto misters because it’s annoying to spray.

Sorry for your loss. Was your spider purchased at a specialized store ? If not, an overwhelming majority of pet shop people know zilch about proper tarantula care. It's unfortunate that your Theraphosa paid the price. From here on out, here is the best place online for correct information. Forget YouTube, with the notable exceptions of Tom Moran (Tom's Big Spiders) and Dave Fisher (Dave's Little Beasties). Forget Reddit and Facebook too. Just here. Hopefully, the next attempt at keeping these giant beauties will be far more successful.

 

[fcat]

These Ts come from a place where it rains every day.

The moisture needs to be at the level of their book lungs, so they do not dessicate from breathing unhumidified oxygen.

If she's still alive you need to be more aggressive with watering. Dunk her whole carapace or at least make sure her mouth parts are sitting in water. She won't drown.

Wet paper towels sounds like an ICU...did that same person recommend this? It's dangerous....


They aren't dead until signs of decomposition...smell or appearance.