Tarantula ER

[The Minataur]

So we just lost a mature (I think) A. Seemanni to unknown causes. While there are a myriad of possibilities when it comes to the cause, the question I am left with is, what can you do for an obviously sick spider?
Searching around for the last few days has only yielded three real possibilities: 1) Spidey ICU 2) Flip the T over (if it is weak enough) and re hydrate with drops of water directly into the mouth 3) Change the enclosure (substrate, humidity)
With all the things that can go wrong, these are the only "treatments" I could find.
Does anybody know of any others?
When the cause is unknown it would be nice to have a few things to try.

 

[user 666]

How do you tell that the T is sick?

I for one don't know hat counts as a warning sign.

 

[Paiige]

It really depends on what symptoms the T is showing - same as with humans - you wouldn't treat a fever with an amputation.
If a T is not dehydrated (or is a desert sp), don't throw it in a super humid ECU or try to drown it. Sometimes "leave it be" is the best option, but again depends on the symptoms.

 

[EulersK]

What you listed is really about it. Sometimes there's simply nothing you can do.

My AF Euathlus sp. "Green" has been dying for about a week now. She is most certainly wild caught, and she's never molted in the two years I've had her. Most likely, she's dying of a disease related to old age. She's still responsive, but very clearly dying. If your spider has never molted under your care and you bought it as an adult, you could perhaps be going through the same thing.

 

[nicodimus22]

you wouldn't treat a fever with an amputation.

Speak for yourself, sister!

 

[Paiige]

Speak for yourself, sister!

Next time hubby gets a fever I'm telling him the forums said I should try amputating a limb to make him feel better

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Next time hubby gets a fever I'm telling him the forums said I should try amputating a limb to make him feel better

After all such limb will grow again within the next molts, ops, birthdays. The important thing is access to water, ops, a glass of water :-s

 

[The Minataur]

What you listed is really about it. Sometimes there's simply nothing you can do.

My AF Euathlus sp. "Green" has been dying for about a week now. She is most certainly wild caught, and she's never molted in the two years I've had her. Most likely, she's dying of a disease related to old age. She's still responsive, but very clearly dying. If your spider has never molted under your care and you bought it as an adult, you could perhaps be going through the same thing.

I am very sorry to about your Euathlus.
It does seem true that unless the direct cause is known, there don't seem to be many things to try. With ours it was a neurological break down, but the reason could have been one of thousands.

 

[Kendricks]

It really depends on what symptoms the T is showing - same as with humans - you wouldn't treat a fever with an amputation.

Uhm... yeah, right! I mean, of course not!
*hides bloody bone saw*

 

[The Minataur]

In reference to specific symptoms, the scenario I am putting forth is that you find yourself seeing something entirely unfamiliar. I cannot say what that would be as I don't know what is unfamiliar to you. So lets say you have any kind of tarantula behaving in a way that is unfamiliar to you that is clearly disrupting their ability to complete necessary life functions. You find yourself at a loss as the cause is unknown. The question then is, what are the things you would try to alleviate the symptoms especially if what you try might lead you to the cause?
The only things I've seen to try are those originally listed with now the addition of 4) Wait and See.
Like, if the animal wasn't moving in a familiar way and the way it was moving kept it from being able to eat, would you 1), 2), 3), 4) or something else?
If the animal stopped eating entirely for definitely too long and wasn't clearly in premolt (as that would be a known cause), would you 1), 2), 3), 4) or something else?
I realize that by listing possible symptoms, I'm stepping on my own feet here as the question is about the unknown.
When something is wrong but you don't know what or why it is happening, what are the things you try?
I realize that as fragile and varied these animals can be, there just may not be many catch-all tricks. Still though, if you have any I would love to read them.

 

[Paiige]

Well, if a tarantula has broken fangs, you feed it cricket stew.
If it's not eating but not in premolt, it's probably not hungry.

Most things fall under the "wait and see" category.

 

[Trenor]

In reference to specific symptoms, the scenario I am putting forth is that you find yourself seeing something entirely unfamiliar. I cannot say what that would be as I don't know what is unfamiliar to you. So lets say you have any kind of tarantula behaving in a way that is unfamiliar to you that is clearly disrupting their ability to complete necessary life functions. You find yourself at a loss as the cause is unknown. The question then is, what are the things you would try to alleviate the symptoms especially if what you try might lead you to the cause?
The only things I've seen to try are those originally listed with now the addition of 4) Wait and See.
Like, if the animal wasn't moving in a familiar way and the way it was moving kept it from being able to eat, would you 1), 2), 3), 4) or something else?
If the animal stopped eating entirely for definitely too long and wasn't clearly in premolt (as that would be a known cause), would you 1), 2), 3), 4) or something else?
I realize that by listing possible symptoms, I'm stepping on my own feet here as the question is about the unknown.
When something is wrong but you don't know what or why it is happening, what are the things you try?
I realize that as fragile and varied these animals can be, there just may not be many catch-all tricks. Still though, if you have any I would love to read them.

See this falls under the same deal as when we raised cows or any of the other animals on the farm. It's hard to know what is ok and what isn't when you are new to any of these animals. Some animals will give indicators that they are injured other animals do not.

That's why new keepers ask a lot of the "My T is doing X... is it ok?" questions. It's hard to know what is normal and what isn't. Then if the T is doing something not normal what do I do about it? There really isn't a hard fast rule for this. Honestly, in most cases, if things are going really bad there isn't much you can do about it. Sometimes if a T is in a death curl it's dehydrated. So flipping it over and giving it drops of water will help. If it's curled and not dehydrated and you flip/water it it's not going to help. Which is it and how would you know?

When your T has flipped and it's shedding and it looks to be stuck do you..... try to help it out or wait and see if it's just a long molt process? Does the risk of hurting the molting T outweigh the risk it's stuck? How do you know?

IMO you get a feeling after keeping for a while for what is normal and that helps. Noticing something is wrong early always makes it easier to try to change things to help. I think that as a keeper I am limited on what I can do to help my Ts compared to say a cat or dog. You just have more help options with other animals and they are better at conveying when they are unwell.

 

[The Minataur]

Thank you for this thorough answer.
The limitations "medicinal" care are frustrating. From what I am gathering, much of being a keeper is doing your level best to not run into the unknown, and the when the unknown happens it is kind of "just one of those things". Not that I think anyone really just shrugs it off. Clearly those who keep do care very much, it's just in some cases we're all a little helpless for any number of reasons.

 

[The Minataur]

Well, if a tarantula has broken fangs, you feed it cricket stew.

Really? You smash up a cricket and a T will accept it?
Do you add water or anything?

 

[Paiige]

Really? You smash up a cricket and a T will accept it?
Do you add water or anything?

I've never had to do this fortunately but I've read of others on here doing it. I'm an expert cricket butcher, not a cricket chef

 

[Trenor]

Really? You smash up a cricket and a T will accept it?
Do you add water or anything?

Most of the times I've seen it used they took the innards out and sometimes mixed it with water so it wasn't so thick and placed it near the T.

I often feed Ts that are too small for a whole roach cut up pieces of one. The innards often come out in the cutting and all my slings have happily ate them just like any other scavenged food.

 

[The Minataur]

Well that's definitely one for the ol' tool box.

Thank you both!