Tarantula in death curl but still shows signs of movement (twitching)

[KingCosmo]

I fed my grammostola porteri and found her the next day in death curl with her webbing and substrate all thrashed. I have her in an icu and she's still twitching in death curl position. What exactly could've happened to her? My theory is that the feeder was bad. She was hydrated at the time and didn't have any signs of DKS.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

No idea what happened but get it out of the ICU, not only are they next to useless but they're also a good way to kill arid species.

 

[EtienneN]

It could be, but that kind of reaction sounds like it's from some sort of aerosolised chemical. If the feeder was from a Pet Store, they take care not to contaminate their crickets. It's not like they sprayed the feeders with Raid. Have you used anything in your home or have your neighbours? Even things like air fresheners can be detrimental to Ts.

 

[KingCosmo]

It could be, but that kind of reaction sounds like it's from some sort of aerosolised chemical. If the feeder was from a Pet Store, they take care not to contaminate their crickets. It's not like they sprayed the feeders with Raid. Have you used anything in your home or have your neighbours? Even things like air fresheners can be detrimental to Ts.

It could be, there's been some construction in my neighborhood. That could be a possibility

 

[Teal]

This isn't adding up. Can you post photos of the spider and enclosure?

Death curls happen from dehydration and chemicals almost exclusively. If she is twitchy/jerky, that could definitely be a reaction from chemical exposure.

What was the feeder and where was it from? Did you feed it anything before giving it to the sling?

 

[viper69]

Good luck

 

[KingCosmo]

This isn't adding up. Can you post photos of the spider and enclosure?

Death curls happen from dehydration and chemicals almost exclusively. If she is twitchy/jerky, that could definitely be a reaction from chemical exposure.

What was the feeder and where was it from? Did you feed it anything before giving it to the sling?

She's an adult size, the feeder was from my personal box of crickets that only eat vegetables. She was found on her back in death curl position.



Here are the images of her and her enclosure. The lock in her enclosure is where I found her on her back. A user told me to take her out of the ICU and now she's in a different container.

 

[Liquifin]

View attachment 307604 View attachment 307605

Here are the images of her and her enclosure. The lock in her enclosure is where I found her on her back. A user told me to take her out of the ICU and now she's in a different container.

Looks a little leggy, is this a Mature male??

 

[KingCosmo]

Looks a little leggy, is this a Mature male??

All honesty I never knew if she was a male or female, It was my very first t I’ve had it for around 5 years. The place I first got the t claimed it was a female

If this might help, he or she would often go into the no eating mode and just wouldn’t eat for like an extremely long time. I’d usually check once a week if she would eat for a couple months and then she would start to eat again. I’ve noticed it only starts during the colder months. She just started eating not long ago probably like 2 weeks ago. I’m pretty confident that one of my feeders was the reason. I really can’t piece this together because my other t’s are next to her and they’re just fine. They were in a hibernative state but they’ve came out and started eating.

 

[EtienneN]

This is a stretch, but could there have been a piece of vegetable that you gave the feeder that wasn’t washed and could have had pesticides?

 

[KingCosmo]

This is a stretch, but could there have been a piece of vegetable that you gave the feeder that wasn’t washed and could have had pesticides?

I haven’t thought of that, that seems to be the most likely. The vegetables I use are usually the scraps after cutting for like lunch/dinner

 

[EtienneN]

Man that really sucks. You’re sure your other tarantulas are okay?

 

[KingCosmo]

Man that really sucks. You’re sure your other tarantulas are okay?

Yeah they’re alright. I went to my local reptile store and picked up superworms for them to eat while I figured this out

 

[Teal]

How high is the lid of the container from the substrate? I'm not a betting person, but if I was, my money would be on that spider having climbed, fallen, and experienced a break in the exoskeleton that led to a fatal leak of fluids.

Did you notice any sort of liquid when you moved the T?

 

[Vanessa]

A tiny bit of exposure to pesticides on a piece of vegetable fed to a cricket is not going to kill a full grown tarantula with a glacial metabolism in one day. Tarantulas take a long time to die in many cases, unless they have experienced some sort of trauma or acute exposure to chemicals of some sort.

 

[KingCosmo]

How high is the lid of the container from the substrate? I'm not a betting person, but if I was, my money would be on that spider having climbed, fallen, and experienced a break in the exoskeleton that led to a fatal leak of fluids.

Did you notice any sort of liquid when you moved the T?

There was some liquid towards the mouth, that also a very likely possibility but I've never seen her climb the enclosure since I first got her. But that still doesn't mean she could've not climbed the container

 

[cold blood]

There was some liquid towards the mouth, that also a very likely possibility but I've never seen her climb the enclosure since I first got her. But that still doesn't mean she could've not climbed the container

how much space is there between the substrate and the top of the enclosure? Does it have a screen top?

fact: all ts climb from time to time. Just because one doesnt see it happen, doesnt mean it doesnt happen. No one watches every t 24/7.

 

[KingCosmo]

how much space is there between the substrate and the top of the enclosure? Does it have a screen top?

fact: all ts climb from time to time. Just because one doesnt see it happen, doesnt mean it doesnt happen. No one watches every t 24/7.

There's a lot of space and it does have a screen on the top, here is a picture of when I found her. Notice the wet substrate that's towards her mouth. I think this is the cause of death.

 

[cold blood]

Well there you have it, the reason we always tell people to add more substrate and remove screen tops...danger plus danger equals dead tarantulas. One fall is all it takes.

Tarantulas don't go on their backs to die, only to molt. A dead, not molting tarantula, that is on its back almost certainly fell and landed that way.

 

[Beggottenson]

Well there you have it, the reason we always tell people to add more substrate and remove screen tops...danger plus danger equals dead tarantulas. One fall is all it takes.

Tarantulas don't go on their backs to die, only to molt. A dead, not molting tarantula, that is on its back almost certainly fell and landed that way.

Exactly as I read this I heard rustling in my room I looked to my left and guess what I saw... my p Cancerides climbing on the mesh