Today in the Spider Room?

[8 legged]

Young B. auratum from 2019 / B. hamorii


Aphonopelma johnnycashi from 2021 / young Th. pruriens from my own cb 2021 (then still Theraphosinae sp piura)


Female Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens from 2020 / Erusus walckenaeri, adult male from 2021 - his time is short (but in he females enclosure already ;-)


Lycosa praegrandis from 2021

 

[Pedipalpable]

A sad day in the spider room today as I confirm that my 0.0.1 2” Pamphobeteus sp. Machala sling has passed. I noticed it flipped on its back, flailing its legs and unable to right itself on Sunday afternoon. It became weaker and weaker, its limbs limp and curled, seemingly having lost hydraulic pressure. It also displayed dyskinesia/DKS like twitching throughout its decline from then until it passed sometime last night. I have no idea what could have caused this. My strongest suspicion is dehydration due to failure to properly molt the sucking stomach, but I need to examine its last molt under a microscope to confirm that hypothesis. I did my best to rehydrate the little one, and it seemed to go between looking better and then worse before ultimately passing. I have frozen the dead sling and may attempt to preserve it in epoxy or something similar.

I am quite upset about its passing. I am trying not blame myself, but it is difficult. I am not sure what bothers me more; that I will never know for sure what caused its decline and death, and what I could have done differently that may have saved it or prevented this from happening. Or that I will not get to watch it grow up. I see growing small slings up to maturity as being the most enjoyable and rewarding aspect of this hobby, even though I have not been in it long enough to have any of my spiders mature.

I may write up a detailed report thread on its decline and death if I feel able to. I feel that any first-hand information we can amass on how our beloved Ts sometimes just mysteriously die without any obvious cause is helpful for us hobbyists as a collective. We'll see. There are a lot of details I will need to articulate, and I do not feel up to the task right now. No sense in making the hobby stressful for myself.

A ventral and a dorsal shot of the dead sling before I placed it in a vial full of cotton balls and stored it in the freezer:




Rest easy, little one. You will be missed.

 

[YellowBrickRoad]

I too had a death in the tarantula family. 100% unexpected. She's a rescue T from almost 1.5yrs ago. Brachypelma boehmei 5in adult female.

She was one of my favorite. Always out, no bristle flicking, no attitude, and always ate. About 2 weeks ago I noticed see hadn't moved, which is odd because she was always somewhere hanging out just never in the same spot for extended periods of time.

Anyway, I finally rustled up the courage to check on her last night. She's gone.

Here she is so thirsty after I brought her home.



Chilling



And her final resting position.




She'll be missed.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Very sorry to hear of both of your losses. It especially sucks to lose a beloved pet and have no idea why. While I, first-hand, understand blaming yourself, I fully expect everyone's analysis to show you did everything you could for these beautiful spiders.

@Pedipalpable Did she recently molt? If your suspicion about the sucking stomach is right, there was really nothing more you could have done. While I know that doesn't change anything, it at least provided some solace for me that others didn't see any obvious errors in my husbandry. I hope it gives you some solace, too. If it was awhile ago, is it possible she tried to molt, but couldn't pop her carapace? Not getting to see one in your care make it to adulthood is so rough.

@YellowBrickRoad is there any chance she was exposed to any chemical? That's a strange position to pass in. Did she recently molt as well? She was so fortunate to have her last 1.5 years in a good home with you. She likely would not have had that otherwise.

My condolences to you both. :.-{

 

[YellowBrickRoad]

Very sorry to hear of both of your losses. It especially sucks to lose a beloved pet and have no idea why. While I, first-hand, understand blaming yourself, I fully expect everyone's analysis to show you did everything you could for these beautiful spiders.

@Pedipalpable Did she recently molt? If your suspicion about the sucking stomach is right, there was really nothing more you could have done. While I know that doesn't change anything, it at least provided some solace for me that others didn't see any obvious errors in my husbandry. I hope it gives you some solace, too. If it was awhile ago, is it possible she tried to molt, but couldn't pop her carapace? Not getting to see one in your care make it to adulthood is so rough.

@YellowBrickRoad is there any chance she was exposed to any chemical? That's a strange position to pass in. Did she recently molt as well? She was so fortunate to have her last 1.5 years in a good home with you. She likely would not have had that otherwise.

My condolences to you both. :.-{

Hey buddy, yeah, I dont know what to say? She was in the bedroom with 11 others Ts, some have molted in the last month, everybody eats.

As far as I know there haven't been any chemicals in this room, sprays and what not. Its a lightly traveled room. She never molted here, I thought she was due a molt? Maybe thats why it didn't smell after 2-3 days dead. She still doesn't smell. Maybe she had trouble popping her own top?

Of course I'm just racking my brain and losing sleep over here. I'm still processing it all today.

Oh well, tomorrow is T delivery day, surely I'll feel better. I'm going to go give my Ts some love, maybe somebody needs some water? Just want the rest of them to know they are cared for.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[spideyspinneret78]

Crawlspace 0.1 P. cambridgei, finally came out after 6 months of hiding and a long awaited molt last week. She's one of my favorites. I missed her!

 

[spideyspinneret78]

It's the perfect day in the spider room for some of the big girls to be getting special treats!

 

[Chris73G]

Rehoused my juvenile boehmei into a nicer enclosure. Originally i did put her in a storage box made out of milky plastic, thinking this would just be temporary and that she´ll outgrow that one soon so i could put her in her "adult enclosure". Turns out, she´s a true brachyphelma when it comes to growing speed, so i bought her a nicer 8x8x8 enclosure since i won´t move her to her final enclosure anytime soon:

(and before anyone asks: No, that mesh on top is more like perforated metal and not that kind of "woven mesh" in which she could get her claws stuck ),

 

[YellowBrickRoad]

Took a couple pictures. T. schroederi, Mexican black beauty. Small 3.5in F. Gentle and always hungry. One of my best Brachys. Oops, did I say that?





Cheers.

 

[MariaLewisia]

Rehoused my G. pulchra juvenile, Idun, yesterday since she's just come out of her gloomy "it's not a phase mooom just leave me alone" fossorial period and decided she wanted to be a terrestrial again. Good timing - her latest moult was her first jet black one so I'm not complaining.

Went to check on her today and during the night she rewarded my hard efforts by emptying her entire water dish and soaking the substrate. Thanks Idun. You didn't really deserve that worm.

 

[Shinn]

Feeding wild window spood again.

 

[MariaLewisia]

Feeding wild window spood again.
View attachment 451326

Love the mealworm carcasses lined up like trophies in the back.

 

[Shinn]

Love the mealworm carcasses lined up like trophies in the back.

She is going with the Predator aesthetics for her room. The old molt looks like a facehugger.

 

[MariaLewisia]

The males from the clutch of L1 C. elegans slings I bought last September have begun to mature. It's been a struggle getting any moults at all from them to sex except for a handful, so it's been fun seeing the males pop up, like this one today! My own adult female is on a sac now (will pull next week) so these will all go to other breeders.

 

[Chris73G]

My juvenile boehmei has got to be one of the most finicky eaters ever. I bought her eleven months ago and except for chewing on half a cricket she never ate, despite me offering all kinds of prey in different sizes. Two weeks ago she molted, her fangs were black, she was behaving normally and yesterday i thought "if there´s ever a t which got to be hungry after eleven months of not eating and a recent molt, it must be this one", offered her a small locust and she ignored or even thread-posed it.
Today i ripped the back legs out of the poor small locust und smashed its head and gently placed the near-death locust with two legs less than usual right in front of the boehmeis hide so she would stumble upon the helpless creature when coming out of her den.
And finally... "SHE TOOK IT!!!"

 

[spideyspinneret78]

Was able to get a good look at Jasmine (P. ornata) today. I have her enclosure down in the basement because it's slightly cooler as well as quiet with fewer disturbances. She was paired about 6 weeks ago. I'm seeing her abdomen starting to get bigger and am hoping she's gravid!

 

[MariaLewisia]

I've been feeling under the weather these past few days with fever and headaches, so this was a very pleasant break!



Cyriocosmus elegans. You wouldn't believe how tiny these are, or how many there are. Haven't counted them yet but I think we're way over the 100 mark. They look very healthy. Zero infertile eggs and only three bad ones in total.



Psalmopoeus reduncus. Very very nice sac with zero bad or infertile eggs. About 100~ in total.

I'm so pleased with my girls, both of whom were first time mothers. They're currently snacking on some well deserved roaches. Good job, ladies!

 

[8 legged]

Sorry, there are more than 8-legged creatures in my spider room ;-)

B. auratum sling eating / Th. blondi 0.1 doing her thing...


B. hamorii 0.1 (hand behind glass, just for comparision) / same spider thirsty

Young Heterodon simus red phase; before (so yesterday in the spider room) and after shedding...

Thrixopelma pruriens, young 1.0 eating / Heterodon nasicus "Yeti" 0.1 (ready to breed next year!)

...and my loved Limburg Albino Rosy Boa! (1.0)

 

[MariaLewisia]

Sorry, there are more than 8-legged creatures in my spider room ;-)

B. auratum sling eating / Th. blondi 0.1 doing her thing...
View attachment 451698 View attachment 451699

B. hamorii 0.1 (hand behind glass, just for comparision) / same spider thirsty
View attachment 451700 View attachment 451701
Young Heterodon simus red phase; before (so yesterday in the spider room) and after shedding...
View attachment 451702 View attachment 451703 View attachment 451704
Thrixopelma pruriens, young 1.0 eating / Heterodon nasicus "Yeti" 0.1 (ready to breed next year!)
View attachment 451705 View attachment 451706
...and my loved Limburg Albino Rosy Boa! (1.0)
View attachment 451707

That is one gorgeous looking B. hamorii! Those colours - wow!

And is Yeti a snow morph, by any chance? If so I have an identical little snowlady, "Vilhelmina".

 

[8 legged]

That is one gorgeous looking B. hamorii! Those colours - wow!

And is Yeti a snow morph, by any chance? If so I have an identical little snowlady, "Vilhelmina".

Nice; a Yeti is a snow (albino/axanthic) anaconda. So next year I hope for Superyetis, I have a albino, anaconda het anxantic male...