Trying to save my GBB

[Lucyan111]

Dear all,
I write here as the last resort, perhaps you will have a suggestion.

I have this GBB since December 2023 (my first tarantula). In the mean time, it has been exhibiting normal tarantula behavior, spinning web, eating, moving around.
I have fed it mostly with meal worms, as suggested by the local petshop. I admit that some of them went into the substrate and I didn’t catch them and left them there.

Around 15th of March this year it has molted - while i was away in vacation. I found an almost perfect full exoscheleton.
I also found large black beetles (obviously the meal worms).

Since then, it never ate, and slowly slowly its condition got worse - moving sluggishly, staying in strange positions (legs a bit curled - but not the death curl).
Of course during this time everybody including the seller reassured me it was going to be fine, so I took no action.

Finally, I can see that it start to stay on it’s back. It’s not dead yet, and I saw that sometimes it gets back on it’s feet, but it’s very weak.

I removed all the beetles (which I found now are not safe for her). I assume it could be dehydrated, since few days ago it simply staid in it’s water tray (which was always available).

I tried to put a droplet of water into its mouth and placed some wet paper towels inside the terrarium.

I see no parasite, no signs of damage or hemolimph leakage.

I have attached three pictures : the molting leftover, staying in the water, and the current situation.

The temperature is around 23 Celsius in my house.

I welcome any suggestion,
Thanks.

 

[Wolfram1]

Has it molted its sucking stomach?
for reference:

Psalmopoeus irminia molt

I assume this is the pumping stomach.

arachnoboards.com

If it hasn't it may have lost the ability to feed or drink alltogether...

 

[fcat]

Is the 2nd picture post or premolt?

It looks like some exuvia is covering her spinnerets

 

[Lucyan111]

Both pictures are post molt - including this one which I have just taken. It has turned on its feet again (same thing happened yesterday).
I’m checking now about the stomach.
Thanks for the quick reply,

This could be the stomach perhaps ?

 

[MGHamlin]

I'm far from an expert, but it looks like the molt didn't go swimmingly for the abdomen. Is it possible the anus is obstructed causing impaction? Perhaps attempt to remove any exuvia from the last molt very carefully with a wet q-tip? As I said, I'm far from an expert, so you might wait for other opinions before attempting. Definitely at least do some searches for removing exuvia before you attempt anything. There's lot of good info on this site.

 

[fcat]

Read this guide

Tarantula Stuck in Its Molt? Look Here for Advice

Tarantulas sometimes get stuck during molting – it happens, nobody really knows why. Accordingly there are a lot of threads that go “Help, my tarantula is stuck, what should I do?” More often than not the advice is to do nothing because ‘the tarantula knows best how to be a tarantula’. I think...

arachnoboards.com

You might need glycerin to dislodge the exuvia

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

In that last picture it looks like she got the exuvia off, but definitely check her anus. She also looks plenty plump for post molt. Flipping on her back like that does sound like something could have gone wrong and she wants to molt again. I couldn’t see the sucking stomach in your picture there, but it could just be my eyes. Those beetles can do damage to your freshly molted T. Never leave feeders in there more than 24 hours. Unfortunately we don’t really know enough about sick tarantulas to advise more than keep trying to give her water. Please keep us posted.

 

[Lucyan111]

Thanks a lot for your help. Unfortunately she died yesterday morning and I was too upset to write here.

She remained in a position like trying to drink water from a new water tray I added in addition to the already existing one.

The beetles left there for a while were clearly a mistake, but I could not see any sign of damage caused by them (provided this can be seen).

Anything else I can check on it in order not to repeat the mistakes ?

 

[Wolfram1]

Sadly a mismolt of the internal parts of the exuvie is one of the few things we can do nothing about

it is rare, but it does happen
in your case i don't see the sucking stomach on the molt. it may have broken off after the molt, but i expect this was the ultimate cause.
As it got weaker it will have started beeing unable to move properly, falling over and in the process loosing some of the seae on the abdomen, so the balding, unclean look is not a sign of bad care, but rather secondary signs of a spider suffering from dehydration.

right after a molt they have used up a lot of energy to grow the new exoskeleton fluids to get out of the old one, being unable to feed & especially drink will impact them hard in this stage and often they keep attemting to drink or feed but only mangle the prey in the process, that is the best way to recognize this

sadly i expect the small Trixopelma ockerti sling i bought a few months ago is suffering from the same problem, as it does not seem to be able to finish the food i provide it, nor does the abdomen increase in size after each attempt....

0.0.1 Thrixopelma ockerti (N1)

• Wolfram1
• Mar 2, 2024
• 5
• ockerti thrixopelma thrixopelma ockerti

david vs goliath
the one meal plan

it is still alive and well and i will continue caring for it just in case, but sadly i don't think there is any hope for it...

 

[fcat]

I just want to say I am sorry for your loss.

 

[freedomisle]

Thanks a lot for your help. Unfortunately she died yesterday morning and I was too upset to write here.

She remained in a position like trying to drink water from a new water tray I added in addition to the already existing one.

The beetles left there for a while were clearly a mistake, but I could not see any sign of damage caused by them (provided this can be seen).

Anything else I can check on it in order not to repeat the mistakes ?

Sorry for your loss.

Looks like your tarantula died from a bad molt. The cause of this could be due to a lack of water and/or humidity.

Did she always have access to a water dish with water?

Also the substrate looks very dry in the molting photo. All my Tarantulas have a water bowl that I fill every week and overflow onto the substrate - I do this for all my Tarantulas and they do very well no matter what sp.

When I see a Tarantula molting or about to molt (they put webbing down) I always ensure about 10-20% of substrate has water on it to increase the humidity slightly.

 

[Lucyan111]

Sorry for your loss.

Looks like your tarantula died from a bad molt. The cause of this could be due to a lack of water and/or humidity.

Did she always have access to a water dish with water?

Also the substrate looks very dry in the molting photo. All my Tarantulas have a water bowl that I fill every week and overflow onto the substrate - I do this for all my Tarantulas and they do very well no matter what sp.

When I see a Tarantula molting or about to molt (they put webbing down) I always ensure about 10-20% of substrate has water on it to increase the humidity slightly.

There was always a water tray with fresh water in the terrarium, but I was careful not to spill water on the substrate - indeed it was dry, but I thought it's supposed to be, being a GBB.

The humidity in the outside air was around 40% when it was moulting ( it's the typical winter here, now it's much higher).

Indeed it's a huge disappointment as we were expecting to have her for many many years. On the brighter side the owner of the shop already sent a younger one without even asking for it, and I already placed a hygrometer inside to keep things under control.

I will keep in mind all the advice, thank you.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

There was always a water tray with fresh water in the terrarium, but I was careful not to spill water on the substrate - indeed it was dry, but I thought it's supposed to be, being a GBB.

The humidity in the outside air was around 40% when it was moulting ( it's the typical winter here, now it's much higher).

Indeed it's a huge disappointment as we were expecting to have her for many many years. On the brighter side the owner of the shop already sent a younger one without even asking for it, and I already placed a hygrometer inside to keep things under control.

I will keep in mind all the advice, thank you.

Your very lucky my local shop has no receipts guarantees or anything I won’t be going back .. now I’m basically broke with no Jobs to be found. Lost a decent amount of $$ on 3 Ts.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

There was always a water tray with fresh water in the terrarium, but I was careful not to spill water on the substrate - indeed it was dry, but I thought it's supposed to be, being a GBB.

The humidity in the outside air was around 40% when it was moulting ( it's the typical winter here, now it's much higher).

Indeed it's a huge disappointment as we were expecting to have her for many many years. On the brighter side the owner of the shop already sent a younger one without even asking for it, and I already placed a hygrometer inside to keep things under control.

I will keep in mind all the advice, thank you.

I am sorry for your loss, but also congratulate you on your new addition. You don’t want to chase humidity numbers as that can be detrimental, often creating stuffy enclosures. I just over flow my GBB’s water dish from time to time or spray a little water down one corner when everything is completely dry. While they are kept dry, a user here noted they come from an area that does have higher humidity.