Unexpected loss

[waynerowley]

Sadly, I have to report the unexpected and unexplained loss of my T. seladonia sling, which I found dead in its enclosure yesterday evening.

It was alive and moving around on Friday, and it was feeding just a week ago. I've had the sling for over 7 months, it has been eating and moulting and behaving normally as far as I can tell - pretty much up until it died. The only odd behaviour over the last few days was that it left its trap-door and was moving around the enclosure. I assumed it was looking for a new location as it had pretty much outgrown its old one.

Cause is unknown, so I can't rule out a mistake or husbandry error on my part.

Sad and frustrating!

Wayne

 

[viper69]

Not surprised with new species esp this one

know someone that had 5, 3 died

For me, they aren’t worth the money as so many die.

 

[Tentacle Toast]

My condolences, friend.

 

[RezonantVoid]

Sorry to hear. Just in case there's something that may have been missed, are there any photos of the setup or a list of what materials were in it?

 

[waynerowley]

Sorry to hear. Just in case there's something that may have been missed, are there any photos of the setup or a list of what materials were in it?

Photo below but it's not of the entire enclosure.

Description:

Sling container/pot. Small amount of substrate (Spider Life) combined with some small bits of sphagnum moss and lichen and cork wood shavings. Small piece of cork bark with plenty of potential holes (thought the spider ended up webbing on the back.

Plenty of ventilation holes in the plastic lid.

No idea if this was an issue with the spider or husbandry.

If husbandry then I wonder about the following:

• Too little ventilation. I really don't know. I did open the lid completely 1-2 times a week to feed and/or water
• Too little moisture. I wonder if I was keeping it too dry? I would drop some water in it once a week to simulate some rain drops. When I cleared out the enclosure after it had died I took it out into the sun, and saw some condensation below the substrate line, so there was some moisture in it.
• Overheating. This perhaps worries me the most. The shelf with my spiders are on gets some sunlight for an hour or so towards the end of the day (not full sunlight, there is a net curtain across the window). As we approach summer there is a bit more heat in the sun (ambient temps around 18C outside). Not an issue for the larger slings and spiders, but this was such a small enclosure, I wonder if it could overheat?

Picture:

 

[8 legged]

This is a pity. I also lost one of my two TS slings - absolutely identical conditions...
I found an article that states that even a high proportion of them do not survive in the wild. I'll look for the link later and will post it when I find it...