URGENT! SLINGS DYING!

ledzeppelin

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jan 8, 2013
Messages
433
Hello everybody!
Firstly I would like to apologize for abandoning you for a couple of months now. I've been so preoccupied with college I didn't have time to be as active as I used to be.

Now I have a serious pattern on my hands. I've lost 3 slings in the past weeks and I've noticed that they all perished a few days to a week after they'd successfully molted. This is the only pattern that seems consistent. They are all well hydrated and exclusively fed on the diet of cut up mealworms. I have no clue what could it be. I fear that I have some parasite infestation or something. This has never happened to me before..

Why do I keep finding younglings in deathcurls?? :S
Any insight would be much appreciated
LZ
 

ledzeppelin

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jan 8, 2013
Messages
433
Set ups used?
As they are required trust me on that one. I don't want to be a know-it-all and I understand that this is really a good question for trubleshooting but I do take proper care of my spiders. Setups are as they should be.. Each species was met with the right conditions :( I know that some slings have weaker genes and all but this cannot be a coincidence
 

KezyGLA

Arachnoking
Joined
Apr 8, 2016
Messages
3,013
I have seen slings that hatched out make it to 2i then all die. I dont know why this is either. I am unsure what your problem may be. I have lost 6 of 10 my Harpactira guttata slings to bad moults in past 2 weeks.

I feel your pain man :(
 

Trenor

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
1,896
Are they near any vents? I lost one right after a molt when my Ts were on the bookshelf in the living room. I couldn't figure it out till I felt a light draft at my feet a week later and realized the bookshelf was sitting on a floor vent. After several years I forgot the floor vent was even there. The light cool air was enough to take out the small sling after it had molted.
 

Goodlukwitthat

Arachnoknight
Joined
Mar 10, 2015
Messages
178
By chance are they kept in your dorm, apartment, parents house? Any chances of chemicals being sprayed? Open windows with a breeze that could have helped chemicals enter the room? use of air fresheners, carpet deodorizers or the carpet fragrances you use before you vacuum?
 

Paiige

Arachnobaron
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
335
Have any of them eaten post-molt? I know you said a few days to a week so not sure if the week-long ones had a chance
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
I'm sorry for your loss, of course. But you know what to do when poop happens... those that still lives, lives for fight another day.
 

Venom1080

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Sep 24, 2015
Messages
4,611
well, after molt they are very susceptible to, well, pretty much everything. the only thing i can think of is a loss of fluids. check for drafts and/or vents near the cages. maybe they are too close to a space heater?
 

Andrea82

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
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3,686
Any other odd behaviour before they perished? Twitching, loss of coordination? Drinking well? Eaten?
 

ledzeppelin

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jan 8, 2013
Messages
433
Thank you all for your replies. I was busy making some changes with my spiders so that I can eliminate some factors. My slings were on the shelf by the window. (the window has the old shutters which were always down so that spot was always dark) But there was a tiny, and I mean tiny little draft there..The window is older and if you put your hand on the window you would feel the slightest cold. I had the spiders there for years with no deaths. I have moved everything to the other side of the room today just in case, but I don't really think that the position was fatal for them.. Many of them grew up there from 2i on. The shelf is above the radiator which at a very low setting kept them warm during winter, when my room is quite chilly. That's the only reason I had them there for years.. I don't really know..

Versicolor was active for a few days after a molt and then perished.. Waterdish was full. P. sazimai had no water dish but died shortly after molting.. I'd say one day after the molt or the same day. The molt was clean. P. sazimai didn't have a water dish because it was 2i but was plump ( had misting regularly and damp soil) and ate quite regularly. The only one that boggles me is P. pulcher. A few days after a molt I offered half a mealworm, which it ate. Its body was plump and the water dish was filled and soil was misted. 2 days after it ate I found it in a deathcurl with severely wrinkled abdomen. Which is the oddest thing to me. Plump to the point of fat almost 2 days prior.. Still had water in the dish and nothing was dry. This is why I suspected some parasites.


And to answer other questions, my floor is chemical free.

Sorry I kept you waiting ladies and gentlemen!

On a completely different note: It's good to be back, despite the circumstances. I've missed you ;) I'll be on and off now for another month, and then I'm all yours :p

@Venom1080 @Andrea82 @Chris LXXIX @Paiige
 

Nightstalker47

Arachnoking
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
2,612
My slings were on the shelf by the window. (the window has the old shutters which were always down so that spot was always dark) But there was a tiny, and I mean tiny little draft there..The window is older and if you put your hand on the window you would feel the slightest cold. I had the spiders there for years with no deaths. I have moved everything to the other side of the room today just in case, but I don't really think that the position was fatal for them.. Many of them grew up there from 2i on. The shelf is above the radiator which at a very low setting kept them warm during winter
It's and odd situation, sucks to lose all those Ts. It's just seems overly coincidental for them to have all died around the same time. Maybe some kind of contaminant got introduced, unless this cold draft/heating had something to do with it. What are the temps in your room? Are all your other Ts unaffected?
 

cold blood

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
Messages
13,223
My slings were on the shelf by the window. (the window has the old shutters which were always down so that spot was always dark) But there was a tiny, and I mean tiny little draft there..The window is older and if you put your hand on the window you would feel the slightest cold.
My very first thought was temps. After molting, slings are susceptible to cold much more than at other times. A tiny draft, if cold enough may be the issue...it may not be, for all I know its 75 degrees outside during this. A draft isn't a big issue unless its a cold one, so that drafty window may just not be an issue 90% of the time (just speculating). I do have a similarly drafty window, and I make sure to keep slings away from that wall in winter just to be safe.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
@ledzeppelin Nice to see you still around.

I have to agree w/the others around the draft. In point of fact we won't know, and it could be just a coincidence, not every T is meant to make it. I know the feeling.
 

ledzeppelin

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jan 8, 2013
Messages
433
@ledzeppelin Nice to see you still around.

I have to agree w/the others around the draft. In point of fact we won't know, and it could be just a coincidence, not every T is meant to make it. I know the feeling.
@cold blood

I have moved them all away and hope that it really was due to that draft.. Although I must point out that temps in my room in the past weeks were in mid 20s °C. We've had one of the hottest springs here in Slovenia :D Admittedly, the night temps dropped to about 18°C in my room and about 0 - 2°C outside.

All my other million slings seem to be doing perfectly fine so far.

Thank you guys and girls for such quick responses! You've helped all you could and will update if anything happens :)

LZ
 
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