Used super glue on spider to close hemolymph leak, and now shes molting.

[Mister Senpai]

Hi,

I was feeding my Dolomedes Minor (NZ native species), and she jumped from the enclosure and smacked on the ground. I saw a gooey thing coming out of her abdomen and figured she ruptured her abdomen and hemolymph was coming out. I applied super glue on the wound to stop the "bleeding" and put her in a sorta empty container, so dirt from her enclosure wouldn't stick to the glue. I called it a day and went to some family dinner.

When I came home, I was bracing myself if she died, but I saw that she was upside down, with half of her previous exoskeleton off, in the process of molting. At first, I was relieved, but then I remembered I only put super glue not too long ago. I'm scared that the superglue I applied would stick her old exoskeleton to her abdomen and she'd get stuck.

Do you advise that I just wait a day or smth to see how it is or take action now?
In addition, around 10 hours from now, I'll leave my house to go to the airport to leave all my T's back home for the next 5 weeks. So I only have 10 hours to work with here. I can't let her sit in the container, as its barren, and she needs to go back to her enclosure, in addition, I don't even know if she can get out of her molt due to the super glue.

Honestly, the timing of all these events suck! Fatal fall, molting and leaving tomorrow.

Thanks any help would be most appreciated!

If you guys need more pictures, please let me know.

 

[Arachnophoric]

Precisely why I'm wary of superglue as a fix for a rupture. For future reference, using corn starch on the wound should stop the bleeding in a situation like this.

If she's molting successfully, I'd wait a little bit (a couple hours at most) to see if she can get out okay. It looks like her legs ate completely free, is the abdomen stuck on? More photos of the abdomen (and the wound) would be helpful.

If she is stuck, I wouldn't wait a day to intervene since the longer you wait the more the exo hardens and will be difficult to remove safely. If she manages to get it off but the exuvia is stuck by the location you glued, I'd attempt to carefully cut around it, leaving the old piece of molt glued to her. Trying to remove it would likely reopen the rupture.

 

[Pepper]

Yeah, that timing does suck.

Heres how i would do it. Give her as much time as possible to recover from the molt, like start working 30 min before you leave. Transfer her as gently as possible, like scoop her from underneath with the classic paper & cup method. When shes back home, slowly pull the molt to see if its attached. If it is, try to trim it with small scissors so the least bit possible of old molt is attached, not blocking anus, spinnerets, lungs (im imagining it on top or back of the abdomen?)

If you didnt expect this molt (she was going for food when she fell, right?) Its possible that she initiated the molt in response to the injury. Hope you come home to a healthy baby

 

[Mister Senpai]

Precisely why I'm wary of superglue as a fix for a rupture. For future reference, using corn starch on the wound should stop the bleeding in a situation like this.

If she's molting successfully, I'd wait a little bit (a couple hours at most) to see if she can get out okay. It looks like her legs ate completely free, is the abdomen stuck on? More photos of the abdomen (and the wound) would be helpful.

If she is stuck, I wouldn't wait a day to intervene since the longer you wait the more the exo hardens and will be difficult to remove safely. If she manages to get it off but the exuvia is stuck by the location you glued, I'd attempt to carefully cut around it, leaving the old piece of molt glued to her. Trying to remove it would likely reopen the rupture.

Sorta hard to get a pic but here's the best I could get.

This probably isn't useful, but I took a short time-lapse of it.

Yeah, that timing does suck.

Heres how i would do it. Give her as much time as possible to recover from the molt, like start working 30 min before you leave. Transfer her as gently as possible, like scoop her from underneath with the classic paper & cup method. When shes back home, slowly pull the molt to see if its attached. If it is, try to trim it with small scissors so the least bit possible of old molt is attached, not blocking anus, spinnerets, lungs (im imagining it on top or back of the abdomen?)

If you didnt expect this molt (she was going for food when she fell, right?) Its possible that she initiated the molt in response to the injury. Hope you come home to a healthy baby

She's got a very P Metallica attitude, very bolty. So I'm not sure if she was just going to attack/bolting, or about to grab the prey. I have tong fed her before tho.

 

[Pepper]

She's got a very P Metallica attitude, very bolty. So I'm not sure if she was just going to attack/bolting, or about to grab the prey. I have tong fed her before tho.

Well there are other indicators of when shes due for a molt, like previous molt dates taken in consideration with size. It sounds like more than a coincidence to me and id be interested to know if that is a real "defense mechanism."
How's she doing now?

 

[Mister Senpai]

Well there are other indicators of when shes due for a molt, like previous molt dates taken in consideration with size. It sounds like more than a coincidence to me and id be interested to know if that is a real "defense mechanism."
How's she doing now?

Glue part came off and she survived the molt. There is another problem, one of her legs got stuck in the molt so I had to cut the molt around it, and now that leg is pretty limp, and she's likely going to shed the leg. While still sad, a lot better than the previous situation.

 

[ShyDragoness]

Glue part came off and she survived the molt. There is another problem, one of her legs got stuck in the molt so I had to cut the molt around it, and now that leg is pretty limp, and she's likely going to shed the leg. While still sad, a lot better than the previous situation.

Alive with a dropped leg is alot better than a ruptured abdomen! Keep us updated on how she goes

 

[RezonantVoid]

I've had funnelwebs fail a molt from a seemingly healed abdominal rupture so overall I think this was a good outcome