weird H.mac death

Ben nagy

Arachnopeon
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Aug 12, 2019
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late last night i found my Hmac on the bottom of its enclosure twitching i opened the enclosure and saw it lost its right pedepalp and was bleeding out.. any ideas of what happened..?
 

Ben nagy

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Aug 12, 2019
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she’s about 2” recently molted i had her in a large deli cup she made a burrow behind the cork.
i don’t know what happened there’s nothing for her to get caught on..
i always feel like a bad keeper and that i did something wrong when i lose a tarantula..
F4E8BCC3-C0DB-486A-B518-5494DB8E17A0.jpeg 2F500C52-0DE0-4483-89C1-064D5D819B2C.jpeg DD71693B-5153-4011-AE22-BB26E0278734.jpeg
 

Nightstalker47

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Have you been watering it at all? This species still does well with a little moisture IME, your dish and sub looks bone dry...it might've been thirsty and succumbed to dehydration.The fact that it was burrowing could point to it looking for damp soil.
 

Ben nagy

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yes i’ve been giving it water it’s just a bottle cap so it drys up after a day or two. I also allow the top layer of substrate to dry out while leaving the bottom layers moist to allow the tarantula to get the desired moisture it wants/needs.
 

Poonjab

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You mentioned you feel like a bad keeper when you “lose” tarantulas. I take this as meaning you’ve had multiple deaths on your hands. There isn’t by chance someone in your household who hates spiders and is sabotaging you? Sometimes they die for unknown reasons. This case however stands out as odd to me. Especially after seeing the enclosure.
 

Ben nagy

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just about everyone in the house hates spiders but they hate them so much they wont dare to even go in my room so no i dont think somone would be "sabostaging" especially without getting bit, the hmac was crazy.
and yes ive had more then one death. Versicolor died of what i believe to be nemitodes (i made a thread on it, i didnt know about nemitodes effecting tarantulas at the time), T stirmi died from "impaction/constipation" if thats a thing in tarantulas (there was fecal matter stuck and hardened all over the abdomen) i also had a H javana pass and now the hmac. I don't know if im doing something wrong but all i can do is learn.
 
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Poonjab

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just about everyone in the house hates spiders but they hate them so much they wont dare to even go in my room so no i dont think somone would be "sabostaging" especially without getting bit, the hmac was crazy.
and yes ive had more then one death. Versicolor died of what i believe to be nemitodes (i made a thread on it, i didnt know about nemitodes effecting tarantulas at the time), T stirmi died from "impaction/constipation" if thats a thing in tarantulas (there was fecal matter stuck and hardened all over the abdomen) i also had a H javana pass and now the hmac. I don't know if im doing something wrong but all i can do is learn.
All of those, while rare, can and do happen. So I wouldn’t beat yourself up over it. The death that you mentioned above just stood out as super odd to me. Just keep at it is all I can say at this point.
 

cold blood

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What temps are they kept at...are they heated? Near a window? kept at ground level?
 

Ben nagy

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Temperatures during the day are 22-25 celsius during the day i let it cool down a few degrees at night. I heat them with a space heater around to 8 feet away.

All of my tarantulas are by a window as shown in the picture



F79C38D2-99F4-4879-B671-CE5DF2A0D2F3.jpeg
 

cold blood

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Just speculating....being in a similarly cold climate i know windows can sometimes become drafty....cool air leaking through the window would be one thing to consider...for tropical species this could be a problem, especially long term, and it its been effecting them all winter it could provide an answer...it could also not be the answer, but its something to consider.
 

Johnny

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Dec 22, 2013
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Almost everyone responding seems to be forgetting this important part, "it lost its right pedepalp and was bleeding out ".

My guess is that it put part of the pedipalp thorugh one of the vent holes. slipped and fell, and broke off the palp.
 

cold blood

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Almost everyone responding seems to be forgetting this important part, "it lost its right pedepalp and was bleeding out ".

My guess is that it put part of the pedipalp thorugh one of the vent holes. slipped and fell, and broke off the palp.
Palps and legs have a valve at the base that closes in cases of injury or damage....they almost never bleed out from such injuries.
 

Ben nagy

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Palps and legs have a valve at the base that closes in cases of injury or damage....they almost never bleed out from such injuries.
it can still happen. The same thing happened to Tom Moran a few years ago with one of his avics. I noticed that the hmac just like poecilotheria they like to wedge themselves between cork bark my guess is she wasn't hardened properly and got it stuck between the cork and the container or in one of the air holes. I did find her behind the cork.
 

cold blood

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it can still happen. The same thing happened to Tom Moran a few years ago with one of his avics. I noticed that the hmac just like poecilotheria they like to wedge themselves between cork bark my guess is she wasn't hardened properly and got it stuck between the cork and the container or in one of the air holes. I did find her behind the cork.
Thats why i said ALMOST NEVER...sure, it can, but its exceedingly rare.
 

Swagg

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Did it release the palp? or was it chewed up, like a feeder was in there?
 

Ben nagy

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she released it. i didn’t find any feeders in the enclosure. I always remove pray items the next day after feeding

oh one more thing i never actually saw the lost pedipalp anywhere in the enclosure
 
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