What is wrong? Please help!!!

stormie

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 17, 2010
Messages
4
Please help. My son's tarantula is a Mexican blonde. It was captured in the wild and we have had her for about a year. She's molted a couple of times with the last time being two weeks ago, almost to the day. This morning she was on her back and very still. She would move around periodically and had fluid coming from her fangs. I figured she was molting, again, but have been worried since it has been such a short time since her last molt. I've kept a close eye on her and suddenly she was up and around, again, but did NOT molt. Now she is very agitated. She is acting odd, almost stamping her legs in place, slingling dirt. She almost seems like her legs are stuck. Sort of off-balance. Also, she has a small amount of webbing on her backside. I'm scared she's sick. Please help if you know what might be happening. Thx.
 

Terry D

Arachnodemon
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Hey Stormie, Although I'm not one to be talking and bad about not doing the following, some pics or a vid might help. :)
 

Chris_Skeleton

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I've heard of spiders doing this before. The times I read about it, they believed their tarantula had DKS (Dyskinetic syndrome). And some of the others said after it happened, their T was just fine.
Hope all goes well.
 

Bill S

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My son's tarantula is a Mexican blonde. It was captured in the wild and we have had her for about a year.
Just to help you avoid future confusion - I think you meant Tucson Blonde. That's the variety you're most likely to capture in southern Arizona. (Aphonopelma chalcodes) Mexico prohibits capture and export of tarantulas, and I've never heard of one called a Mexican Blonde. (Although A. chalcodes is found close to and probably just over the border.)
 

BrettG

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Keep an eye on it,and make sure it has water. if you have other spiders,I would move it away from them asap.
 

Hobo

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
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Might be a mature male, are you sure it's female?
The "on it's back" thing might have been a sperm web,
"stamping it's feet" might be tapping, and the "off balance" might be that typical long legged MM swagger.

Any chance of some pics?
 

Londoner

Arachnoangel
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Might be a mature male, are you sure it's female?
The "on it's back" thing might have been a sperm web,
"stamping it's feet" might be tapping, and the "off balance" might be that typical long legged MM swagger.

Any chance of some pics?
This was my first thought. There seems to be an outbreak of MM threads recently :D.
 

stormie

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 17, 2010
Messages
4
I just wanted to respond to everyone's posts. I thank you for your help, especially the post that provided me with information on DKS. I looked into it and the videos online were exactly like the problems my T is experiencing. She's currently in the death curl and I believe on her way out.:( I am extremely saddened.

Thank you. I'm not an expert, but still learning. I believe you're right. Although, there is a such thing as a Mexican Blonde. Have a good day and thank you for responding.
 

xhexdx

ArachnoGod
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Oh, good. Google. Thanks so much for that...

:wall:
 

Bill S

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Oh, good. Google. Thanks so much for that...

:wall:
Gotta love those random Internet sources that don't let science or standards get in their way. :p

For those who want to know the "real" common names (not always the ones made up by amateurs on the web), there is a reference that gets posted here once in a while. It's "The Common Names of Arachnids", put out by the The American Arachnological Society, Committee on Common Names of Arachnids. It can fe found at http://www.atshq.org/articles/acn5.pdf. They do not recognize a "Mexican Blonde".

Interestingly enough, the also do not recognize "Tucson Blonde", although this is the name it's most often called in the hobby. The official designation is: Aphonopelma chalcodes Chamberlin, desert blond tarantula.
 

stormie

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 17, 2010
Messages
4
Thanks, again.

Again, I am not an expert, as I stated earlier in my postings. My original posting was placed due to the fact that I had a sick tarantula and I couldn't pinpoint the problem. Again, thank you to those people that responded to the situation that I had questions about. It was one of those responses that led me to the root of the problem. She officially died yesterday.:8o

To respond to the post regarding the Mexican Blonde. Again, not an expert, but there are these little things called "books" that were created way before your precious internet. Many books refer to these T's as Mexican Blondes. The internet is a great tool, and I am happy for the help I received because of it, but I am not trying to get into an internet dispute just because someone considers themselves an expert. That wasn't why I posted to this site.

“No man knows less than the man who knows it all”
 

popcangenie

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Aug 6, 2010
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hex if you google you can see that there are people that call them by different names theres alot of names for some animals ive see this sp once before listed as this
 

xhexdx

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Again, I am not an expert, as I stated earlier in my postings. My original posting was placed due to the fact that I had a sick tarantula and I couldn't pinpoint the problem. Again, thank you to those people that responded to the situation that I had questions about. It was one of those responses that led me to the root of the problem. She officially died yesterday.:8o

To respond to the post regarding the Mexican Blonde. Again, not an expert, but there are these little things called "books" that were created way before your precious internet. Many books refer to these T's as Mexican Blondes. The internet is a great tool, and I am happy for the help I received because of it, but I am not trying to get into an internet dispute just because someone considers themselves an expert. That wasn't why I posted to this site.

“No man knows less than the man who knows it all”
Maybe the third time is the charm...

Do you have a source?

Maybe you could...cite the book and possibly the page number?

Thanks so much.
 

starlight_kitsune

Arachnoknight
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Sep 9, 2010
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197
Common Names don't have a source. That's why they're "common names" different regions call different t's different things.

asking someone to cite a source for a common name is a bit pointless. Books are going to have the expert-recognized version of the name, not different regions common names.

BTW I've also heard it called a Mexican Blonde before, by people on this site and other various sources. It's one of those same t million different names issues
 

xhexdx

ArachnoGod
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You must not read many books...

...or this thread in its entirety.
 

starlight_kitsune

Arachnoknight
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You must not read many books...

...or this thread in its entirety.
You entirely missed my point which was that DIFFERENT AREAS OF THE COUNTRY AND WORLD HAVE DIFFERENT common names. That BESIDES the "real" common names that are accepted by the majority of the hobby, there are other common names that just aren't published and are used to describe different tarantulas in different areas.

One doesn't need a source to say that a specific tarantula was called a specific name in this area. Obviously where Stormie is A. Chalcodes is called a mexican blond.

BTW are you always so combative?
 
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