What is wrong with my pokie?!

mandipants

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 18, 2009
Messages
182
My P. regalis is about 4.5in now. The last molt it lost its pedipalps. I'll admit, I chalked it up to lazy spider keeping, as its water dish was dry when it molted. It molted again last night (water dish has been consistently full after the last experience). I was excited to see brand new tiny pedipalps in place to replace the lost ones. But then I noticed...its now missing a back leg!!!! The only theory I have is that it built its molting hammock in the top corner, and this morning the molt was at the bottom of the cage...so maybe it fell mid molt causing the injury? Why does my poor spider keep loosing limbs? Soon its going to be all gimpy looking with mismatched leg sizes and wimpy pedipalps. I have two others from the same egg sack, and never a problem. Ideas?...and no, there's no way either was a wet molt.
 

Spiderman24

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Messages
224
Sounds like the little guy is just having.g a rough time. It isn't your fault things happen.
 

Spidershane1

Arachnoknight
Joined
Apr 11, 2010
Messages
170
Do you have a hygrometer in its tank? If not, invest in one asap. You can get one at any petstore for like 7 bucks. For P. regalis, try to keep the humity around 80% give or take 10%.
And also, don't rely on just the water dish to keep it that humid. At least once a week, pour a good amount of water on the substrate & mix it all in with your hands until its pretty moist. You want it where if you squeeze a handfull, maybe a couple drops of water fall out, then fluff it back up. Also mist once a day, as arboreals like to drink the condensation from the tank walls/leaves. If humidity still wont stay up, try covering the screen of the tank like 3/4 with a plastic bag & adjust it until you get humidity perfect.

It sounds like she may have fallen during the molt, but theres not much you can do about those situations unless you catch them while they are happening. Concentrate on the humidity and keeping her hydrated in the future & she should be fine.
 

xhexdx

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 20, 2007
Messages
5,357
You don't need a hygrometer to properly keep a P. regalis...

You also don't want to mix the substrate with your hands. Just pour the water on it and let it soak down on its own.

You don't need to mist once a day.
 

Spidershane1

Arachnoknight
Joined
Apr 11, 2010
Messages
170
I refuse to get sucked into trolling yet again, I was simply telling him ways to quickly up his humidity & he can adjust it from there.
My post was geared towards letting him know that humitidy is the likely issue, not an in-depth 'how to' guide.
Offering him some advice of what to do might help a lil more than saying what doesn't need to be done.
 

Spiderman24

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Messages
224
How is he trolling you? Joe is completely right.... regalis is one of the hardest pokies. And mixing substrate with your hands is 100% a bad idea. And as for high humidity with regalis all I do is over flow her waterdish till the surrounding area is dampened and that's enough humidity. I do the same for most of my poecilotheria actually. I just don't understand how Joe giving correct advise and saving the guy a few dollars is trolling?


To the op. Once again what's done is done. It is possible she fell and harmed herself. Which has nothing to do with humidity. Or she could have gotten stuck in the molt and dropped the leg herself. Just be glad she's alive and kicking.>.< and don't completely stress because she's lost limbs like I said things happen. It's a part of life. These tarantulas have been around for centuries they can handle themselves with certain things and if captive born she's already known to how her environment is now. Tarantulas aren't stupid they do have instinct.
 

bioshock

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
164
Everyone else pretty much summed it up with the facts.. Her leg should grow back within time and as for her losing it maybe she fell, bad molt, etc?? Not a pokie expert here but hex sounds rights.
 

Spidershane1

Arachnoknight
Joined
Apr 11, 2010
Messages
170
No argumets from me here, I just come here to try to help people with their T's and maybe learn a few things myself, not bicker on peoples threads.
Good luck with your pokie, just keep that humidy up & you should be ok.
 

esotericman

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 15, 2004
Messages
298
Misting daily in Colorado Springs makes much more sense than offhandedly dismissing it, although I always prefer to have a deep substrate which I keep the lower 3/4 moist.

In my experience P. striata are even more forgiving than P. regalis, but both will tolerate quite dry conditions.

As for the loss of the leg, do you see it in the enclosure? Was it left in the old exuvium or gone? If it's gone, the tarantula might have removed it itself and eaten it. This is caused by injury, I would suggest double checking for anything that might catch a tarsal claw which is not in the other enclosures.

Good luck with your animal.
 

Spiderman24

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Messages
224
Why would you suggest fisting more in Colorado springs

---------- Post added at 12:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:04 AM ----------

ROFL misting not fisting ROFL
 

Spidershane1

Arachnoknight
Joined
Apr 11, 2010
Messages
170
Why would you suggest fisting more in Colorado springs

---------- Post added at 12:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:04 AM ----------

ROFL misting not fisting ROFL
I don't care where you are, fisting more is always a good idea :worship:
 

Spiderman24

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Messages
224
Everyone else pretty much summed it up with the facts.. Her leg should grow back within time and as for her losing it maybe she fell, bad molt, etc?? Not a pokie expert here but hex sounds rights.
Did you ever find your cobalt blue balls? ROFL
 

mandipants

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 18, 2009
Messages
182
Thanks for the idea guys. And while I know some people do, the only cage I mist is my T. blondi. The rest get water dish, or an over flowed water dish from time to time. And pretty sure its not humidity anyway, being that the two siblings have lived in identical set ups with no issues.

However, I have now made it my personal mission to ensure MORE FISTING in Colorado Springs!!!! You guys have no idea how much That mistaken comment made my day.

Thanks!
 

mandipants

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 18, 2009
Messages
182
Thanks for the idea guys. And while I know some people do, the only cage I mist is my T. blondi. The rest get water dish, or an over flowed water dish from time to time. And pretty sure its not humidity anyway, being that the two siblings have lived in identical set ups with no issues.

However, I have now made it my personal mission to ensure MORE FISTING in Colorado Springs!!!! You guys have no idea how much That mistaken comment made my day.

Thanks!
 

Lolita

Arachnoknight
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
185
yeah i don't think it's anything your doing mandi i know the T i got from you had a beautiful setup and she was in perfect condition could've been falling during a molt or something weird like that it happened to one of my salmon pink birdeaters before too so sometimes there are simply freak occurances
 
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