White Stuff on Chelicerae

[campj]

I noticed some sort of white film or something on my Xenesthis sp blue's chelicerae today. Check the picture to see what I mean. Anyone know for sure what it is? Any ideas on how to treat it if it needs to be treated?

Here's some info that may be helpful in diagnosing this: there's no mold in the enclosure, all the plants are fake except some moss that can be seen in the photo, no real wood, no leftover food pieces that I can see, I feed roaches that I breed, and only about half the enclosure stays damp with holes in the sides and top. She dumps everything into her water dish, so I clean it somewhat regularly. I'll be camping this weekend starting tomorrow without any sort of cell phone or internet, so I may not reply before Sunday. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[KezyGLA]

It looks to be mites, as the problem area seems to be where mites appear most on specimens. I believe I can see an individual mite on one of the chelicerae too.

 

[campj]

Edit: Oh, I see what you mean about the individual tiny white marks... I used an LED flashlight to increase the amount of light in the room and the individual marks are reflection of the light. The only true white marks are the two bands at the base of the chelicerae.

No, I had mites in a tank before, this certainly isn't that. What it looks like in person is when you're wearing a hat and sweat a lot and then the sweat dries and you get those white marks. This stuff isn't raised, it's not porous, there aren't individual clumps, it doesn't look fuzzy, it's just two white bands that appeared.

I guess the (hopefully) good news is that it looks like she's approaching molt.

 

[AntlerAlchemist]

Could it be poo?

 

[campj]

Hmm seems pretty unlikely considering they're two uniform bands. Unless she was doing her makeup with turds, in that case she deserves a compliment, because I couldn't have applied it better.

 

[Ellenantula]

Looks like the joint membranes of the chelicerae are perhaps just paler than usual (usually they are darker, but still with a joint sheen/shine, ranging from greys to pinks to purples in xenesthis).
The pix looks normal to me, enlarged, except for the colouring being so pale/whitish on yours. I assume this isn't camera glare and you see the same when in person.

Hope it's nothing.

 

[Nightstalker47]

Doesn't look like mites or poop, kind of reminds me of L.parahybana who have a similar white line around the chelicerae.

 

[campj]

I spoke with a very experienced keeper who ran into the same thing with a couple of his spiders... most likely it's some benign fungus that'll be a non-issue after she molts. Thanks to all who answered.

 

[cold blood]

Looks like the joint membranes of the chelicerae are perhaps just paler than usual (usually they are darker, but still with a joint sheen/shine, ranging from greys to pinks to purples in xenesthis).
The pix looks normal to me, enlarged, except for the colouring being so pale/whitish on yours. I assume this isn't camera glare and you see the same when in person.

Hope it's nothing.

I concur. Sometimes its white, sometimes, like in this pic, its red.

Resized952017030495233603

• cold blood
• Mar 5, 2017
• 3

feasting chromatus.

 

[campj]

The membranes are dark blue, and this developed within the last week. The picture sucks, but you can still tell that the white is somewhat uneven on the leading edge, not even and smooth like it'd be if it were the membrane.

Anyway, I'm not too worried. She'll either molt and survive, or die. I'm not going to attempt to apply fungicide, but I'm reducing humidity a bit to hopefully prevent that stuff from spreading. We'll see what happens. She's definitely going into premolt though, so I'm optimistic.

 

[campj]

Just a final update, she molted and the white stuff (now convinced that it's fungi) is gone. Moral of the story is decrease humidity some and hope a molt comes along soon. I can't say that she wouldn't have been fine anyway, but why risk it?

 

[Ellenantula]

Glad she moulted out of it and nothing of concern became of it. It did look odd being so white earlier.

 

[campj]

July to October has shown some drastic change in color. I'd figured the blue apparent in the July picture would have become more predominant, but it's pretty much gone for now. Xenesthis sp MAROON???

 

[darkness975]

July to October has shown some drastic change in color. I'd figured the blue apparent in the July picture would have become more predominant, but it's pretty much gone for now. Xenesthis sp MAROON???
View attachment 255931

Glad it cleared up.

@cold blood that image is unnerving.

 

[cold blood]

Glad it cleared up.

@cold blood that image is unnerving.

the chromatus? why?

 

[darkness975]

the chromatus? why?

While the cause of the reddening is benign, it is nevertheless a bit on the unnerving side for the sake of aesthetics. It makes it look like it's inflamed.

 

[cold blood]

While the cause of the reddening is benign, it is nevertheless a bit on the unnerving side for the sake of aesthetics. It makes it look like it's inflamed.

Your ladies don't wear lipstick?

 

[darkness975]

Your ladies don't wear lipstick?

Irene 2

• darkness975
• Apr 27, 2017