Extremely Urgent

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

Help! The Chile Rose I got today looks like its a death's door! It is tucking its legs underneath its body and is subtly moving. I gently picked the spider up to examine it and the adomen is pretty thin. The spider began wriggling a little as I held and is now standing upright, but now two legs are tucked underneath it again. What should I do?

Any help is grealty appreciated.

[Neil Duggins]

Re: Extremely Urgent

Help! The Chile Rose I got today looks like its a death's door! It is tucking its legs underneath its body and is subtly moving. I gently picked the spider up to examine it and the adomen is pretty thin. The spider began wriggling a little as I held and is now standing upright, but now two legs are tucked underneath it again. What should I do?

Any help is grealty appreciated.

If its in shock put it somewhere warm but not too warm, make sure it is close to water, where was it shipped from ? maybe even bathe its mouth with some damp lint free cloth

I'm pretty new to the forum and have found the experts aren't normally about till later, Hope this has been of some help

Good Luck

[Adam Walters]

Hi ya mate,

Firstly, just make sure it is not cleaning itself. I've had this happen a few times when getting them out of their shipping containers. They can also get cold too so may need to warm up a little.

Otherwise, try and get it to drink something. Place it in a shallow dish of water (pref bottled or 'cooled' boiled) and allow it to take a drink. Try this for 30 mins or so, longer if it continues to drink.

Failing the above I think an ICU (Intensive Care Unit) may be in order, which consists of a very clean plastic container, not much bigger than the t itself, with a moist paper towel along the bottom and a lid. Make a few holes for ventilation.

Make sure that everything is sterilised just to be safe, ie boil water and let cool slightly, microwave the paper towel for 10 min.

Place the tarantula on top of the towel, lid on, and then put the whole container somewhere that is dark and warm. Leave there for 2 or 3 days and check on it.

All the best.
Adam.

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

Thanks everyone. It gets up and changes its positions every now and again, but after a while it starts tucking its legs underneath it. I tried placing it in the water dish to drink something but it wasn't interested, though I didn't do it as long as 30 mins. I'll leave well alone until nightfall, and if it hasn't improved I'll try and get it to drink something. If that dosen't work, then the ICU. Hope it pulls through, its evident it still has some fight left in it.

[Adam Walters]

Cool, just concentrate on keeping it warm for now then, and maybe mist a little too using luke warm water. Hopefully it's just sulking a little, and understandably so, having been tossed around in the mail. Maybe try killing a cricket and pulling it apart a little and place near by

They certainly do have an amazing will to live.

[Graeme Wright]

Thanks everyone. It gets up and changes its positions every now and again, but after a while it starts tucking its legs underneath it. I tried placing it in the water dish to drink something but it wasn't interested, though I didn't do it as long as 30 mins. I'll leave well alone until nightfall, and if it hasn't improved I'll try and get it to drink something. If that dosen't work, then the ICU. Hope it pulls through, its evident it still has some fight left in it.

Place it in a small bax with some damp tissue if it is dehydrated then it should drink as with a small abdoman thats sounds like what it could be.

If that doesn't work then theremaybe something eles wrong or it's just it's time

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

Thank you all very much for your help. Good news everyone, my spider has made a dramatic improvement. It is now more active, and is walking around without "limping" anymore. I saw it drink from the water dish at least twice and is huddling against the heat pad. And most importantly, it has stopped "death curling". Yesterday, it was in the death curl several times and was subtly moving. I thought that it was close to death, but now, its legs have stopped curling.

Though another, less serious, problem has arisen: ants. They were in the cork bark, which teaches me for not sterilising it. Though they seem to be few in number and are just sterile workers, and seperated from their colony, I'm still worried about them attacking the spider. If there are any future problems with the cork bark, I will sterilise it, but right now, the spider is makings itself home on it.

Thanks everyone,

~Chris

[Adam Walters]

Hi Chris,

That's good news mate.

However I would be tempted to removed the corkbark as a precaution, and stick in in the oven or the microwave to kill off any critters. I wouldn't have thought that tarantula has settled in yet, so its best to do it now rather than have to do so at a later date.

Cheers,
Adam

[Neil Richardson]

I'd nuke the bark, and change all the substrate if you have ants. Dont want the spider to recover from this ordeal, just to then succumb to ants.

[Howard Farley (Huk7)]

I'd nuke the bark, and change all the substrate if you have ants. Dont want the spider to recover from this ordeal, just to then succumb to ants.

For what it's worth, I would second that!

[Ian]

A bit of a warning about nuking Cork bark. It is a very good insulator and can be burning in the centre yet cold on the outside. After you nuke it place it in cold water for a long time before you put it in with your T. Letting it soak overnight would do it no harm.

[Mark Pennell]

Personally I just boil a kettle and pour this over the bark, never had any problems with this method.

If you do this into the sink with the plug in you can flip the bark and get in all those nooks and grannys.

Just don' scold your selves

Cheers
M

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

Bad news people. The spider is going back to how it was; its legs are being tucked underneath it, into the "death curl" stance. It is still walking around, huddling against the heat pad, it is crawling around on its knees. It spends most of its time sitting on the cork bark. If it goes in the ICU then it will give me a good chance to sterilise the cork bark as described in the Tarantula Keeper's Guide. I will be really upset if it dies.

[Adam Walters]

I think that you should sterilise the whole tank whilst the tarantula is in the ICU, it makes no sense to only do the bark as any parasites etc. could easily have transferred to other areas by now.

It's a real shame about the struggle, I certainly hope it pulls through. All the best!

Adam.

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

Tarantula has died

Well guys, I'm afraid it's all over. The spider went in the ICU last night, and died this morning.