Help! Curly Hair behaving strangely.

[Phil Rea]

Last night my juvenile Curly Hair started madly waving his legs about. He was stationary, but just sort of waggling all his legs as if he couldn't walk. As far as I can see, nothing's attacking him, and he looks normal, so I left him to it. His tank temp and humidity seem fine, and my other T is behaving normally. Visually, he looks normal to me.

This morning at about 8.30am he was on his back and his legs were still pulsing. Ok, phew, he's moulting I thought. I had to go to work, so I left him to it. I've come back now (about 2pm) as I had to leave early because of the snow and he's flipped himself back upright, and his carapace appears intact, so I'm not sure if it is a moult.

I don't want to touch him, (and I'm not going to) but I'm just concerned that there's something amiss.

Has anyone else experienced such weird behaviour or have any idea what could be wrong?

Thanks.

[Mike Shaw]

Hi Phil,I have experienced similar behaviour with a sling(Aphonpelma Seemanni).To me it looked like the spider was trying to walk on something hot.unfortunately this specimen flipped itself over then died after about 2 hours.If your's is back upright then maybe it's okay.I have tried to find a reason for this but to no avail.Is it due to to a bad moult?Perhaps it's new skin isn't freeing itself but this is just conjecture.Anyway thats all i can offer I hope everything is ok.Sorry I couldn't give you any more advice,keep us all appraised of any develpment.
Mike.

[Phil Rea]

He's back upright, at the moment and still moving slightly. It really looks like he's trying to moult. I hope he manages it OK

I'm just leaving him to it at the moment.

[EDIT] He's definitely tring to moult. Legs I II and III on each side appear to be whitening, an his opisthoma has become blotchy with darkened areas. He's still upright though. I really hope he's not stuck. [/EDIT]

[Mark Pennell]

He's back upright, at the moment and still moving slightly. It really looks like he's trying to moult. I hope he manages it OK

I'm just leaving him to it at the moment.

Post up a pic if you can?

[Phil Rea]

Post up a pic if you can?

There you go Mark. Taken about 2 minutes ago

[Mark Pennell]

Phil
Does not look like its going to molt to me. I suggest that it might have had a irritation, perhaps a mite or two. I have had T's do a strange leg shake and rub serveral legs together, to shift mites.

Other than that it look in fine fettle.

Cheers
Mark

[Phil Rea]

I can't see any mites (although I probably wouldn't) and he's not constantly rubbing. I had a closer look at him the other night, as I persuaded him to walk into a clean cricket tub, and he looked OK. I had a good look at his underside then, and everything looked like it was meant to.

If you persuade my other T. to walk forwards by gently touching her back leg, she does so. This one doesn't seem to be actually walking at all, if you do this (I did it the other night) he just stays in the same place waving his legs like mad. It doesn't seem like normal walking to me (although admittedly I have very limited experience with T.s). He used to just walk forwards previously. If you gently blow on him (which I know they HATE), he'll wave his legs about but not move.

What prompted me to think he was moulting was that he was on his back this morning pumping his legs back and forth. However, he did right himself but he was on his back when we got up at 8am, and still on his back at 1.30pm. When I got home at 2pm, he was back upright but still not behaving normally.

Phil
Does not look like its going to molt to me. I suggest that it might have had a irritation, perhaps a mite or two. I have had T's do a strange leg shake and rub serveral legs together, to shift mites.

Other than that it look in fine fettle.

Cheers
Mark

[Mike Shaw]

Yeah,It looks mighty fine to me too
Heres one of mine

Pretty similar
Once again I hope all is well.

[Phil Rea]

Thanks for the advice Mark and Mike (nice spider by the way!). I'm worried by the fact that he was on his back for so many hours if he's not moulting though.

Everything I've seen and read tell me that a spider on it's back when it's not moulting is a bad thing, so I'm really not sure what's going on now.

[Phil Rea]

Well Mark, you were right, he's not moulted. He's upright and next to his cork bark hide albeit looking a little scrunched up but moving his legs every so often.

Why the heck would he have spent so much time on his back the other day? What could cause this? I'm baffled.

[Ray Hale]

Tarantula have a way of making sure the environment is just right before they moult. In the wild a bad choice of environment can lead to predation.
Often tarantulas will moult when moved into a new set up.
I noticed many years ago that when you bought a spider at a show and rehoused it it moulted within days.
Just a theory.
Hope this helps.
Ray Hale
BTS

[Mike Shaw]

That would explain why my chile moulted within a few days of transfer.

I had her in a medium petpal and decided she needed more room.
About 3 days after I moved her she moulted.

I have wondered about this,thanx for that tid-bit Ray.
Phil I'm glad everything appears to be better.

Thanx Mike

[Phil Rea]

Thanks for the info Ray

Mike I'm not sure if everything is alright to be honest. He's still moving, but not very much. He does not look like a happy spider at the moment

I still can't understand why he spent so much time on his back the other day.

All I can do is try and keep him comfortable and his environment right, and see what happens.

[Phil Rea]

Well as I suspected, all was not well, and despite our best efforts, he died earlier this evening

We did everything we could for him, which is the main thing, but clearly it wasn't enough. Since he started moving strangely, I thought that there was something badly wrong with him, and unfortunately I was right.

Thanks everyone for your help and advice.

[Mike Shaw]

May i offer you my condolences(spelling)

So he went the same way my sling did after moving that way it's very strange.

The only thing I can think of is that he was squashed a little I vaguely remember that my sling was thrown about in box by the seller.When trying to show me he tipped the cricket tub and all the earth slid to one end and trapped him.

Perhaps he got stuck inside his own skin who know's
Once again I'm gutted for you.