bit of an emergency! king baboon sling illness!

[Colin D Wilson]

Yes mate, unfortunately natural selection happpens in these little micro environments we create as Louise says above.

[Oli Dodds]

Sorry your sling died dude, as you were telling me, you have had more then your fair share of bad luck with inverts as of late
Anyway man just put it down to nature and nothing else, at least it wasnt your only one!
Also dude here is a link to that vid of the cambridgei that you wanted to see [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUbckLuhkQk&feature=related"]YouTube - Verry Fast spider, Trinidad chevron (Psalmopoeus cambridgei)[/ame]
Hope it cheers you up knowing you've got a couple haha
Take care,
Oli

[mary walters]

Yes thats cambridgei alright, mine scare me, I have mum and 5 assorted juves and slings from her, a lovely but underrated spider.

[James Box]

thanks Oli
wow that guy's pretty flipping brave...but what a stunning spider! i love that moss green colour!
cheers again Mary...your two have at least munched on what i put in their tubs, always a good sign!

[James Box]

AUGHHH!!!!
the third of my three C. crawshayi slings is on the way out! exact same symptoms as the last one, legs looking bent at weird angles, walking with difficulty, inability to flip self over easily, legs starting to curl inwards
i can see nothing whatsoever strange about this sling aside from the legs being curled and awkward. i've given it water and put a small cricket in the enclosure but i really have no hope...
could this be due to some genetic weakness or illness in the strain? i can only assume they are siblings. this is really disappointing!
i wish there was something i could do. the last time this happened i could only watch as the life-signs decreased.
yesterday, this sling seemed to be its normal self.

[Louise~Nichols]

Ooooh no...not again! This last one was your strongest one wasn't it?
I had a bit of a *rescue case* which seemed to want to do a *deathcurl* (subadult specimen). She couldn't even walk to her waterbowl, and was too feeble to extend her legs, so I picked her up and dripped water along her fangs using a cotton bud...I carried this on for about 5 days and then the spidey started to pick up again, a week later she fed but I had to use a waxworm and put it right in front of her. Whilst I know in that instance it was probably more luck than judgement that saved her (I couldn't find any sign of injury or fungal attack)...I'll give anything a go when I'm at a loss for what else to do, so I know you'll be trying your hardest for this little one too.

I've got my fingers crossed for you, and hope that maybe this little soul will battle on for you. *hugs*

[James Box]

cheers for the suggestion, Louise...if he/she's still alive, i'll give that a go now with the water.

[Louise~Nichols]

You're welcome....and I hope it does some good, I'm really rooting for you and the baby.
If there's a possibility of it being a genetic thing...I wonder if the spid's ganglia can suffer deterioration in a similar sense to humans and Motor Neurons disease?

[James Box]

still alive, and currently hanging on tightly to a cotton bud i've moistened. hoping water gets into its mouth. the legs are not extending correctly and definitely starting to curl, though no more then a couple hours ago. still relatively strong though. maybe i can nurse it through this.

[James Box]

You're welcome....and I hope it does some good, I'm really rooting for you and the baby.
If there's a possibility of it being a genetic thing...I wonder if the spid's ganglia can suffer deterioration in a similar sense to humans and Motor Neurons disease?

that's kinda what it reminded me of... if i can just get it to the next moult...maybe all will be well. not really holding my breath though. when i found the last like this, it took only a few hours to die

[Louise~Nichols]

still alive, and currently hanging on tightly to a cotton bud i've moistened. hoping water gets into its mouth. the legs are not extending correctly and definitely starting to curl, though no more then a couple hours ago. still relatively strong though. maybe i can nurse it through this.

*everything crossed*
Awww....at least you're trying hard to help, and that's the most anyone can do.
Yup...when I saw mine in trouble it suddenly had me thinking of parallel illnesses that could occur in spids but resembled the same frailty of human genetics. Ah well, keep up the fighting spirit for him/her.

[James Box]

i noticed some slight improvement! so i returned it to its enclosure. will check again in a bit. in the meantime it has water and heat.
at this point, it seems capable of holding its own weight. the legs seemed a bit less awkward, as well. MAYBE we'll make it through
thanks Louise!

[Louise~Nichols]

Ooooh....*cliffhanger* time! You're so welcome. I'm going to chew my knuckles or pace around the house waiting to hear further progress reports...mine also started to show improvement relatively quickly, and the improvement carried on daily in bigger and bigger steps.

I gave water on cotton buds twice a day to start with, then once a day after we got through our first 48 hours, and then she started getting mobile again; flexing her legs and responding to leg tickling.

[James Box]

fantastic...i'm going to hold onto hope. this was always the strongest, and maybe, just maybe, it has the will to live. leaving it alone for now, but will check again soon.
thanks again Louise

[James Box]

wow, the spider is recovering! holding itself more straight tonight then this morning!
how it managed to get dessicated when i gave it water all the time is beyond me, but now it seems to be almost it's normal self.
if only i'd known about this particular problem when my M robustum was suffering from it too late now...