Some moults, and something very weird

[Kate Arbon]

Well I had a good weekend where Ts are concerned. I took all my adult spiders home to my parents as the uni term is finished, and set them up in my 'spider room' which is a walk-in cupboard perfect for them. It gets pretty warm in there, a good 5-7C higher than my room at uni. It triggered my B. emilia who had been pre-moult for two months to finally shed yesterday morning. She looks gorgeous now, really black black and pink pink She didn't grow much, maybe 1cm at most (now around 8cm legspan) but her legs are thicker, giving her a chunkier, more adult look. I will get some pics up when I get back home again.

Then got back to my uni house to find two slings had moulted over the weekend. My A. versicolor had its second shed since I got it and is now about 2.5cm and beautiful saphire blue. And the H. maculata I got from Mary at the BTS show had its first moult. Didn't grow much but it looks a bit leggier.

So it was a good weekend for me. But not so much for my housemate. He told me when I got back that one of his Ts died over the weekend. It was a B. emilia, about 3-4cm legspan, which he got at the BTS show. I don't know how it died, he got rid of it and didn't think to take photos, but it sounded very strange. He said he found it dead, right-side up, but it looked swollen, like it's 'head' was bursting out the top of its prosoma and its legs were bursting out the bottom. Apparently there was blood and white stuff (guts?) coming from the prosoma around the eyes. It sounded really grim and I can see why he didn't want to keep it but I wish he'd taken a pic as I am really curious.

My first thought was bad moult, maybe it tried to shed right-way-up and died, but then why would it bleed everwhere. I also wondered if it could be parasites or some kind of fungal infection, because of the swelling, but it's a captive bred spider so not sure how that would happen. Apparently he saw it moving around earlier that day. And it had never eaten since he got it. Very weird and sad

Any ideas? I am clueless. Very difficult to make any guesses without a picture I know but thought I would mention it.

[mary walters]

Glad you lil mac is coming along nicely Kate, waiting for my lot to begin moulting, I kept quite a few back, and may have a few more up for grabs later when bad moulters are moulted.

[Colin D Wilson]

Well like you say Kate, without a photo it's hard to give a guestimate!!

Could have been a bad moult, some spiders do try and moult rightway up, doesn't explain the leakage though...which is quite unusual.

There may be someone on here thats had a similar experience that you could compare notes with.

[Kate Arbon]

Yes it's really odd. I wish he'd taken a photo. I can understand why he didn't as I think he just wanted to get rid of it, he said it was pretty disturbing to see. I am just in the habit of photographing any and all slightly strange things to do with spiders!

[Colin D Wilson]

The best thing to do as you'll always have a reference for you and others to compare notes if need be.

I can understand the wanting to dispose of it though.

[Peter Lacey]

with such injuries I'd be thinking of a fall - is the substrate a distance from the top of the enclosure? are there any sharp or hard objects for it to fall on?
Is he sure nobody entered the room and handled/attacked it?