Confused.com! not seen this before!

[Lisa Baines]

ok this is a new one on us and we dont think we have come across this phenomenon on the net or in books.

our rather huge ornithoctonus aureotibialis shed about 2 months ago. She has been eating fine, temps fine etc etc.

about a week ago she was holding her abdomen in the air. we thought that with the ambient room temperature coming up with the spring temperatures, that she might be a little warm. so we turned her heat mat off because it's pretty warm in the living room.

anyway she shed about 2mth ago, if that. and tonight she is on her back, legs wiggling and her abdomen near the spinneretts is looking crinkled as though she has started shedding again!

Is it possible that a tarantula can shed so quickly after the last time???
I am writing this as she is on her back and we are a little concerned because we have never heard of this before.
really hoping she isn't having some sort of fit and about to choke it!!!

lisa n matt

[Lisa Baines]

ok problem solved. she had fallen over and was half knocked out lmao!

she has built a big 'hill' in the middle of her tank and must have lost her footing somehow and got stuck in the corner.

chuffing stupid T making us anxious!!!!!

[Lisa Baines]

oh man... we stayed up to make sure she was ok (yes were that sad!).. and she has started in a death curl. so it looks like the old lady is at the end of her life.

the reason she couldn't get up earlier was probably because she was just to old and tired.

gutted to say the least but unfortunately it's part of the hobby.

[Matthew Baines]

Haven't written the old girl off just yet! Before i went to bed I put a narrow , deep water dish in he enclosure just in case and she seems to have been face first in the water so I wonder if she was dehydrated. There is no chance of her drowning (I hope) as the water dish is small but deep. Fingers crossed she will be ok .

[Colin D Wilson]

Hey you two,

Sorry if this was the missed call was for last night, i crashed out - still running to and from hospital with mum being in there

the spider looked absolutely fine and quite stunning when we were over late last month, she's a fair age but i would have though that she'd got a few more years in her...(even though she's a whoppa )
Think you've done the right thing with trying to rehydrate her, although as i said when Elaine and myself came over her tank was spot on and she was still nice and active as always so she's gone "downhill" quite quickly which is a concern in my mind, still i've seen peoples spiders recover fully from all sorts of conditions so all's not lost really

[Matthew Baines]

Cheers Colin . It's a funny one it started off with her having her abdomen raised in the air , then she seems to have taken a funny turn . She was curling up last night then i managed to put a small bowl of water in and she has dragged herself into it where she is currently sat. When she was on her back she looked like her abdomen was a bit shrivelled .

[Steve McIntyre]

Hi Matt, Lisa, Colin, ...is this the female? that I sent to you, Matt? If it is, unfortunately, due to her being WC, I don't know the age of her. As it's now warming up over here, the temp in Thailand (where she was found!) is approx 27-29 deg C) so not too hot for her over here! It's now the dry season in Southern Thailand so the spiders are used to no rain and low humidity for (sometimes) 6 months!! Also, it's sometimes difficult for us to replicate (exactly!) the conditions inside a burrow (even though it's only, usually) 20 cm deep! Let's hope she pulls through!

[Matthew Baines]

Hi Matt, Lisa, Colin, ...is this the female? that I sent to you, Matt? If it is, unfortunately, due to her being WC, I don't know the age of her. As it's now warming up over here, the temp in Thailand (where she was found!) is approx 27-29 deg C) so not too hot for her over here! It's now the dry season in Southern Thailand so the spiders are used to no rain and low humidity for (sometimes) 6 months!! Also, it's sometimes difficult for us to replicate (exactly!) the conditions inside a burrow (even though it's only, usually) 20 cm deep! Let's hope she pulls through!

Hi Steve,
This is one i got from Colin that is a bit of a monster in size. She has never burrowed and goes against the grain of most aureotibialis as she is not at all defensive and she eats like a horse. But alas we have no idea how old she is , Tried rehydrating her and she is still active yet quite weak and keeps going in and out of death curls( like a slow motion spider hokey cokey), so the fact that i don't know what is happening with regards to her dying or not is doing my nut at the moment.

[Matthew Baines]

Well she is still alive this morning but she looks in a bad way. I don't know what else i can do. I guess its just one of those things . If anyone can think of anything else i could do please let me know.

[lynn mawdesley]

Hey Lisa & Matt ...hows she doing? hope shes okay

[Matthew Baines]

Not looking good unfortunately. She is curled up but still moving. Think its just a matter of time till she dies. Done everything we can, I just guess her time is up.

[lynn mawdesley]

Not looking good unfortunately. She is curled up but still moving. Think its just a matter of time till she dies. Done everything we can, I just guess her time is up.

its times like these you wish you could communicate with them but unfortunatley you cant

[Matthew Baines]

its times like these you wish you could communicate with them but unfortunately you cant

To be honest I think it is just old age. She has been kept in perfect conditions and has a veracious appetite at all times. Only thing that bothers me is if she is in pain and there is absolutely no way I can tell if she is.

[lynn mawdesley]

To be honest I think it is just old age. She has been kept in perfect conditions and has a veracious appetite at all times. Only thing that bothers me is if she is in pain and there is absolutely no way I can tell if she is.

Yea i know where your coming from lets hope shes not hey

[Matthew Baines]

Update!!!!

OK so now I am really baffled. She is still with us. She has been uncurling her legs and trying to stand up now. I will be over the moon if she pulls through. She just doesn't have the strength to get up just yet.
Watch this space.