Damn it - Too many deaths

[Richard Shah]

Hey every one,

I apolagise for not coming on here often any more; I'd love to be giving advice to new people in the hobby on a constant basis but schoolwork besides projects and of course my own social life gives me very little time to do that now.
I hope everyone's been alright and taking care of themselves, and for the people who I haven't met here my name's Richard (as you can see ^^), I'm fourteen and it's been over a year since having been introduced into this hobby from a joke I was saying to a mate of mine up until I actually started taking what I said seriously and found this dedicated website and its forums. Any way I say hello to you lot and I'm glad to meet you and talk to the people I knew on here before.

I'm sure many of you have noticed the extraordinary amount of deaths we've had since the beginning of June; at least I have. What with 228 people having died in the tremendously sad Air France flight, 152 in the Yemeni flight, besides stars Farrah and of course Michael Jackson both on the 25th, personally a friend of myself and my family and I believe two deaths with people affiliated with the tarantula hobby and this website. I would just really like to say R.I.P. to every single one of them and send my condolences to their families.

I'm sorry for seeming to have gone off topic before I had even begun and I'm guessing you're probably wondering what this has to do with tarantulas. Well something I thought would never happen to me happened, and under my care one of my four tarantulas died and by starving.

He/she was a Brachypelma Vagans sent to me by Peter Roach - one of the dedicated people here at the BTS. After a very successful molt in October the tarantula was very aggressive - much to my liking and I fed it well until I ran out of crickets and kept putting off buying a new box for about a month - a month and a half, either forgetting or getting distracted by other things. Also, I read they could survive easily months without crickets and Matt (I believe) even said he only feeds his once a month! So after about a month and a half I got a box of crickets and fed them to all my spiders, who were fine in weight except the BV, who I named Biggie due to his size in comparison to another spider Peter sent me at the time, who I named Smalls lool. Biggie's abdomen had shrunk significantly and wouldn't take any crickets, too weak to. So I came on here asking for help and I consequently ended up putting him into a very small container and giving him a lot of water, helping enormously. So he began eating as normal etc. My memory is foggy from this point but I remember for a couple weeks the same thing happened in which he lost a fair amount of weight and so I did the process again. Biggie was eating well, until recently the same thing happened but this time it took a lot longer to notice because I stopped checking on my tarantulas a lot more than I'd done previously. As soon as I noticed his size I bought a box of crickets but he wasn't eating any. Then I kept saying that I was going to put him into a smaller box and make sure he had a lot of water then feed him two crickets every day until I was sure he was better, but it took me a week to actually get around to it and Wednesday I went to get him but he wasn't moving at all. So I made sure that the upper part of his body was in water whilst keeping the book-lungs clear for five hours before I saw it was no good and that he had passed.

My most sincere apolagies to Peter Roach and I feel like I've broken his trust in keeping his tarantula well and alive, so I'm so sorry mate. But on a brighter note, the B. Albopilosa you sent me is very healthy and has just molted, giving dark and stunning colour with A LOT of long curly hair as you'd expect and she's massive from when I got her. My other two tarantulas are doing great although haven't molted for a while now - still they look and act very healthy.

I think I owed you an explanation and I definitely will not let a death so easy to stop happen like this again or let my tarantulas get to a state where their lives hang in the balance between dying and living and I think this was my fault so I want to apolagise again.

Thank you for reading this, I know it's a lot but I appreciate you taking your time to do so.

[Alistair Kennington]

bugs

If you run out again ....put the lite on at nite open the window bugs(T-food) will come to you.hope you dont let that happen any more,it only takes a few mins to care for them.

[Richard Shah]

If you run out again ....put the lite on at nite open the window bugs(T-food) will come to you.hope you dont let that happen any more,it only takes a few mins to care for them.

You serious? Mate I'd never feed those to my tarantulas cuz they come from outside and you don't kno what they could have eaten and I'd rather not deal with flying creatures cuz it's too much hassle. Plus I feel bad enough feeding them crickets without luring outside animals and then trying to feed those to the tarantulas.
But thanks for the suggestion any way Alistair although next time I'll make sure that they are constantly healthy and I need to start feeding them regularly again every three days; the former can be applied to all three of mine right now though so that's a start.

[Elaine Ross]

You serious? Mate I'd never feed those to my tarantulas cuz they come from outside and you don't kno what they could have eaten and I'd rather not deal with flying creatures cuz it's too much hassle. Plus I feel bad enough feeding them crickets without luring outside animals and then trying to feed those to the tarantulas.
But thanks for the suggestion any way Alistair although next time I'll make sure that they are constantly healthy and I need to start feeding them regularly again every three days; the former can be applied to all three of mine right now though so that's a start.

I'd much rather feed them something I'm not sure about than let them starve to death. I dont see what your problem is Richard. Surely having them eat something you've caught is much better than slow starvation dont you think?

If catching flying things is too much hassle then maybe you shouldnt be keeping T's at all. I always do the best for my spiders whether I like it or not. I hate crickets and locusts but still give them to my T's. I'd much rather have them alive than dead.

[Yvonne Woolley]

Well said Alistair and Elaine, I cant say what I would like to,as it is not the thing to do, but it breaks my heart to think of anything being starved to death. and shame on anyone that lets it happen!!!!!!!!!!!! There is never a good enough excuse!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lynn mawdesley]

I must say i was very disappointed reading this! yes we all enjoy a social life but whats a few mins out of a week to care for your T's? food costs very little especially since you dont have many at all and the fact that they require very little care amazes me why you let this happen
Christ i have approx 130 T's which i would say takes me 3-4 hours out of the week to feed water which is nothing really.
Im more surprised you actually put this post up for if it was me i would be hanging my head in shame.

[Richard Shah]

I'd much rather feed them something I'm not sure about than let them starve to death. I dont see what your problem is Richard. Surely having them eat something you've caught is much better than slow starvation dont you think?

If catching flying things is too much hassle then maybe you shouldnt be keeping T's at all. I always do the best for my spiders whether I like it or not. I hate crickets and locusts but still give them to my T's. I'd much rather have them alive than dead.

Well said Alistair and Elaine, I cant say what I would like to,as it is not the thing to do, but it breaks my heart to think of anything being starved to death. and shame on anyone that lets it happen!!!!!!!!!!!! There is never a good enough excuse!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I must say i was very disappointed reading this! yes we all enjoy a social life but whats a few mins out of a week to care for your T's? food costs very little especially since you dont have many at all and the fact that they require very little care amazes me why you let this happen
Christ i have approx 130 T's which i would say takes me 3-4 hours out of the week to feed water which is nothing really.
Im more surprised you actually put this post up for if it was me i would be hanging my head in shame.

I care for the tarantulas, of course I do that's why I have three very healthy and active ones, and I admit I failed in helping Biggie but like I said it's not going to ever happen again and that's why did I not already say I could have stopped it from happening and that's why I'm admitting it on here... furthermore d'you not think that this post needs to be said for Peter's sake who I'm sure I let down and for a warning to the rest of the people who own tarantulas that you have to be responsible in keeping them constantly?!

Yvonne you make it out like what I did was intentional... you think I would have posted this if it was???????

Elaine you don't seem to understand why I don't like feeding outside creatures to my tarantula... they deserve to die as much as my tarantula Biggie did, which he didn't deserve at all. I have problems feeding crickets to my tarantulas because they don't deserve to die either, but I'll do it without hesitation for the tarantulas because I want them to remain happy and healthy and that's the responsibility I took when I decided to have tarantulas. But outside creatures I never agreed to, and why kill them when I can just let them back out? It's a bit hypocritical for someone to say don't let your own creature starve but let another one die so that your own can live, is it not?

Any way as I have already said, I will NEVER let another incident happen like this again, and if you actually knew how I was dealing with my tarantulas when I was an active member on these forums you would know that I cared and fussed over them A LOT - ask any of the members that were here prior to late 2008. In fact Peter, who I've already mentioned sent me two tarantulas wrote in his instructions "feed them once a week... but I know you'll be fussing over them like little (I can't remember the phrase he used but just reinforce my point...)" I care a lot about what I own and that's why I'm taking responsibility upon my shoulders and admitting what I let happen, even though unintentional was wrong.

[Robert Martin]

Mate we can all let things slip but you let things slip twice. The first time you did good to bring it back from the brink, but i think the most shocking thing is you let it happen again and upon discovering the helpless victim on the brink of death for the 2nd time, YOU LEFT IT A WEEK BEFORE TRYING TO SAVE IT. I don't know if it's your age or what but i don't think your responsible enough. I'll give you a good price for your last 3 't's then they'll be safe ad you'll have some money for your oh so busy social life... What ya think??

[Elaine Ross]

Richard, you are the one who posted that your T died due to your own negligence so please dont expect spider lovers not to comment.

You took on the task of caring for Tarantula's knowing that they are fed on live prey so whats the difference between feeding captive farmed prey or freshly caught prey when its all live food anyway?

I have read your comments, flawed though they are and to be totally honest I think the best thing you can do is take Robert up on his offer.

[Colin D Wilson]

Richard, though i understand your reasoning to post and make a point to other people about neglecting pets i think in this instance a PM Peter explaining what had happened would have been a better option and would not have put you in the limelight for critisism as it has.

The points raised by the members above are valid in my opinion but to save further (more direct and possibly cutting replies) i've decided to close the thread.