Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

[Stanley A. Schultz]

One and All -

Because of the number of queries on this and other forums and message boards about the construction and use of an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), I have intended for a long time to post a webpage on them. Well, I finally got around to it. Please visit http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/icu10.html to read it. Constructive criticisms are always welcome.

[wayne balcombe]

Thank you Stanley, very informative article there and i'm sure if any of our keepers have not already added this simple but life-saving item to there "tarantula emergency kits" they soon will.

I have utilised the ICU set up a few times now, luckily though not with any of my own collection but with spiders belonging to friends and a local pet store, so far it has worked a treat and has had immediate results with spiders going from a complete death curl to active and aggresive within a couple of hours, in every case where this has been successful i have whitnessed the spider drinking (physically dipping its mouth parts into the wet kitchen towel) and even "chewing" the towel as strength returns.

[James Box]

a great read, Stanley...thanks!
lots of good information there
i'm incidentally one of the crazy ones to water a tarantula daily by holding it upside down (she was nearly immobile) and watering her mouth directly. she is a Chilobrachys andersoni ...and she now has an eggsack (obviously from a subsequent mating, to be clear)
the things we do for these spiders hehe

[Kurt Baird]

Thanks. I recently had to build an ICU but couldn't find an awful lot of info on it because a lot of it contradicted other articles etc.