Disease!

[Matjaz]

Hi!

Ok, first of all, we all know that not much is known about spider diseases. But maybe some of you do know something about this problem. I'll just go ahead with my problem...

I have an Avicularia (sold as aurantiaca) species since it was a spiderling and he (probably a male) should be adult soon. But the last few months, he's been acting weird. At first I thought the restlessness is just some phase that will pass soon, since the conditions (temperature, humidity, peat,...) were still the same. Than I noticed he is loosing his setae (hair) all over the body. I'm sure there is nothing new in his environment, that could cause this. Now, a few months after I noticed the changed behaviour, his condition is really bad. The setae missing all over the body, legs...even the scopula is "falling apart", so he can't climbe any more (staying on the ground most of the time). He still eat's with apetite, what confuses me even more.
What could this be? Could it be a bacterial (viral, fungous?) disease or something like that?

I attached 6 pictures, if you need more detailed pictures of other body parts, just say it...

Thanks!

regards,
Matjaz

[Yinnon Dolev]

Not to sound crule...
but that's amaizing !!

I'm sorry I have no insights on the matter, but what I do notice, now that we can see it's skin, it might be close to a molt since the skin is so dark.

What do you usualy feed it?
how well do you feed the food you feed it?
It could be a case of a bad diet - he might be missing some protien or amino acid.
Does he still web?
How active is he? I understand that he cant climb, but does he at least walk around?

I don't have an answer for you, but these questions might help for whom ever might know more about this subject.

Good luck,
Yinnon.

[Graeme Wright]

looks female too me but I could be wrong.


Avics do loose there hair if they are stressed but not to that extent. it is possible there is a diet problem or something eles. possible parasite maybe.

[Richard Gallon]

Hair-loss will be due to repeated falls. The more it walks about and falls off the side of the tank - the worse he'll get. The poor condition of the scopulae means he can't hold onto the glass like he should be able to. Being arboreal he probably instinctively tries to climb when he can't.

I doubt this has a pathological reason. It's just a spider that isn't happy with it's current set-up.

I'd advise you give him plenty of rough surfaces to climb on (his tarsal claws will still work - even if the scopulae don't).

Richard

[Aviculariinae]

Hi Matjaz,
Is there any chance of a picture of the way you are keeping the spider, it would be interesting to see if we can help you!
Lets hope the spider molts soon and gets back to a healthy state Id be really interested to see a picture of it when it molts! have you got any previous pictures of it?

[Matjaz]

Hi!

Sorry for my late replying, it's a madhouse at our faculty and I've been away for a week and a half.

Well, I can almost certainly exclude the possibility of a bad diet. My spiders all receive similar amount and tips of food (mealworms, crickets, zoophobas,...) and none of the others is experiencing any problems.

He is still eating, although he ate the cricket after 2 days. Normally he would jump on it immediately.

I don't know if he still webs. He doesn't seem to be interested in construkting a new home, but the remains of the last cricket were spinned together in a ball. We'll see what is going to happen in the next days/weeks.

Now about the set-up. All my spiders, that don't need the highest humidity, are kept with dry peat and a water dish, with the reason of preventing mites and mould. This spiders are not hanging around the water dish and are showing good behaviour. The same was with this spider, which lived that way for all this years. He changed his behaviour just some time before a noticed his seate are falling of, so there has to be a connection.

How do I keep it now? Last week, since I don't know what's happenig, decided to change the setup once more, only providing the water dish, some shelter and no peat (paper-tissue covering the floor)...just in case the cause is pathological. I even separated the spider from the others. But I guess this has no sense, so I changed the setup back to normal today, with the least amount of stress for the spider. I guess the only thing I can do now is to wait and see what happenes.

Btw, is this excrement on the picture I took today to wet (I do notice drops on tanks of all my spiders)?

Matjaz

[Matjaz]

Well, the spider is dead in the typical position of legs curled under the body. It had more and more problems catching the pray...but it did eat when I introduced food in front of it's mouth. I guess I'll never know what was really the cause for its death...

Thanks for your help!
Matjaz

[Matjaz]

Hi!

It's me again...a similar problem but with different simtomps. I month ago I was talking to a friend who has 2 spiders, one of them is a juvenile A. metallica. She was woried becouse the spider wasn't eating but it was a good week after the moult so there was nothing to be worried about. But today I received a video from her. It seems the spider can't use it's palps and front two pairs of legs right. When it's walking around this legs are just a little curled under the body, so the spider is walking on it's "knees", more pushing itself with the other two pairs of legs. Also the palps are straingly curled under the head, blocking the mouth area (the orange setae can't be realy seen).

Any ideas? Thanks!

Matjaz

[Guy Tansley]

Also the palps are straingly curled under the head, blocking the mouth area

May be nematodes, see HERE for more info.

[Matjaz]

Yup, that's what I was thinking about when I saw the video (my gravid female C. fasciatum probably died of this 3 years ago). The first thing I asked was if she can see the spider's mouht...so she has homework now, to look at any of this symptoms you and Roman Pizzi were describing.

Matjaz

[Carl Portman]

NEMATODES?

What you see there is not excrement. It is almost certainly nematodes as Guy stated. I do not want to worry you but these can go right through your collection and destroy them. They thrive in damp and humid conditions, I examined eggs such as these under a microscope with remarkable findings. Read the excellent article that Guy has pointed you to, and find out more on the Internet.

SEPARATE and ISOLATE any spiders with these eggs in their enclosures. If you see any spiders with 'little white worms' around the chelicera (fangs area) they will HAVE to be terminated as they WILL die.

I am no expert on this subject, far from it, but you need to educate yourself as much as you can and deal with the problem. Drying your substrates out and even replacing it all would be a start. And don't feed and water your spiders at the same time. Also CLEAN your tweezers and other tools carefully after use. It is very easy to pass on this infection from enclosure to enclosure.

Good luck, I sincerely wish you well.

Carl