AF B. smithi not doing so well.

[Gayle E. Anderson]

My AF B. smithi is not doing very well. I noticed she was lethergic a few days ago, yesterday I noticed her abdomen is wrinkled and she is very lethargic. She should not be dehydrated but I gave the tank a bit of a spray anyway. She was last fed about 3 weeks ago, I have just got more crickets and she is not eating. This is very out of character for her, she is normally a voracious eater. Temp is monitered and it has not changed. She is 13yrs old and I've had her from a sling.

Any advice much appreciated, I'm worried about her

Thanks,
Gayle.

[vincent winyard]

hi there gayle i had a similar problem with one of my t's she didn't eat for months and her abdomen started to shrivel in size. what i done was put her in an icu for 3 days and this did help a little but didn't have the full effect . so i thought i'd clean out her enclosure washed the tank thoroughly and new substrate. i don't know what the problem was or what caused it but the clean out seemed to do the trick and she's been great ever since. i know smithi females can live a ripe old age so yours being 13 should have years left in her. i hope this is of some use to you and i really do hope she pulls through for you good luck.

[vincent winyard]

gayle sorry i forgot to mention you don't really need to spray her enclosure as smithi's prefer it on the dryer side. she'l get all the humidity she needs from her water bowl in the enclosure. i don't know if you've ever had to use an icu before but all you have to do is get a Tupperware box slightly bigger than the spider put loads of vent holes in the top make sure it.s clean then put a dozen layers of kitchen towel in the bottom and soak it with room temp water you want it damp put the spider in it then put it somewhere warm and dark i put mine in the tank next to the heat pad. have another one ready so if there's no improvement after 24 hours put her in the new one same procedure try this for a few days if there's no improvement try giving the tank a good clean and add new substrate hopefully this will do the trick good luck .

[Gayle E. Anderson]

Hi Vincent, thanks for your reply. Normally the enclosure is never sprayed, I only did this to 'top up' the humidity. It seemed to make little difference so I increased it further by soaking a corner of the enclosure for a few days and she appears to have made a full recovery so I can only assume that she was indeed dehydrated.

Sadly with her recovery came the death of my little emperor scorpion. Just three days previous it had very enthusiastically (even used its sting) eaten a decent sized cricket. Two days later I noticed it barely moving and the next day it was gone. This definitely was not dehydrated as I had watered it when I fed it. Very sad

[vincent winyard]

hi gayle glad to hear your smithi's on the mend i bet your well pleased. on the other hand sorry to hear you lost your scorpion it makes you wonder what happens when you loose something unexpectedly. i don't keep scorpions myself nether the less it's still a shame when we loose something we do our best for. maybe you could get another soon .

[Peter Roach]

When I kept and bred emperor scorps, the scorplings were always kept at 90-100% humidity with temps in the high 80's until they reached around 2in inc tail. I think I raised about 200+ one year with no loses keeping them this way.

[Stanley A. Schultz]

... Any advice much appreciated, I'm worried about her ...

For future reference, whenever anything goes wrong with one of your tarantulas, unless there is some overriding reason for the contrary (highly unlikely), and especially if you suspect problems with hydration (like a wrinkled abdomen), get the tarantula into an ICU "STAT!" After you've done that you can sit down and try to figure out what's wrong, or get on the 'Net to ask for advice.

Congratulations on its recovery.

Now, the tough question, "Why did this happen?" (So this doesn't happen again!) Please answer the following questions.

1. Do you use artificial heat on its cage?

2. Do you have any sort of light on its cage?

3. Is the top or other opening on the cage covered with something to retard ventilation, or is it open to the rest of the world?

4. Is Falkirk, Scotland especially dry this time of year?

5. Is Falkirk, Scotland especially warm this time of year?

6. Does it always have a water dish? With water? Handy to the tarantula? Especially this past week?

7. During the past week, have you noticed the tarantula hanging around its water dish more than normal? Maybe standing on top of it? Or, even soaking its abdomen in it?

8. Did you notice anything unusual or odd about its last molt?

9. Has the tarantula molted within the last month?

10. How old is the tarantula? 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? 30 years? 40 years? Something else?

11. Also, we badly need to see a reasonably good photo of the tarantula from several different aspects (e.g., front, top, side).

12. And, we need two photos of its cage, one from the front, the other from the top or end.

NOTE: Some cell phone cameras are okay, but most are pretty bad for anything except family group photos. So, if your cell phone isn't up to the job, can you borrow a friend's or family member's camera for a few moments?

And, we're more interested in sharp focus than in ultra-close-ups. So, back off a little if you can.


The sooner you get back to us, the sooner we can help.