Help!!

[ranmasatome]

Okay, so i bought a bunch of pin heads and threw them in a couple of days ago and last night i found my spiderling antilles outside of his "hive". i was wondering why? so i observed a little and noticed that his abdomen was swollen and he/she is not moving too much..i guessed..oh..he must be molting..
i checked again today and he was still in the same position stuck to the wall on one side of the tank..not moving and out of his hide...this time crickets have invaded the hide.

The question is...do i go in to the enclosure now to remove a dozen or more pin head crickets by hand and pincers and possibly stress him out of his head? but i'm thinking if i dont remove them...he'll probably get killed by these crickets! i dont know what to do...

pls help.

[Emily-Fisher]

The abdomen might be swollen because he ate too much. How many pinheads did you give him? You definitely should not give him more than 4-5 at a time. It might also be swollen because the crickets were nibbling at it? I donno..

Instead of taking all the crickets out, I would get a new pill bottle and redo your sling's enclosure. That would be the easiest and the safest..

I hope that this helps and good luck!

[skinheaddave]

This is a tricky one. He MIGHT be getting ready to moult. Most of the time they will moult lying on their backs, but I have seen some moult up against the edge of a container. If it is moulting, then you want the pinheads out, but you do NOT want to disturb him. You said s'ling, though, so the actual moulting process shouldn't take long at all to initiate or complete. If it hasn't started soon, chances are it isn't happening.

Now, if it isn't moulting then it is easiest to move it to a different enclosure as Emily stated. I'd whip out a magnifying glass and do a good check to see if there is obviously anything wrong, remove the pinheads (that many shouldn't have been introduced in the first place) and then leave him be. If he doesn't do anything in a day, move him to a different enclosure.

The last thing you will want to do is get out of Ts and into scorpions -- so much cooler! :D

Cheers,
Dave

[ranmasatome]

well..its been about 2 days so i dont think he/she is molting. but shes on this weird corner of the tank where the walls are about 45 degrees (2 o'clock) and she spun this new web around her...kinda like a blanket..just enough to cover her body. but not huge like the one she made for her hide...i went ahead and removed all the pinheads because i figued..do i want a stressed spider that may die...or a spider that will definatley die....i decided on the former..
also there's this weird stuff shes giving out...its kinda whitish like her web but its more wet like the consistancy of bird droppings..which is stuck at the wall and shes currently resting on this patch of wet white stuff. All the water droplets around it have been soaked up by the white stuff and theres a ring of "Dry area" amongst the water dew drops.
whats that?

[skinheaddave]

Well, the white stuff is most likely faeces. In that case, not a problem. The other possibility is haemolymph, but that is not really a whitish colour and the fact that it is absorbing water would definitely point to faeces, since they do dehydrate excrement before passing it in order to conserve water.

As for the webbing, there are a few possibilities. One is that, for whatever reason, she has decided that that is home. The other is that it is a moulting mat of sorts but hasn't been used yet. I suspect the former.

Cheers,
Dave

[Emily-Fisher]

Like Martin said, when T's molt, they make a big border of webbing around them so chances are, he's molting. Otherwise, he feels insecure and so he's making a hiding spot.

You should remove all the crix asap. If he IS molting, then when he finished molting, he'll be hungry and so right away, he'll try catching a cricket. BUT... since his fangs will be soft after molting, hen he bites the cricket, he can damage his fangs VERY badly and wont be able to eat again. Eek!

You should always wait at least 4-5 days after molting before feeding your T again. :)

[ranmasatome]

yup...i've been observing him daily and sometimes hw would just hang on the spot with 4 legs leaving the rest hanging in the air...weird.
and i have removed all the crickets...none left in his tank. i'll wait a week or more to see what happens and will act acordingly.
Thanks for all the help guys.

[Emily-Fisher]

No problem :) Keep us informed with what is going on :)

[ranmasatome]

Hi..i met dave at the pet shop but i guess i should say that my spider shed last night...so he was molting after all...its just plain weird that he deicded to do it in that fashion. well...whatever makes him happy i guess..:)