Question on nematodes and ants

smof

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
749
OK, I really hope I'm just being paranoid here, but I have read so many horrible threads of people's T's dying from nematodes that I am always on red alert for any signs.

I bought some crickets yesterday from a new shop I've never used before. Normally when I get a new source I won't use the crickets for atleast a few days to see if they are healthy first, but yesterday I forgot and fed my G. pulchra and G. rosea straight away.

Today just now my G. rosea came out her hide and I noticed she was sitting with her palps curled up under her mouth instead of resting on the ground like normal. This immediately triggered sirens in my head as I remember reading this being one of the signs of nematodes. I tried to look at her in her tank and it looked like she had stuff around her mouth. AGH! PANIC!

I just got her out her tank into a cricket tub and got a closer look, and now her mouth looks clean. So maybe I'm freaking out over nothing. Can anyone tell me, if she were to pick up nematodes from crickets would it show itself this quickly? Is there any definite way to diagnose it other than waiting to see if she gets a frothy mouth again?

I have separated her tank from my other Ts and now I guess I just wait and see. I am worried about it, because as horrible as it would be to lose this gorgeous rosea, I would be ten times as gutted if my pulchra had it and died :(


One extra thing, I keep seeing ants around the rosea's tank, usually on the sides or lide. It's only ever one or two at a time, I don't know where they come from and they never seem to be around the other tanks. I kill them when I find them. When I just got her out I found another ant in her substrate. Have decided to dump it and put new stuff in incase there's something in there attracting them. I know ants are dangerous to Ts but is that just because a lot of ants can kill a spider, or can a few ants actually make a T sick too?

Thanks. Sorry for the long post.
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
nah, would not manifest syptoms in a day or whatever

what kinda ants? all dif kinds. eat dif stuff, attracted to dif stuff.
 

smof

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
749
Thanks for the reassurance. I am still going to keep her isolated and keep a real close eye on her for a few days. It's only really the curled-palps thing that concerns me, I've never noticed her do that before, and she keeps cleaning her fangs.

The ants look like normal (English) house ants. About 3mm long, black with a slight brown/reddish colour on their heads.

Up until now I have had a small potted spider plant on the shelf next to her tank. I've decided to move it away from the Ts now as it occured to me that any flies/ants etc that are coming in are probably attracted to my plants so best not to have them right near my spiders.

I hope you're right and I'm worrying over nothing. :eek:
 
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