The worst thing to happen to your tarantula?

Betty · Dec 11, 2003

Dad used to have a B. albopilosum (curlyhair) when I was a kid. Harry would happily devour any bug we put in there with her. I remember her wrangling a huge bug that had pincers - she would move those nimble legs out of harm's way and you'd hear that *crunch* when she sunk her fangs in. And she loved wooly bear caterpillars.

And then one day we fed her something that didn't quite agree with her.

I don't remember exactly what kind of caterpillar it was - it might have been a wooly bear or one that looked like it. Harry ate it and went completely nuts. She flailed about, her legs writhing in twisted contortions. She must have been in absolute pain. She rolled onto her side and flipped over and over, twisting about for hours. All we could do was helplessly watch. Dad felt awful, and we did, too.

She slumped in pain and exhaustion for days until she regained her health, and lived for several more years.

It may have been a toxic specie of caterpillar, or a caterpillar sprayed with pesticide - we'll never know.

MrFeexit · Dec 11, 2003

Arent' the hairs on a wooly some what of a defense? Similer to porcuipine quills? Perhaps some became embedded in her cheliciera and caused discomfort or pain. Hmmm interesting theory on the toxicity too. I have not had any negative experiances as of yet. I practice extreme caution. I did have a horned baboon die for no apparant reason and a stripped knee that I had to euthanise because she had nematodes.

MrFeexit · Dec 11, 2003

Betty · Dec 11, 2003

It was a long time ago, but I'm pretty sure we used to feed Harry wooly bears all the time. We found them all over the place. There's another caterpillar that's big, black and fuzzy but has red bands on the skin - it may have been that one that poisoned Harry, but I don't remember. After that we made sure we only fed her store bought crickets.

KoRn · Dec 11, 2003

I like finding toads while I mow my lawn, and throw those in the cage

its funny watching this wicked ass T, devour this little helpless toad..

( Yes ,, im insane lol );P

Betty · Dec 11, 2003

So the toad's secretions don't poison the spider?

In the summer I'm going to catch some baby bullfrogs and feed them to Shelob, my T. blondi. My family has a pond where I can harvest a whole bunch of 'em.

I wonder if she'll eat crawdads (if I remove the pincers)?

pategirl · Dec 11, 2003

I have to say that the worst thing didn't happen to my own tarantula. I was moving the pet shop's former A. seemanni into a new, better enclosure. I had gotten the 5gal tank all fixed up pretty and safe for the spider, and got her out of the tank she was in. She was as calm as could be until I put her in her new home, she bolted over the edge of the tank and fell to the floor. At first she looked fine, but her abdomen ruptured. I still feel bad about that poor thing. She would have died rather slowly I believe, had I not stuck her in the freezer after I saw what had happened. There was no fix for that kind of injury.

KoRn · Dec 11, 2003

Frogs. that would be a messy meal lol. being they are slimy and stuff.. I would think so anyways.,..

and I dont think crayfish (crawdads) would do anything for them, not much "body juices" its just crustatial plating and stuff.

try toads!!!!

DR zuum · Dec 11, 2003

I was out of town for 6 months and had a kid i thought i could rely on on looking after my specimens, he was out there feeding them smoking dope, listening to music, he left the lights on and the radio going when the ac came on it tripped a breaker, and all power was lost to the side house.

They were cooked 25 different species subadult males and females dead, except for the rosies they were fine. Damn rosies made it, the most common ones in there. I was so pissed. My wife tried to save a few of the ones that were still moving but no go they died. I wanted to break his neck.

MrFeexit · Dec 11, 2003

OH there is lots of juice in a crawdad...not sure if a T could get through the armor tho.

DR zuum · Dec 11, 2003

Spiders can eat them at least baby crawfish, we had a bunch of baby crawfish we caught out of a creek in a bucket outside, they got out and tried to crawl under the house. We had a bunch of funnel web spiders, out there, they had a feast i saw baby crawdad shells in webs for days. The crawfish were about 1/4 th of a inch in size.

Betty · Dec 11, 2003

The crawdads have a softer underside that a T could get through. The smaller crawdads have overall softer exoskeletons, and I'm sure my T. blondi can handle that!

funny story:
I used to have a Shiny East African Grey Tunneling Spider named Ambush. I dropped in a superworm, which immediately started to burrow in right on top of the tunnel. He built his tunnel up by the glass, so I had a great view. When the worm broke through the "ceiling," Ambush freaked. He didn't know whether to run or attack. He flicked his fang out and tapped the worm, decided it could be food, and tried to sink his fangs in. The armor was too tough! The worm kept burrowing, completely ignoring Ambush. Ambush finally gave up and retreated to the corner of his burrow, and the worm bulldozed through.

For burst abdomens, is it true that superglue can be a remedy, or is that a quack remedy that I've read about?

DR zuum · Dec 11, 2003

If its burst and theres internal damage forget it . but ive used it on tears to good effect, and crushed legs, i cut off the bad part of the leg and sealed it with super glue.

sunnymarcie · Dec 11, 2003

Not too long ago I had a problem with the transfer
of an Usambara to new housing. I knew they were
fast but I really had no clue how fast

The little bug jumped out of its bottle and took off
across the floor like bolt of lightening! I followed it
for a while and when I *thought* I could cover it
with a deli cup, I tried to

The end result a squished
little bug

The entire thing was my fault too. Poor bug
died the next day.

Malhavoc's · Dec 11, 2003

Originally posted by KoRn
Frogs. that would be a messy meal lol. being they are slimy and stuff.. I would think so anyways.,..

and I dont think crayfish (crawdads) would do anything for them, not much "body juices" its just crustatial plating and stuff.

try toads!!!!

frogs work quite whell I feed them often no mess at al doesnt even stink!

blackacidevil · Dec 12, 2003

Definitely the worst for me

this just happened a few days ago but I didn't mention before for fear of being castigated. Even though I had seen ants wandering about my spider closet I never really thought much of it since they never seemed to attack any of my spiders. anyway, to make a long story short, Monday morning I checked in on the Spiders and saw a winding trail leading to my P_cambridgei sling container. I quickly began to sift through the substrate and found a severed abdomen (with beautiful chevron markings) I feel so guilty for not getting rid of them sooner. DAMN THOSE ANTS!

LPacker79 · Dec 12, 2003

I feel so guilty for not getting rid of them sooner.

I'm sorry to hear about that.

I freaked out this summer when I saw ants in my kitchen and bathroom. Since they were far from my bedroom/spider room I put out ant bait (the stuff in the round containers that they carry back to their nest). Got rid of them within a week or so.

Immortal_sin · Dec 12, 2003

worst thing I ever did was to cut a B albo sling in half

I accidentally slammed the lid down at the wrong moment...it was pretty awful, as my daughter was looking on. The abdomen literally rolled onto the floor...ugh!

DnKslr · Dec 12, 2003

So the toad's secretions don't poison the spider?

I use to have a pet toad that lived in the same aquarium as my rose. They lived happily together in the same tank for almost 2 years, one on either side of the tank. The T never went over to the toads side cause it was a bit moist and the toad never went over to the T's side cause it was too dry. But I guess the toad was chasing a cricket one day and hopped over the "border". As soon as it touched the web it was history! My rose took full advantage of the toads mistake and had a giant toad slurpy.

It really wasn't messy either, she rolled a bunch of web around it and even pinned the legs together. I don't think she even noticed if the toad was poisonous or not, she just ate up!

Lopez · Dec 12, 2003

Originally posted by KoRn
I like finding toads while I mow my lawn, and throw those in the cage its funny watching this wicked ass T, devour this little helpless toad..

( Yes ,, im insane lol );P

I don't see why people feel the need to take things such as frogs and toads from the wild when there are plenty of readily available purpose-bred food sources. In fact, frogs and toads are protected in a lot of countries.

But hey, who am I to disagree with an "insane ;P" guy?

The worst thing that has happened to any of mine is a tiny versicolor that was eaten alive by a small cricket during a moult.

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