Ceratogyrus marshalli moulted right side up - advice?

Mavet

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 15, 2013
Messages
48
So I had a Ceratogyrus marshalli sling ~1/3" that I got from an expo just over a week earlier, when the little guy/girl goes and moults - only right side up! I discovered it mid-moult, but figured any 'assistance' I might offer would only do more harm than good, especially since the thing was so tiny... anyway, I looked in on it several hours later and it was still stuck halfway inside the old exuvium - which was dry at that point, so I had no choice but to try and get it out, otherwise it was surely a death sentence.

Using an extremely tiny pair of tweezers from my dissecting kits, I tried to remove what I could as gently as possible, but after all was said and done the poor thing had lost 4 legs and both pedipalps - and of the 4 surviving legs, 2 were badly deformed from being trapped in the old exuvium.

It didn't look good for the sling, but it was alive and not leaking hemolymph, so I put it back in its vial and left it to recuperate. A few days later I split open a tiny super worm and popped a piece of it inside, so the sling would have access to easy food if it wanted... though as far as I can tell, it didn't eat anything I offered it.

A few days later, the sling was responsive, yet timid, when I offered food again, though a few days after that it was clear the poor thing was dead. :cry:

This is the first moulting issue I've had with any of my 19 - now 18 - Ts since I got my first one this past September. Basically, I'm wondering if there was something I did wrong that might have caused this, or if at any point along the way there was something I should/could have done differently? I'd really like to learn from this experience if possible, in order to prevent it from happening again in the future, but I suppose it's also possible that this was just a weaker sling that wasn't really meant to make it...

Please let me know what you guys think, and if you've had any of the same or similar issues in the past. My only consolation is that at least in death this guy is making a contribution to science - but the original plan was for that to occur without requiring his death. :(
 

tarantulagirl10

Arachnobaron
Joined
Oct 15, 2010
Messages
537
What I would have done if I thought it was stuck would have been to put the enclosure in the bathroom and run the hot shower for a while. The extra humidity might have helped. A 1/3" sling is very delicate, especially one that is molting. I would be scared to even move or touch it at that point.
 

Kat Graves

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 1, 2014
Messages
46
Put it an ICU. There are lots of resources that tell you how to make one, but I would recommend purchasing the Tarantula Keepers Guide. It is a book FULL of great resources. Sorry for your loss.
 

awiec

Arachnoprince
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
1,325
Pretty much what both above me said, though since it is so small the shower idea would have worked better, that's what I do for my orchids to let them have humidity without actually giving them water. You could have also made a large ICU and stuck the whole container in there. Very sorry about the dead spider, I can tell you from years of raising true spiders that this does happen often at small sizes, you did what you could.
 
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