Sluggish/possibly sick B. boehmei

Hey guys, I noticed my B. boehmei acting a little weird. I looked over at him and saw a rapid motion from him... Hard to describe what it was. It was kind of like he was jerking his body up and down very, very fast. When he walks, his legs seem sluggish. When he turns, he looks like a pin wheel all fanned out because he doesn't actually pick up his feet and put them in the right position. It almost looks like he's dragging himself. But he still occasionally moves regularly, just very slowly. He just looks sick. I've read all about DKS, but I'm not sure those are the symptoms he's having. I'm planning on preparing an ICU for him but I'm not sure if I should wait to see him in a death curl until I move him into the ICU.

He molted about 2 weeks ago (successfully) and ate two crickets yesterday.

I also want to add that I keep my T area between 70-80 degrees F. The room has about 10%-15% humidity levels, and he gets a small water dish. Since he molted, I moved him to a larger enclosure. I've had him since January or so, and have never had any problems with him.

I'm not sure what's wrong with your T, but 10%-15% is really low humidity.
All the care sheets I find say 40%-60% humidity for this species
Good luck hopefully it's nothing serious

I'm betting the humidity in his actual enclosure is higher, as he has a dish in there that I over flow occasionally. But thank you for your advice, I might try upping the humidity a bit more.

Buggidy said:

I'm betting the humidity in his actual enclosure is higher, as he has a dish in there that I over flow occasionally. But thank you for your advice, I might try upping the humidity a bit more.

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Still go with an ICU stay just in case to prevent him from getting worse, the faster you nip the problem in the butt the better.

He's been transferred to an ICU, I'll check on him in the morning. He must have already felt better cause he was back to flicking hairs as usual

Your humidity is fine.

Can you get a look at her mouth? Anything unusual?

He was looking much better and was pretty active this morning so I moved him from the ICU back to his container. He was walking normally and kicking hairs :sarcasm:

I did notice something about his fangs, although I didn't think much of it. They look absolutely normal but they looked more sunken in to those reddish bristles around them. They weren't protruding as much as I remember. Like I said he seems to be doing much better this morning, but I'll take another look at his fangs when I can and see if there's anything else.

As a side note, I put a hygrometer in his enclosure while he was in the ICU, it went up to about 60%. So yes, it is a lot more humid in the enclosure than the room, even though all he's got is a little water dish.

Good to hear that he is feeling better :biggrin:

Here's a fang shot. Sorry it's not too great, my camera for whatever reason would NOT focus in very well....

Those fangs look fine.

With regards to the humidity level, as viper69 said, it's fine. You generally don't have to worry about humidity with this (and a lot of other) species. There's no need to measure the humidity (and if it's one of those round, plastic, dial type hygrometers it'll be unreliable anyway). Take your cues from the T itself....if it's always hanging out close to or on it's waterdish, then restrict ventilation in the enclosure and maybe use a slightly wider waterdish. Again, I can't see you having an issue with this species.

Oh, and when it comes to internet care sheets, I'd advise anyone to ignore them and use a good website such as this very one where you can have your questions and concerns answered directly by experienced keepers. Internet care sheets generally just give the newer keeper unnecessary things to worry and fuss over IMO.

Good luck

No worries, I tend to roll my eyes and laugh at care sheets All the reliable info I get is from either here or other well-known sources. I figured everything was pretty much fine, as I've had him for months and had no problems. He is doing a lot better though. No more rapid thumping and no more weird walking.