I Have No Idea What's Wrong With My Spider (HELP)

BugPrince · Apr 28, 2015

It makes me kind of sad that my first ever post on this site is a request for help because my spider is sick, but here goes :/

About a week ago, after a routine change of water in all the spider homes, I noticed (a couple hours after the fresh water was put in) strange little THINGS??? in the redknee's water dish. They are very very small (pics included for size reference). My boyfriend suggested they may be nematodes, but although these are very small they seem to be too big to be nematodes? I did nothing about it right that second because nothing was visible around the spiders mouth when inspected, but today I found them again. This time, when inspected, his mouth had a very hard THING ??? sticking out of it (may very well have just been a bit of food stuck in there, it took a little tug to get out but it was sticking straight out from between his chelicerae and all around it/underneath it ((still between the chelicerae)) ) were these little wormy things!!

In trying to remove some of them gently from his mouth (some were buried too far in the chelicerae for me to feel comfortable taking them out) I discovered they are HARD--I expected them to be soft wormy things, but they are hard as a rock. And they don't move. He doesn't seem to be showing other telltale signs of having nematodes (wet around the mouth, permanently raised pedipalps, etc) and these seem too big? WHAT ARE THESE and is this a huge scary deal

Pictures:
http://www.ezimba.com/work/150428C/ezimba19043729598800.jpg
http://www.ezimba.com/work/150428C/ezimba19043738074600.jpg
http://www.ezimba.com/work/150428C/ezimba19043747200000.jpg

(these are the clearest photos I got, but if more need to be taken/more information is need let me know)

ratluvr76 · Apr 28, 2015

BugPrince said:
It makes me kind of sad that my first ever post on this site is a request for help because my spider is sick, but here goes :/

About a week ago, after a routine change of water in all the spider homes, I noticed (a couple hours after the fresh water was put in) strange little THINGS??? in the redknee's water dish. They are very very small (pics included for size reference). My boyfriend suggested they may be nematodes, but although these are very small they seem to be too big to be nematodes? I did nothing about it right that second because nothing was visible around the spiders mouth when inspected, but today I found them again. This time, when inspected, his mouth had a very hard THING ??? sticking out of it (may very well have just been a bit of food stuck in there, it took a little tug to get out but it was sticking straight out from between his chelicerae and all around it/underneath it ((still between the chelicerae)) ) were these little wormy things!!

In trying to remove some of them gently from his mouth (some were buried too far in the chelicerae for me to feel comfortable taking them out) I discovered they are HARD--I expected them to be soft wormy things, but they are hard as a rock. And they don't move. He doesn't seem to be showing other telltale signs of having nematodes (wet around the mouth, permanently raised pedipalps, etc) and these seem too big? WHAT ARE THESE and is this a huge scary deal

Pictures:
http://www.ezimba.com/work/150428C/ezimba19043729598800.jpg
http://www.ezimba.com/work/150428C/ezimba19043738074600.jpg
http://www.ezimba.com/work/150428C/ezimba19043747200000.jpg

(these are the clearest photos I got, but if more need to be taken/more information is need let me know)

Wow, I don't know but I'll be watching this thread... I'd like to know too! Thx for posting the question.

-=}GA']['OR{=- · Apr 28, 2015

They look like eggs of some sort. Remind me of cricket eggs. I would try and remove/gently scrape as much as possible from the cheliceral area, in the event they are something worse.

You could let them hatch in a completely sealed container to see what they are.

lalberts9310 · Apr 28, 2015

First thought that came to my mind when I saw the pictures where cricket eggs.. doesn't look like nematodes or springtales, isolate the T from the others and use different maintenance equipment and wash hands before working with your other Ts just to be safe.. I'd also remove them (those you can find) just to be safe since you don't know what it is yet, put them in a moist container (a pill jar with moist sub might do) to see what hatches, but I can almost be certain what you have there is cricket eggs.. usually crickets lay their eggs in moist substrate or near or under the water dish. What species is your T?

-=}GA']['OR{=- · Apr 28, 2015

I was also thinking maybe the spider just ate a gravid cricket and did not digest the eggs? It is weird, but plausible. I've seen some strange things with spiders over the years.

lalberts9310 · Apr 28, 2015

-=}GA']['OR{=-;2376671 said:
I was also thinking maybe the spider just ate a gravid cricket and did not digest the eggs? It is weird, but plausible. I've seen some strange things with spiders over the years.

I have actually experienced this before, gave one of my P. Irminia MMs a huge gravid female cricket and he didn't digest the eggs, I later found a big ball of eggs in one of the corners of the enclosure..

awiec · Apr 28, 2015

I would do a slight surface sub change as these do look like eggs of some sort. Usually female crickets look for a moist spot to lay ie the water dish so their eggs won't dehydrate. By changing the top layer of sub you are removing any possible eggs that could be in the sub (crickets can only lay so far). I would then try to keep your Brachy (redknee is a useless name here but I assume you have a Brachypelma) a little dryer and watch female crickets when you feed them off. Besides that your spider should be alright, though try to hatch the eggs just to make sure.

BugPrince · Apr 28, 2015

It is indeed a Brachypelma smithi, I actually wrote that in the post but somehow managed to take it out when editing it before posting haha. After googling pics of cricket eggs, they DO look like this--and I do feed my spiders female crickets as an overwhelming majority since their ovipositor makes them easy to grab. It seems a little weird I would find these twice and a week apart, but I'm really hoping they're just cricket eggs because that seems easy to handle!!! I already have a bunch inside of a bag so I'll put them in a moist container and see if I can hatch something. Thank you all, I was really worried there was something seriously wrong.

---------- Post added 04-28-2015 at 09:41 AM ----------

After a THOROUGH inspection of the spider today there seems to be absolutely nothing around the mouth/between the chelicerae, so I changed his substrate and gave him new water and he ate happily. I put the eggs in a small, moist container so we'll see what happens?? Thank you all very much!! I'm so relieved that these are probably just eggs. This will probably happen more if that's the case though, since he is the biggest t I have so I try to feed him the biggest crickets I have, and those are usually gigantic females that are probably gravid :/ but if this is of no harm to the spider, then it should be fine, right?

lalberts9310 · Apr 28, 2015

BugPrince said:
It is indeed a Brachypelma smithi, I actually wrote that in the post but somehow managed to take it out when editing it before posting haha. After googling pics of cricket eggs, they DO look like this--and I do feed my spiders female crickets as an overwhelming majority since their ovipositor makes them easy to grab. It seems a little weird I would find these twice and a week apart, but I'm really hoping they're just cricket eggs because that seems easy to handle!!! I already have a bunch inside of a bag so I'll put them in a moist container and see if I can hatch something. Thank you all, I was really worried there was something seriously wrong.

---------- Post added 04-28-2015 at 09:41 AM ----------

After a THOROUGH inspection of the spider today there seems to be absolutely nothing around the mouth/between the chelicerae, so I changed his substrate and gave him new water and he ate happily. I put the eggs in a small, moist container so we'll see what happens?? Thank you all very much!! I'm so relieved that these are probably just eggs. This will probably happen more if that's the case though, since he is the biggest t I have so I try to feed him the biggest crickets I have, and those are usually gigantic females that are probably gravid :/ but if this is of no harm to the spider, then it should be fine, right?

I sometimes get baby crickets in my enclosures, I just collect them and toss them in the cricket tub, they grow fast and then I have a few extra free feeders for my slings

Blueandbluer · Apr 28, 2015

If you want to avoid the problem in future, BugPrince, once you catch the cricket, cut off her ovipositor with clippers or scissors before tossing her in the T's tank.

BugPrince · Apr 28, 2015

But I thought the problem was that the eggs were inside the cricket and the spider just isn't taking them in/digesting them? Its not that crickets are laying eggs in the T's home, that hasn't happened. It's that he's eating gravid females and then leaving the uneaten eggs all over his water dish. I don't think snipping off the ovipositor would help this. But it sounds harmless to the spider if this is the case? Right?

Beltane · Apr 28, 2015

Really glad you posted this question and figured it out.

lalberts9310 · Apr 28, 2015

BugPrince said:
But I thought the problem was that the eggs were inside the cricket and the spider just isn't taking them in/digesting them? Its not that crickets are laying eggs in the T's home, that hasn't happened. It's that he's eating gravid females and then leaving the uneaten eggs all over his water dish. I don't think snipping off the ovipositor would help this. But it sounds harmless to the spider if this is the case? Right?

That's what I thought as well, because they won't lay it directly in the water dish, I think the T threw it away along with the bolus and some ended up in the water dish, well what I think at least, so cutting off the ovipositor won't help since the cricket didn't lay the eggs.. just my opinion though

---------- Post added 04-28-2015 at 08:52 PM ----------

Blueandbluer said:
If you want to avoid the problem in future, BugPrince, once you catch the cricket, cut off her ovipositor with clippers or scissors before tossing her in the T's tank.

this helps to avoid the cricket laying eggs, in this case it doesn't seem as if the cricket did lay eggs, since the T had it in the water dish and around its mouth, I think it just didn't digest it and threw it away along with the bolus :?

awiec · Apr 28, 2015

Well you can just feed it several smaller crickets, just put 1-2 at a time and they will catch them and create a big ball of crickets.

BugPrince · Apr 28, 2015

But then who's gonna eat the big crickets? :< they'd all just go to waste. I mostly just want a definitive "this will hurt the spider/this won't hurt the spider" so I know if all my big female crickets just pretty much need to be thrown out. He's such a big t, he usually eats two BIG crickets at a time. I don't really wanna have to throw in like five small ones to give him a good meal lmao

awiec · Apr 28, 2015

BugPrince said:
But then who's gonna eat the big crickets? :< they'd all just go to waste. I mostly just want a definitive "this will hurt the spider/this won't hurt the spider" so I know if all my big female crickets just pretty much need to be thrown out. He's such a big t, he usually eats two BIG crickets at a time. I don't really wanna have to throw in like five small ones to give him a good meal lmao

I feed female crickets to my spiders all the time and I don't have issues with eggs, just do a look over if you are constantly have problems with eggs.

Tfisher · Apr 28, 2015

Honestly I thought they were maggots upon first sight. Happy you got some answers.

happy the smithi is okay.

Blueandbluer · Apr 28, 2015

lalberts9310 said:
That's what I thought as well, because they won't lay it directly in the water dish, I think the T threw it away along with the bolus and some ended up in the water dish, well what I think at least, so cutting off the ovipositor won't help since the cricket didn't lay the eggs.. just my opinion though

---------- Post added 04-28-2015 at 08:52 PM ----------

this helps to avoid the cricket laying eggs, in this case it doesn't seem as if the cricket did lay eggs, since the T had it in the water dish and around its mouth, I think it just didn't digest it and threw it away along with the bolus :?

Oh, sorry, I misunderstood.

lalberts9310 · Apr 29, 2015

Blueandbluer said:
Oh, sorry, I misunderstood.

. All good, I actually had that happen to me once

, Ts are weird and fascinating little critters

I Have No Idea What's Wrong With My Spider (HELP)

BugPrince

Arachnopeon

ratluvr76

Arachnodemon

-=}GA']['OR{=-

Arachnoknight

lalberts9310

Arachnoprince

-=}GA']['OR{=-

Arachnoknight

lalberts9310

Arachnoprince

awiec

Arachnoprince

BugPrince

Arachnopeon

lalberts9310

Arachnoprince

Blueandbluer

Arachnobaron

BugPrince

Arachnopeon

Beltane

Arachnopeon

lalberts9310

Arachnoprince

awiec

Arachnoprince

BugPrince

Arachnopeon

awiec

Arachnoprince

Tfisher

Arachno-Geek

Blueandbluer

Arachnobaron

lalberts9310

Arachnoprince