Death by cricket.

Aubrey Sidwell

Arachnobaron
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May 6, 2005
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I have had 2 mysterious tarantula deaths. One was an A. purpurea 1 inch spiderling and the other I found just today was a P. ornata 1 and 1/2 inch spiderling. In both cases they died within 2 days of being fed. The crickets used have been given to many other tarantulas so I do not suspect any kind of "killer" cricket illness. I try and pick out the smallest cricket I can for feeding and pretty much always tear off the "kicker" legs. I am guessing the cricket inflicted a mortal bite wound to the tarantula while it was being eaten. Have any of you had the same thing happen?
 
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Steven.WK

Arachnoknight
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Apr 26, 2006
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How big were the crickets you fed them? Did they finish the crickets? 2 days seems long if they had been injured. Were they moving funny or did you see any drops of liquid on them after the feeding?
 

Scorp guy

Arachnoangel
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Dec 22, 2005
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The only explenation i could think of would be your feeding them too big of crickets.
 

necroscope

Arachnosquire
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Nov 23, 2005
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Hey scorp did you get those pics I sent, I think I might have located my arboreal Disc of pics. Will send you some more soon.
Cheers Mike
 

Taceas

Arachnolord
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May 12, 2006
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Crickets are nasty buggers. They're worse than mice, I think. Its possible they could have bitten the spider, but you'd think the spiders would have died sooner than two days.

Did you find any trauma to the body of the slings at all? You should see a scabby area of hemolymph I would imagine.

And Necroscope, good job hijacking a thread. There is such a thing called a Private Message (PM). Click Scorp's name and a menu drops down. :?
 

DanHalen

Arachnobaron
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Sep 25, 2005
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Icelos said:
I have had 2 mysterious tarantula deaths. One was an A. purpurea 1 inch spiderling and the other I found just today was a P. ornata 1 and 1/2 inch spiderling. In both cases they died within 2 days of being fed. The crickets used have been given to many other tarantulas so I do not suspect any kind of "killer" cricket illness. I try and pick out the smallest cricket I can for feeding and pretty much always tear off the "kicker" legs. I am guessing the cricket inflicted a mortal bite wound to the tarantula while it was being eaten. Have any of you had the same thing happen?
Did you nitice any Haemolymph leakage?
 

Varden

Arachnodemon
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May 22, 2005
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I've lost two Ts to carnivorous crickets. On the first, an A. versicolor the cricket ate the end of one leg off my 2" juvie; and on the other, a Coremiocnemis "Blue", all I found of it was the carapace. They had both disappeared down the Ts burrow, I didn't realize the T was trying to molt and I didn't know anything was wrong until the cricket popped back up onto the surface two days later, fat and healthy.

If it was truly "death by cricket", you'll notice either missing parts on your T or possibly crusty spots where they bled out of a bite wound. If you can't find either, take a look at the ventilation and/or humidity within the Ts enclosures. It's not uncommon for small slings, particularly Avicularia, to be a wee bit fragile when they're young.
 

Skypainter

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Oct 25, 2005
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When I feed my T's I always watch to make sure they snatch up the crickets. If the cricket isn't eaten within several minutes it is removed. Fortunately, my B. lateralis colony is really starting to take off, so in about a month I will no longer have to deal with those smelly, noisy, stubborn ass crickets!:D
 

MindUtopia

Arachnoking
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Just because a T dies after eating crickets doesn't necessarily mean the crickets are the cause. More than likely it's just a result of failure to thrive. Many slings die before reaching adulthood. Unless there is clear evidence of trauma to the T, I would doubt it was a result of an injury by the cricket. Still it's tough to lose them. Sorry for your loss!
 

Aubrey Sidwell

Arachnobaron
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I am not new to losing a spider because for lack of better words. It happens. As far as the size of crickets used I feel the spiders would have no issue taking them down. I watch each spider take down the cricket before moving on to the next one. When my A. pupurea died the cricket was completely eaten. When I just lost my P. ornata the cricket was approximately 3/4 eaten. My a. purpurea died in the typical death curl but my P. ornata was all stretched out but definately dead. As far as ventilation there was plenty, temperature around 75-80 farenheight, and humidity close to 60%. I have several other slings and sub adults in the same environment and they are thriving. On the A. purpurea I could not find any signs of trauma and so far can't see a for sure cause of death on my P. ornata either. I guess I thought I would pose the question just to see what experiences you all may have had. I also never feed a spider in premolt.
 
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