First aid for Aussie T

Tropical T's

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
50
Hi all
Not sure how much has gone into first aid for T's overseas but here in Australia there is very little info so this is what I did for one.
A bit of background, my neighbour called me over as he had found two T's under some rubbish but it turned out to be one T that had freshly moulted, its fangs were still white. It was severly injured with a large volume of haemolymph leaking from the base of the thorax. It could barely move due to the fluid loss so I rushed it home. I cleaned the "blood" off and applied some molten wax to the wound to seal it, I then administered 0.5ml of distilled water (I now have water for injections) with an insulin needle into the thorax via the fourth trochanter joint. She is now doing very well.
The first photo shows the injury location covered with wax.

The second shows the fluid loss as the ridge in the middle of the abdomen is the heart as the abdomen has collapsed down over it.

This short clip shows the heart clearly beating and how much difficulty the spider had moving

I have found dripping candle wax onto the wound far more effective than other methods as it immediately seals the wound, is water proof, won't harbour infection, is very quick and any discomfort felt by the spider is short lived and is far out weighed by the benefits.
Cheers
Brendan
 

Johnny_27

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
257
interesting. Ive never heard of candle wax for sealing wounds.
 

cheetah13mo

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 10, 2006
Messages
2,151
Have you thought about glue or clear nail polish. These would not be too hot like the melted wax would be. The wax may get brittle with a little movement and loose a good seel where the nail polish would not. Just a thought.
 

Tropical T's

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
50
Have you thought about glue or clear nail polish. These would not be too hot like the melted wax would be. The wax may get brittle with a little movement and loose a good seel where the nail polish would not. Just a thought.
Hi
Thanks, I have tried glue before but when the spider is bleeding as much as this one was it just dilutes it and it takes too long to dry. My concerns with nail polish are the solvents used in it but it would be better than the glue. I personally don't have any experience with nail polish, at least not that I will admit :D but how flexible is it when dry?
Wax will melt at a temperature well below that which will cause burns and I prefer it now after so many failures with other old "tried and trued" methods. The spider in this case did not react at all to the wax but it wasn't happy about the injection.
 
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