Avac Purpurea passed in molt - too wet?

Hello. Last night when I was checking my T's I found one of my little 1.5" A. Purpureas at the bottom of its cage in a corner on its back. I figured it was molting and left it alone. As it was in the same position this morning - I checked and sure enough it was not alive.

Now the thing is a few weeks back I noticed the cages seemed dry... I have peat moss on the bottom third. (they are long rectangles) and just spraying doesn't keep it moist I have to flood cages every once in a while.

this has not been a problem in the past but this time I think I put too much water in. I even had to pour some excess out of one cage (different spider)

all the peat is totaly soaked. All the others have recently molted - but most did so in their webbing.

so the question is - was the peat too wet for the spider to actually lay on? Is this possible?

Just in case I added a dry layer on top on the other cages. Though the spiders in them seem to be perfectly fine.

- Sharon

there is really no way to truthfully answer this, sudden death with avic slings for no apparent reason is common. So it could possibly have been too wet, or it could have been death for no reason involving how it was kept. Sorry not of better help.
Rev

Welcome to the world of the pain in the ass avics.... the only species i have ever had die for what seemed like absolutely no reason. It could have been the humidity, because it seems they can be rather sensitive to humidity fluctuations at times IME, however, it isnt rare for them to die for unknown reasons. I guess its just something that happens with them. I have had it happen to a few slings i have kept. They can literally all be kept the same, at the same humidity and everything and for some reason you might just lose one or two. It sucks, and sorry to hear about that. But dont beat yourself up over it, i think anybody that has kept avic slings has the occasional unknown death here and there.

Try to look at it from a positive point of view... a great opportunity to buy new stock .

Cheers

As the others said, with Avicularia slings there's allways the chance of some not pulling through, additionally A. purpurea is one of the even lesser sturdy ones of that genus.
But generally you should make sure that the enclosures you put Avis in are extremely well ventilated, that the substrate is dry (just mist into the webbing once a week) and that the humidity is as low as possible.
This sounds strange since Avicularia spec. are known to live in rain forests but at there preferred living quarters in the treetops there are similar conditions as in deserts since the almost constant blowing wind in this height is carrying the humidity away.

T-Harry said:

As the others said, with Avicularia slings there's allways the chance of some not pulling through, additionally A. purpurea is one of the even lesser sturdy ones of that genus.
But generally you should make sure that the enclosures you put Avis in are extremely well ventilated, that the substrate is dry (just mist into the webbing once a week) and that the humidity is as low as possible.
This sounds strange since Avicularia spec. are known to live in rain forests but at there preferred living quarters in the treetops there are similar conditions as in deserts since the almost constant blowing wind in this height is carrying the humidity away.

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Really? I always thought Avics need a humid enclosure with good ventilation.
I live in the tropics and I have housed my Avicularia avicularia in a high humidy enclosure with good ventilation. Now I'm having second thoughts if my setup is ok. :?

I have 8 avic slings: 2 purpureas and 6 versicolors. They seem to be doing just fine.

There are a BUNCH of holes in their lids and two holes right above the 'strate in all of their vials. I mist JUST the webbing every couple of days, and when the 'strate starts to look dry, I will let more water drip down there. I imaginine their humidity never stays about 70 for more than a little while, and probably averages about 60%, though I haven't measured it.

Avics need humidity. You just need ventilation also. And when you mist dont make the substrate wet, just make it damp. And also supply a large water dish.

Dry is beautiful.

Avicularia slings do not do well in high humidity with poor ventilation. In a vial you are going to have poor ventilation, so you can't overwater and expect them to stay alive.

When Avicularia grow and you can put them in an enclosure with good cross ventilation, evaporation takes care of overwatering issues.

The number one mistake with this genus is keeping them too moist. The misconception is that everything that lives in the rainforest likes it soupy wet and people make swampy conditions that kill the sling. Even my poison dart frogs like it on the dry side.

I have never had an Avicularia die from low humidity conditions, but have lost a few slings when conditions were too moist. JME. kd

Less is sometimes more.

kamikaze said:

Really? I always thought Avics need a humid enclosure with good ventilation.
I live in the tropics and I have housed my Avicularia avicularia in a high humidy enclosure with good ventilation. Now I'm having second thoughts if my setup is ok. :?

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Even the adults don't need high humidity. I keep my adult A. versicolors with a full water dish screwed near the top of a well ventilated enclosure. Once every other week I slighly overflow the water dish, and my versicolors thrive.

With high humidity comes disease problems, mold problems, bacteria problems, etc. Less is somtimes more.

I had 11 A. minatrix's slings that I babied because they were one of my favorites. I lost 6 for no apparent reason I checked them everyday to no avail the last 5 are doing fine and thriving now. I find the A. versicolors to be one of the hardiest of the Avic's that I have personally encountered.

GForce14063 said:

I had 11 A. minatrix's slings that I babied because they were one of my favorites. I lost 6 for no apparent reason I checked them everyday to no avail the last 5 are doing fine and thriving now. I find the A. versicolors to be one of the hardiest of the Avic's that I have personally encountered.

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Sorry for your loss. What did you do to "baby" them? Anything extra?

The key is enough ventilation! Especially with slings you don't want them too dry for sure but as they get older they will tolerate lower humidity levels.

ShellsandScales said:

The key is enough ventilation! Especially with slings you don't want them too dry for sure but as they get older they will tolerate lower humidity levels.

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I think I read somewhere the three most important things about buying real estate are: ventilation, ventilation, ventilation.

I may have that confused with building a bathroom, I'm not sure.

Anyway its probably acurrate for keeping Avicularia too. kd

I kept mine with LOTS of ventilation (a good 30+ holes) and very high humidity (vermiculite works great) and it still died as a sling. Why? Who knows. It's random.

kupo969 said:

Why? Who knows. It's random.

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Try reading T-Harry's and Kid Dragon's posts in this thread.

wow... At first there were only two replys and I came in here to bump it only to see post post post post post.


ok.. a few things the slings are about 1.5" so they don't have a water dish yet.

the container is a 4" (or so) tall box. (They came with the spider) there are vent holes ringed around the top third as well as on the lid.

I'm in colorado... and we have had a VERY VERY dry year. It is like 15% humidaty in my place.

So taht is why I was periodadly soaking the substraite. But... I lost track and let it get bone dry. I thought it was too dry and soaked it until it was sopping.

I have sence fixed that so the remaining cages are not THAT wet... but they are not bone dry eather.

Also I was parinoid enough I fed the other Purpurea - I wanted to make sure I knew which one died... I had one last week take the cricket from the tweaser - so I tryed that again to verify that the living one IS the one that more robust.

I have noticed that the avac. vercicolors I have seem to be doing better.

Both A. Purpureas tended to ball themselves up making it difficult for me to tell for sure if something is wrong.

Thank you for your replies.

Oh and for the record I have two A. Vercicolors - one that is starting to get adult colors - I think it is 2.5"? and the other is about 1.75 - 2".
And I have one A purpurea left who is about 1.5-1.75".

And one A. Geordi (spelling?) that is also about 1.75" - and also is doing well.

I also have other Ts... just giving out the Avacs. for reference

- Sharon

I have kept all of my tarantulas on the dry side for years and have never had a problem... including avics. The only difference with avics (or any arboreal) is that I house them in plastic fish tanks when they are small that have no ventilation. To remedy this I burn holes that rare much bigger than the spider intitially is. then I put a mesh under the top that prevents escapes.

In my experience the less I mess with them after they are settled in... the better off they do... Good Luck!!