Euthanization

becca81 · Dec 8, 2004

I've know we've been discussing the death of Ts lately, but I recall reading somewhere that many people euthanize their Ts when they are sick, very old, etc.

This includes:

Putting them in the freezer
Putting them in alcohol
Feeding them to stronger, younger spiders or letting them be muched by a female during mating
Stepping on them

I'm curious as to how people feel about this. Do you euthanize your Ts or let them die a natural (without assistance) death?

For people who would say no to euthanization, how would you deal with an issue such as parasites/nematode worms/etc.?

mebebraz · Dec 8, 2004

Ive been keeping t's for about ten years now, never have I once deliberatly killed a t, natural death here.

WayneT · Dec 8, 2004

Same here, natural causes. If I was forced into it, it would be the fridge.

mouse · Dec 8, 2004

well i had one tarantula that was bad off (it got stuck in it's molt, legs were free but the rest of it was stuck). i did everything i could but nothing worked, i thought about the freezer to stop the suffering, asked here about what to do. but i just couldn't kill it...so i shipped it to somebody else in hope it would survive. call me chicken i i just can't kill anything .

dianne

USMuscle9403 · Dec 8, 2004

Never killed a T, but when they finally passed I'd place them in alcohol.

Mattyb · Dec 8, 2004

Natural death for me....i couldn't kill a beautiful creature.

-Mattyb

Joanie · Dec 8, 2004

I have a male L. parahybana who is more than 2 years past his ultimate molt, and a male P. murinus who is 18 months past his ultimate molt. Both are skinny and raggedy looking, but they still eat occasionally and patrol their cages. I'm determined to let them die natural deaths, if at all possible. I think if there were obvious quality of life issues I might freeze them, but I hope it doesn't come to that, especially since I'm not completely sure how to evaluate a tarantula's quality of life.

conipto · Dec 8, 2004

If you're going to do it, I say go with the splat method. Life ends in a fraction of a second. Every other method involves at least a few seconds of life in non-standard conditions which would be considered undesirable. Whether or not the things feel it, that's debatable. Whether or not you should, well.. I've had alot of them I was sure were soon to be goners, that I woke up to see roaming around the next day, and ever-after.

Bill

USMuscle9403 · Dec 8, 2004

Joanie said:
I have a male L. parahybana who is more than 2 years past his ultimate molt, and a male P. murinus who is 18 months past his ultimate molt. Both are skinny and raggedy looking, but they still eat occasionally and patrol their cages. I'm determined to let them die natural deaths, if at all possible. I think if there were obvious quality of life issues I might freeze them, but I hope it doesn't come to that, especially since I'm not completely sure how to evaluate a tarantula's quality of life.

Two years? Wow. I am sure they're not suffering at all though (other than being sexually frustrated...LOL) so I don't see a need to freeze them.

moricollins · Dec 8, 2004

i had to kill one T, it had been knocked off the shelf and it's butt had been ruptured, so i ran it down to the freezer ASAP hoping to save the little fella form some pain, caused by my stupidity.

BlkCat · Dec 9, 2004

There is no way i could euthanize anything. Working at vet offices, I always hated holding off the veins or restraining the animals for direct heart injections of the poison. It may not be an animal u know, but its a life. We dont do it to humans....I cant make the decison that something is to die. Its not my right. Its my job to fight til death to keep animals alive. Unfortunatly, there are politics that go with all types of work and many things that u are forced to do that u dont want to.

In this house, they all get beyond a fighting chance. Even if they give up...I dont.

becca81 · Dec 9, 2004

moricollins said:
i had to kill one T, it had been knocked off the shelf and it's butt had been ruptured, so i ran it down to the freezer ASAP hoping to save the little fella form some pain, caused by my stupidity.

I wonder if tarantulas can feel pain? I'm not familiar with their nervous system, so I have no idea, just curious...

Crunchie · Dec 9, 2004

I would hopefully never have to kill one of my T's or any of my animals for that matter. I remember when I was very young I had a goldfish which got a tumor. Over the course of a few days this lump on the side of my fish got worse and worse and eventually I had a little goldfish floating about in a tank with its side opened up and its fins rotting away.
my dad wanted to kill it to end its suffering but me being only young didn't understand. All I knew was that he wanted to kill my pet so I refused. We went on holiday and left the fish in the tank and my aunt came to check on it every day.
When we came back it was swimming around with a healed up side and its fins had started to grow back.

My point - even in the worse of situations any animal can still amaze you. I'm a bit of a tree hugging hippy and so I'm not keen on the idea of letting any of my pets die an anything but natural death. I do not see it as my right to end an animals life unless in the very extreme situation where it is very obvious that the animal is in great pain and there is no chance of recovery but I think these situations are very rare.

MilkmanWes · Dec 9, 2004

I spent lots of time on a farm growing up and the culture there is that responsible (and economical) animal husbandry is knowing when to end an animals life. And that is no small task when the animal in question weighs 1500 lbs.

I don't think Ts suffer in the same way other animals do. The way a lot of people envision them suffering is over-anthropomorphizing. Sending a T to the freezer rather than letting it live out the results of a fatal wound does seem the kinder way though. A cold blooded animal wouldn't feel pain from the cold, they would just slow down to a stop.

metzgerzoo · Dec 9, 2004

I've never had to put any of my Ts down and I honestly don't think I could. I think I would feel better if it died on it's own rather than me deciding when it was to die. I tend to hold to the "hope floats" theroy and would rather look in a tand and see my T gone then to take it to the freezer. To some that might seem more cruel but for me, I just don't feel like I'm qualified to make that decision for them, especially when I've heard more than one account of a "dead" T coming back around....MsM's cobalt is a fine example....

metallica · Dec 9, 2004

alcohol or freezer, i don't really care.

to those who say they can't put a T down..... hope you never get a case of nematodes............

FryLock · Dec 9, 2004

Humm good point Eddy but seeing how a lot of ppl mistake “goo mouth” in avic’s (which they can offen get over) for nematodes that maybe a good thing.

metallica · Dec 9, 2004

well i dont have any avic.......... oh wait just got 3 last week

FryLock · Dec 9, 2004

metallica said:
well i dont have any avic.......... oh wait just got 3 last week

Yes i remeber now are the chick's flocking to look at them :razz:.

Tescos · Dec 9, 2004

FryLock said:
Yes i remeber now are the chick's flocking to look at them :razz:.

Well they would be but when Eddy answerd the door the chicks all ran off!Hmmm :?

Euthanization

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