Caring for an Octoplegic

C

CJL

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 18, 2016
Messages
5
Thx for that info. I then assume it is safe to leave her on her back to work on her food. She has been sitting in her water dish for the past day, maybe her daily spritzed are not enough. I drop water in her mouth 1x per week now, hope that's enough. I appreciate the referral for someone in Phx. I should line up her next home soon.
 
BobBarley

BobBarley

Arachnoprince
Joined
Sep 16, 2015
Messages
1,486
CJL said:
Thx for that info. I then assume it is safe to leave her on her back to work on her food. She has been sitting in her water dish for the past day, maybe her daily spritzed are not enough. I drop water in her mouth 1x per week now, hope that's enough. I appreciate the referral for someone in Phx. I should line up her next home soon.
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Spritzing doesn't really help. If you feel that she needs more moisture, pour a little water in from one of the corners of the enclosure. This will let the water seep through underneath the surface of the sub and allow it to be moist without the surface being moist.
 
Shauna Mama

Shauna Mama

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Joined
Jun 29, 2021
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3
I found your story from researching how to care for a paralyzed tarantula. I rescued a T as well! I shooed away the TH that was dragging her, I just couldn’t bare it. I’ve always been very fond of tarantulas.

She is pretty skittish and can only move her legs but I turn her over and give her water and it takes her about five minutes to drink one drop. I’ve been giving her water every morning like I read from your forum. I really enjoyed reading your story and it’s helping me to take care of this little girl. My son named her Lucas after a jumping spider from one of his shows.

I had a couple questions though. Should I be feeding her water every morning? I don’t want to disturb her too often and stress her out.

She has not had a BM yet, so once she does is that when I start giving her mealworms? She’s pretty plump. How often would I give mealworms?

i keep her paper towels nice and moist, not damp but comfortably moist and she stays in the garage where it’s cool and dark.

let me know if you have any tips! Thank you!
 

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sasker

sasker

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No need to give her water every day, they don't usually drink every day on their own anyway. If she is drinking, fine. But don't be concerned if she doesn't.

As about feeding, this spider has a healthy bodyweight. I am not sure what a BM is, but you can feed her when she starts moving on her own.

I see you use moist paper towels? I wouldn't do that. The practice of ICU's with paper towels to keep humidity up is an obsolete practice. Stuffy, damp boxes with not ventilation is killing more spiders than dehydration. You can put her in a small terrarium to recover. Just adding a small water bowl should do the trick. If she still doesn't move, you could give her water like once a week the way you are doing now.

All you can do now is wait and hope for a recovery. Keep us updated about any progress!

By the way, you could also start your own thread instead of continuing this old one ;)
 
Shauna Mama

Shauna Mama

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 29, 2021
Messages
3
sasker said:
No need to give her water every day, they don't usually drink every day on their own anyway. If she is drinking, fine. But don't be concerned if she doesn't.

As about feeding, this spider has a healthy bodyweight. I am not sure what a BM is, but you can feed her when she starts moving on her own.

I see you use moist paper towels? I wouldn't do that. The practice of ICU's with paper towels to keep humidity up is an obsolete practice. Stuffy, damp boxes with not ventilation is killing more spiders than dehydration. You can put her in a small terrarium to recover. Just adding a small water bowl should do the trick. If she still doesn't move, you could give her water like once a week the way you are doing now.

All you can do now is wait and hope for a recovery. Keep us updated about any progress!

By the way, you could also start your own thread instead of continuing this old one ;)
Click to expand...
Bowel movement, and I just spritzed the corner of the paper towel to get some moisture in there. She’s not sitting on wet paper towels. I will change the paper and add a water bowl. It’s also ventilated!

Okay I’ll start a new thread!

Thank you!!
 
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