Caring for your sick tarantula

I have not come across a vet who is willing to work with a sick tarantula and therefore we as owners must be willing to try for ourselves. The information is based solely on experiences with tarantulas.

traumatized tarantula:

If your tarantula falls off and it is severe enough to cause bleeding on the pedicel or abdomen, then the chance of survival is low. The most important thing for any spider experiencing loss of bodily fluids, however, is to give it a drink of water. Spiders have a partially hydraulic muscular system and extend their legs using blood pressure, not muscle. Therefore, if they lose blood, they need to drink to replace the volume of blood fluid lost.

Puncture wounds:

If a tarantula sustains a puncture wound, it can be covered with an adhesion patch. You will have to consider how to hold the spider in order to heal the wound. Another solution is to anesthetize the spider by chilling it in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes. As a bandage, you can use a small piece of plastic with petroleum jelly on the leak. If the spider can reach the bandage, it will rip it off, so you may need to try just a drop of Vaseline. An alternative is to use a quick-drying adhesive like super glue. The injured area will be fully healed by the next molt, although you may notice some slight discoloration.

Leg loss:

If a tarantula loses a leg, it’s in much better shape than you might think, since most grow another. Spiders have the ability to shed their legs in the same way that some lizards shed their tails. It’s better to lose a leg than your life, especially if you have eight to start with! All spiders have a joint in the legs near the base that breaks when the leg is grasped. The open stump is closed by muscle contraction in the joint and blood loss is stopped immediately. If a leg is injured in any way, the tarantula may decide it’s more trouble than it’s worth and remove it on its own. Tarantulas will often eat their leg to make up for the nutrients they invested in growing them in the first place. The leg will not be totally replaced with the next moult, several sheds will be needed for the new leg to be the same length as the other legs.

Having a bad molt:

Molting is a big event for a tarantula and many things can go wrong, the best thing to do is offer water. All tarantulas, especially young ones, can have trouble molting when conditions are too dry. Over water to tarantulas that get stuck in old skin. It can be as minor as having a piece of old cuticle attached to the abdomen. In this case, you can soften the dry skin with water and gently remove the old skin. Don’t shake, just pull gently. A crisis is when the tarantula fails to free the old legs. If the legs are almost out and stuck, you may be able to soften the old skin with water and gently remove it. If the legs are stuck most of the time, forced autotomy may be your best option. If only one or two legs are stuck, you can induce autotomy of the stuck legs by pinching them through the old cuticle with a pair of tweezers. If most of the legs are stuck, and the new cuticle has already hardened, then it is best in this case to euthanize the spider. You can do this by placing the spider in the freezer.

Cuticular conditions:

fungal infections:
A gray spot on the abdomen is probably a fungal infection, it occurs most often in damp cages. The first thing you should do is let the cage dry. This will slow or stop the growth of the fungus. You can try treating the fungus with a topical treatment, but this will only be experimental. When the spider sheds the fungus it will be her with the old cuticle.

Packages:

Adult females can develop lumps on their abdomens for no apparent reason. They can move out of it.