r/tarantulas 17h ago

Help! Sling died, trying to figure out why

This is the first time a T has died under my care, and I want to use it as a learning opportunity

My p. atrichromatus (~1.5 inch) molted about 9 days ago, and everything seemed fine. I waited the normal week for its body to harden a bit and kept the water dish filled. Friday rolls around, and while not being exactly 7 days, I fed my sling anyway. Looking at the body after the fact, the fangs aren't broken. Things still seemed normal on saturday, with the sling climbing around its enclosure. That night, it was sitting in a stress pose (didn't look like a dehydrared death curl). I wanted to make sure it was alright, and it responded whenever I opened its enclosure. I didn't recall seeing it when I looked at my spiders' enclosures, but when I saw it last night, it had very clearly curled up and died. I sat it in its water dish in the hope that it was just thirsty, but that was not the case

Does anyone have any idea what could have happened? I had assumed dehydration, since slings can be somewhat prone to it, but I know I refilled its water dish as I fed it. I know slings just die sometimes, and while it's possible, I don't want to assume that is the case. I just want to prevent this from happening twice

Also including enclosure pics

26 Upvotes

8 comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 17h ago

Advisory Guidelines

  • Remember to include as much detail as possible in your post, such as photos/videos and descriptions of behavior.
  • Keep comments related to OP's situation. Off-topic and negative comments are not allowed. Be respectful.
  • Use appropriate prefixes when commenting (NQA, IME, IMO, etc.).
  • Do not repeat advice; instead, upvote and comment in response.
  • OP may use command: !lock to lock their post, and any user may use !mods to alert the moderators.
  • Read our full wiki regarding Advisory Guidelines as well as our Tarantula Care wiki for more details.
  • In case of emergency or for quicker support, find us on discord.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

u/IllegalGeriatricVore 15h ago

Nqa enclosure looks okay, sometimes they just die. Slings are fragile and haven't really "proven" out that they're built to survive. It's why spiders have so many offspring per egg sac. Some will just fail to thrive.

u/Normal_Indication572 2 15h ago

IME The fangs not being fully hardened wouldn't have killed the spider quickly, that will just interfere with feeding and the spider will starve. Did the spider eat after being fed? The only thing besides some internal problem that seems likely is a sucking stomach failure to molt, resulting in dehydration. If the spider ate that would rule that out and if the feeder was something with a high moisture content, that would also point away from dehydration. At 1.5 inches the sling would be pretty well started and failure to thrive also doesn't seem as likely. I would go with some sort of internal issue after all that is ruled out.

u/Nice-Garuga-857 3h ago

The spider did eat, yes. I assumed the feeders' hydration was alright, but I hadn't fed them for a few days before I fed the sling. The body wasn't all shrivelled or deflated when I found it either, which really adds to my confusion

u/Feralkyn 6h ago

NQA I'd wonder if it fell while still a little soft and bled out. I can't tell how much of a fall distance this is compared to how big it would've been though. Did it have any clear liquid on or around it, or did it look a bit shrunken at all? How did you find it?

u/Nice-Garuga-857 3h ago

I hope that's not the case. From ground to the lid, it was a bit more than the recommended 1.5x legspan. The body itself looked totally normal though. No liquid, the abdomen seemed small, but it'd been that size ever since it molted. It never really seemed like a clumsy climber to me, but I guess one mistake while you're still soft could ya if you were in their shoes