I need advice on one of my Tarantula's. Will rate best answer.

Question

I have a mature Gold Knee tarantula. He has molted a good few times, and was healthy up until a few weeks ago. He is about 2 years of age, and since a baby, it has looked like he has a bit of a mental problem, witch mainly affects his walking. He looks funny when he walks, and is all jerky. He has survived the 2 years since i have had him, but rescently something went very wrong.

He started curling up (like they do when they are dying) so I put him in my animal ICU, gave him reasonable amounts of water every day ect. I really did fear for the worst, and expected him to die soon. It has been over a month now, and he still isn't dead. He lies on his back, with his legs curled (some days) and other days he lays on his back with his legs open. But he cant walk on his own, nor can he stand up on his own. All he does is lie there.

Also, another issue is that he wets himself (because he cannot walk or stand on his own) and it looks like watery silk. But its actually secretion. I was sure he was going to die, but he doesnt. He seems to become more lively when he is near warmth and heat.

Do you have any kind of idea as to what this may be? Every day i think he will die, but another day passes and he doesnt. (and no it isnt molting season for him, i have checked for signs and signals ect and there are none.)

Is there anything that i can do for him?

And do you have any kind of ideas as to what might be causing this?

And how i can cure it?

Any advice will be greatly appriciated. Please remember to inlude your source!!!

Will rate best answer...

Thank you

Answer 1

What temperature is your room? It it too cold?

Have you visited the vet?

Make sure there is water; turn off the air conditioner if necessary.

Did it molt incompletely?

Good luck!

Some sources:

http://www.tropicaltarantulas.com.au/ind...

http://www.aussiereptilekeeper.com/save_...

Answer 2

It sounds like nematodes which causes symptoms that are called "dyskinetic syndrome" which is pretty much that twitchy walking you were talking about. Nematodes are very common and exist just about everywhere on earth, so it's something that could have happened to your tarantula wherever he was kept.

Here is an article from someone else that had it happen with his tarantulas..

http://www.giantspiders.com/article12.ht...

The nematodes cause a breakdown of the internals, so I don't believe there is anything you could've done. There isn't yet enough research on how to treat tarantula diseases, and unfortunately medications used to kill worm infestations in other species would probably kill the tarantula as they are typically a broad type of pesticide. .

I had the same thing happen about a year ago and had quite a few tarantulas with those symptoms. I isolated any that showed symptoms, changed all the substrate and haven't had any more sicken for at least the last 9 months. None of the ones that got sick though survived..