Nematodes? Please help!

[Zephyr Koolstra]

So I got my avic avic about two and a half weeks ago. She's been acting pretty strange these past few days. She sits on the bottom of the substrate and has half of her legs curled under her, half close to her. She crams her self in small corners and stays there, but when I touch her she's 100% responsive and active. She will also curl some of her legs underneath her on the glass, and this worries me. When I first got her, she did drool all over the glass, and it was clear. I read this is normal and usually used when grooming. Today, it looked like her drool was white and pasty, all in the event of her curling up on herself. She's eaten one single small cricket and I see her drink water. So as far as I'm concerned she should be healthy (unless she has nematodes obviously). Here's a picture of her fangs on the glass. What do you think? I'm extremely worried she may not be with us much longer.

 

[Ghost]

Hi,
The white sticky stuff isn't definitive proof of nematodes it could be something completely different.

Here's a quick test you can do to check for nematodes if you swab some of the white goop and swirl it in some alcohol then you should be able to see the small worms swimming around or at least the shapes of them in the light,its best to do this in a small glass to give yourself some magnification as their small and easy to miss.....

 

[Therasoid]

+1 Agree with Ghost.
Do the suggested test. It might also just be fecal matter, this has happened before and not uncommon. Best wishes for your T and keep us posted on your test results.

 

[Zephyr Koolstra]

Thank you so much. I've heard of cases where white goop happens and the T has been absolutely fine. I've looked at it and there are no wigglers in there. She's still quite lathargic and putting up an awkward stance, however. I'm thinking this may be an issue with heat and she's curling up to the substrate for warmth because she hasn't made her nest since she's fairly new to her environment still. I'll put a space heater in my room and hopefully that'll help her. It gets cold here in Colorado!

 

[Therasoid]

Thank you so much. I've heard of cases where white goop happens and the T has been absolutely fine. I've looked at it and there are no wigglers in there. She's still quite lathargic and putting up an awkward stance, however. I'm thinking this may be an issue with heat and she's curling up to the substrate for warmth because she hasn't made her nest since she's fairly new to her environment still. I'll put a space heater in my room and hopefully that'll help her. It gets cold here in Colorado!

Sorry, but is that a glass enclosure its in? Could be there is not enough cross ventilation and the air is too humid. This has happened to many A. avics and sad to say, resulted in death. For arboreal species, enclosure height is more important than floor space, good cross ventilation, "slightly" moist substrate, a water dish and regular feeding are their basic needs.
Here is a pic of the enclosures I built for my P. cambridgei.
Hope this helps. Keep us updated.

 

[Zephyr Koolstra]

Sorry, but is that a glass enclosure its in? Could be there is not enough cross ventilation and the air is too humid. This has happened to many A. avics and sad to say, resulted in death. For arboreal species, enclosure height is more important than floor space, good cross ventilation, "slightly" moist substrate, a water dish and regular feeding are their basic needs.
Here is a pic of the enclosures I built for my P. cambridgei.
Hope this helps. Keep us updated.

Yeah, it is glass. Its the enclosure I had for my G. Rosea before he died. I do have a hygrometer in there and do keep it at least 70 humidity no less. It is well ventilated, however I don't like the screen ventilation at the top. Her fangs could get stuck easy. There's all too much floor space. Plenty of things to climb on. But my woodshop teacher agreed to help me with some acrylic because I've been eager to fix this problem since I got her.

 

[Zephyr Koolstra]

Update: found her in molt this morning. Half on the glass and half on the substrate, molt was supremely successful. She's now about 2.5 inches and I have confirmed that she is female. She had the strangest pre molt symptoms I've ever experienced owning Ts. We'll see if she remains healthy.

 

[Therasoid]

Great news!! Glad the molt was a success and congrats, "Its a girl", and is healthy.

 

[spidey noob]

congrats

 

[Fuzzball79]

Congrats, yay!
I've only just read this thread. it must have been worrying for you. Apart from the leg curls, my Versi spends a lot of time at the bottom when in premolt, not sitting directly on the substrate, but has built herself some sort of web funnel (she seems to have started the pm phase now).
And speaking of nematodes: She gave me a right fright the other week. I checked on her right after waking up (as I usually do, lol) and she was sitting on the glass with white slimy stuff around her mouth. Panic mode on! Checked again a couple of minutes later and stuff was gone. Confused!? Then my husband (who has insomnia) tells me she'd caught the cricket from the previous day (which I thought she'd already eaten) only an hour before the "white stuff incident" and was obviously still in the process of devouring the last bits...

 

[Zephyr Koolstra]

I wish I could say it was healthy molt. Found her in a whole death curl this morning. Cage smells odd, and sweet. She didn't make it overnight. Must've been dehydrated and the molt just wore her out and she hust couldn't do it. Poor love. That, or she just—well, died. I understand avic avics die for no reason. But I don't think I was ready for her to. She was still pretty juvenile..

 

[Zephyr Koolstra]

You'd never think losing a T would hurt as bad as it does until you own one...

 

[Therasoid]

You'd never think losing a T would hurt as bad as it does until you own one...

So sorry to hear of your loss. [emoji17] [emoji17]

 

[Ghost]

I'm so sorry for your loss it's never easy losing a T.
Did you do the test for nematodes?
It's just when you said that there was a sweet smell in the enclosure that has me thinking it could be nematodes,a few years back when I had a confirmed case of them I smelt a sweet smell coming for the enclosure too.I also know a couple other keepers that have smelt the same thing where nematodes were concerned...

 

[Zephyr Koolstra]

I'm so sorry for your loss it's never easy losing a T.
Did you do the test for nematodes?
It's just when you said that there was a sweet smell in the enclosure that has me thinking it could be nematodes,a few years back when I had a confirmed case of them I smelt a sweet smell coming for the enclosure too.I also know a couple other keepers that have smelt the same thing where nematodes were concerned...

Just did the test on her. White stuff in her mouth. But not nematodes. Stiff as a board in her new exoskeleton. I'll have to wait to bury the poor baby until later today. I feel so bad because I feel like it's my fault. But you can only do so much.

 

[Fuzzball79]

So sorry to hear that

 

[Ghost]

Just did the test on her. White stuff in her mouth. But not nematodes. Stiff as a board in her new exoskeleton. I'll have to wait to bury the poor baby until later today. I feel so bad because I feel like it's my fault. But you can only do so much.

Try not to beat yourself up it could have been any number of things that caused her death.I don't know how long you had her for but if she was a recent purchase and if you got her from a LPS then the chances are she had something wrong before you got her...

 

[Zephyr Koolstra]

Things happen. All you can do is live, learn from the experience and try again in the future. Next time in a more appropriate enclosure, although I'm positive she passed from dehydration. Thanks again, guys

 

[Zephyr Koolstra]

Try not to beat yourself up it could have been any number of things that caused her death.I don't know how long you had her for but if she was a recent purchase and if you got her from a LPS then the chances are she had something wrong before you got her...

I got her from petco. They had her a couple months before we purchased her. She was in a stressed position and cornered in the top of her tank. Probably to get away from the heat at the bottom but there's a built in light at the top. Regardless I know she's in T heaven eating all the superworms and crickets she could possibly desire. This too shall pass.

 

[Ghost]

I'm not from the States but from what I hear petco don't have the best reputation for looking after their T's it's the same with the chain pet stores here in the UK their T's are almost always wild caught so you can never tell what sort of infections they already have.
As you say we live and learn heck I've been in this hobby for 25+ years and I'm still learning .