Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New media
New articles
New media comments
New article comments
New profile posts
Latest activity
Articles
New articles
New comments
Search articles
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Navigation
Install the app
Install
More options
Light Theme
Contact us
Close Menu
Are you a Tarantula hobbyist? If so, we invite you to join our community! Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your pets and enclosures and chat with other Tarantula enthusiasts.
Sign up today!
Forums
Tarantula Forum Topics
General Tarantula Discussion
Old Age?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Salatia" data-source="post: 228216" data-attributes="member: 38837"><p>We don't know nearly enough about how their systems work, and how those systems 'decay' with age, to be able to truly know what is 'normal' old age and what is abnormal pathology being made visible by old age and so on. Kind of the difference between dementia and natural forgetfulness and such. </p><p></p><p>As such, I think anyone who keeps tarantulas should keep some notes on that individuals normal behaviour, and anything out of the ordinary that occurs, usual moulting behaviours pre and post, that sort of thing. It would be amazing to be able to have crowdsourced information like that, even anecdotal. Yes quality will vary, but this can be strengthened by having more input - where the info shows commonalities then it is likely more reliable. Just thinking out loud, sorry. But yeah, notes on behaviour when approaching the 'extremes' of age for the species could be informative. And if (when) more physiological studies are performed these things may then be explainable. </p><p></p><p>In your case, it's not uncommon for things to 'misfire' neurologically as mammals reach advanced ages. I imagine the same can happen in invertebrates - though it may be more complex, or more basic, I don't know. There are chemical processes going on in close relationship and proximity to the neurones themselves, which also may play a part. Legs going flat like you describe suggests the internal pressure may have raised for a moment, since low pressure/dehydration causes curling and the pressure helps in extension of limbs. They have incredibly sensitive sensory systems, it doesn't seem a huge leap to think that some degredation of the systems at work over time could result in issues. We simple need more info. </p><p></p><p>Apologies if this is too much of a reduction to a 'clinical' analysis - for me it helps to try to understand the processes at work, but I appreciate not everyone finds this to be the case. We lost our last rabbit -of three we have had as a couple- a few months ago due to what seems to have been age related misfiring. She started having issues moving quite suddenly, which progressed to seizures in a short time. Honestly, the whole story around it is kind of funny just because of that rabbits personality and how it all went down in the end. She was 10 so not a bad age, and prior to that she'd never had any issues. Our vets always loved to see our three due to them being in such good condition, and the two boys also appear to have passed due to age related issues as far as any one could tell - at 10 and 11. I won't go into the chaos around my girls passing right now, though I will if anyone is curious, but seizures and similar simply don't seem uncommon past certain ages in many species. I'm definitely interested to see how our knowledge grows in this area.</p><p></p><p>If it is soon to be time for your rosea it sounds like she's had a good long life with you, and that's something to be glad of. I'm sorry if it is time, it's sad when they've been a part of us and then have to move on.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Salatia, post: 228216, member: 38837"] We don't know nearly enough about how their systems work, and how those systems 'decay' with age, to be able to truly know what is 'normal' old age and what is abnormal pathology being made visible by old age and so on. Kind of the difference between dementia and natural forgetfulness and such. As such, I think anyone who keeps tarantulas should keep some notes on that individuals normal behaviour, and anything out of the ordinary that occurs, usual moulting behaviours pre and post, that sort of thing. It would be amazing to be able to have crowdsourced information like that, even anecdotal. Yes quality will vary, but this can be strengthened by having more input - where the info shows commonalities then it is likely more reliable. Just thinking out loud, sorry. But yeah, notes on behaviour when approaching the 'extremes' of age for the species could be informative. And if (when) more physiological studies are performed these things may then be explainable. In your case, it's not uncommon for things to 'misfire' neurologically as mammals reach advanced ages. I imagine the same can happen in invertebrates - though it may be more complex, or more basic, I don't know. There are chemical processes going on in close relationship and proximity to the neurones themselves, which also may play a part. Legs going flat like you describe suggests the internal pressure may have raised for a moment, since low pressure/dehydration causes curling and the pressure helps in extension of limbs. They have incredibly sensitive sensory systems, it doesn't seem a huge leap to think that some degredation of the systems at work over time could result in issues. We simple need more info. Apologies if this is too much of a reduction to a 'clinical' analysis - for me it helps to try to understand the processes at work, but I appreciate not everyone finds this to be the case. We lost our last rabbit -of three we have had as a couple- a few months ago due to what seems to have been age related misfiring. She started having issues moving quite suddenly, which progressed to seizures in a short time. Honestly, the whole story around it is kind of funny just because of that rabbits personality and how it all went down in the end. She was 10 so not a bad age, and prior to that she'd never had any issues. Our vets always loved to see our three due to them being in such good condition, and the two boys also appear to have passed due to age related issues as far as any one could tell - at 10 and 11. I won't go into the chaos around my girls passing right now, though I will if anyone is curious, but seizures and similar simply don't seem uncommon past certain ages in many species. I'm definitely interested to see how our knowledge grows in this area. If it is soon to be time for your rosea it sounds like she's had a good long life with you, and that's something to be glad of. I'm sorry if it is time, it's sad when they've been a part of us and then have to move on. [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Tarantula Forum Topics
General Tarantula Discussion
Old Age?
Top