Aphonopelma Chalcodes death explanation needed

[Tboltguy1000]

Hi all,

sad news- my male Aphonopelma Chalcodes died this morning. I found him in full death curl in the corner of his enclosure. I tried lightly spraying some water around him, no response. This makes sense, as he had his ultimate molt a month or two ago, but I guess I’m just wondering if I did anything wrong. I fed him, like I feed all my tarantulas, two Dubia roaches once a week and they always have fresh water available. I always keep their enclosures clean.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Milo

 

[Tboltguy1000]

Update: I just saw him move a little bit, I’m just gonna wait and see what happens. I looked from the side and it doesn’t look like his legs are tucked under him. They’re like in front of him but very close to his body.

 

[MBullock]

he may be dehydrated. get a 3oz delicup and fill it with water and submerge his head past his chelicerae.

it might be that he simply cant drink water properly. a healthy mature male aphonopelma can live for more than a year. I have one that's been mature since last year and he's still healthy and acting like a normal tarantula.

 

[Tboltguy1000]

I put a new water dish in there, I previously had a 4oz deli cup in there but it seemed too tall for him to reach. I’ll see if I can coax him into drinking from the shallower one.

 

[MBullock]

I put a new water dish in there, I previously had a 4oz deli cup in there but it seemed too tall for him to reach. I’ll see if I can coax him into drinking from the shallower one.

i dig down into the substrate so i can have the rim of the delicup near the surface

 

[Tboltguy1000]

i dig down into the substrate so i can have the rim of the delicup near the surface

That’s smart, I’ll start doing that.

 

[Tboltguy1000]

Just coaxed him towards his water dish by dropping water droplets behind him, he moved on his own, slowly but surely. He’s now kinda standing above his dish, hopefully he’ll drink.

 

[MBullock]

Just coaxed him towards his water dish by dropping water droplets behind him, he moved on his own, slowly but surely. He’s now kinda standing above his dish, hopefully he’ll drink.

i just pinch grab them and dunk their head in because males get derpy when mature and often need help lol

 

[m0lsx]

I have large syringes that I use to both keep my water bowls topped up & to squirt water down a corner into the substrate. That allows me to create some natural humidity for desert species. As I make the bottom substrate wet, but keep the surface dry.

A syringe is a great tool, no tipping water in from height, no fingers inside the enclosure. My syringes are about 4 inches long & hold 50ml's of water.