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How long do you wait for signs of life?

Jenniferinfl

Active Member
Messages
113
Location
Florida
So, I bought around 35 small spiderlings, mostly in June and July. Most of them are doing great and are more juveniles now than spiderlings.
I have one though that I think passed. It was a Heterothele gabonensis and was a teeny, tiny .25" spiderling. It was feeding well on fruit flies, built a nice web tunnel. It molted back in early July and then disappeared again in the middle of August, presumably for another molt. In between, it was just an eating machine and I had no reason to suspect anything may be wrong. Anyhow, a few days ago I finally got tired of waiting for it to emerge and took apart it's little amac cube to see what was up. Couldn't find it anywhere. Of course, it was absolutely tiny. I do have springtails in my enclosures, so if it died it would have been eaten eventually. But, of course, it's tiny and if it decided to freeze up there's a chance I still could have missed it sorting through the substrate, so, I put all the substrate back in the enclosure and figured I'd wait a few weeks and see if another web tunnel shows up.

At what point do you assume it's definitely dead and give up on it? I was thinking if no new webbing or tunnels appear in the next month I'll sift through the substrate one more time and then put the whole thing in the freezer for a couple days just in case so I don't accidentally toss out a live spiderling with the substrate. I'm like 95% sure it died during it's last molt attempt and got eaten by springtails.

I shouldn't complain, only losing one out of 35 isn't bad at all and most of the others have cleared the 1" mark, but, it's still frustrating since it was doing so well.
 

Jenniferinfl

Active Member
Messages
113
Location
Florida
@Jenniferinfl I have been watching this thread, have you found it yet?
Nope, no new webbing either. I'm thinking it must have died. I guess I shouldn't really be surprised, I mean losing 1 our of 35 small spiderlings probably isn't bad. It's just weird because it was doing so well, but, I guess anything can have a bad molt at any time. I'm occasionally adding water to the bowl and throwing a few fruit flies in there just in case, but, I would think it would have put up another web tunnel or something if it was in there.
 

TokeHound

Active Member
Messages
170
Location
USA
Nope, no new webbing either. I'm thinking it must have died. I guess I shouldn't really be surprised, I mean losing 1 our of 35 small spiderlings probably isn't bad. It's just weird because it was doing so well, but, I guess anything can have a bad molt at any time. I'm occasionally adding water to the bowl and throwing a few fruit flies in there just in case, but, I would think it would have put up another web tunnel or something if it was in there.
Huh. I hope it shows up somewhere. Could it have escaped the enclosure altogether and be somewhere in your residence?
 

Jenniferinfl

Active Member
Messages
113
Location
Florida
Huh. I hope it shows up somewhere. Could it have escaped the enclosure altogether and be somewhere in your residence?
I don't think so with this one, it was very shy, it would sprint out and grab a fruit fly and sprint right back into its' web tunnel. It was one of those only out of the tunnel to eat and only a few minutes after I'd closed the lid back up. I've been the only one taking care of the tiny ones and I'm pretty careful. My spouse isn't always great with the lids, but, he's only interested in the larger ones, he wouldn't have even touched the shelf this one was on.

It was in an Amac box with 1/16" holes, so shouldn't have been a way for it to escape. All my little spiderling enclosures are in a glass display case so they don't get accidentally knocked over by a cat or something. It was definitely very fat for its' size last I saw it and definitely due for a molt which is why I didn't think anything of not seeing it for a few weeks. But, still, it was tiny, the little husk of it could still be in the web tunnel, it's just too tiny to find.

Oh well, it's not hurting anything to leave it for another few months just in case- but, I'm thinking it had an issue with the molt or something and then got eaten.
 

TokeHound

Active Member
Messages
170
Location
USA
I don't think so with this one, it was very shy, it would sprint out and grab a fruit fly and sprint right back into its' web tunnel. It was one of those only out of the tunnel to eat and only a few minutes after I'd closed the lid back up. I've been the only one taking care of the tiny ones and I'm pretty careful. My spouse isn't always great with the lids, but, he's only interested in the larger ones, he wouldn't have even touched the shelf this one was on.

It was in an Amac box with 1/16" holes, so shouldn't have been a way for it to escape. All my little spiderling enclosures are in a glass display case so they don't get accidentally knocked over by a cat or something. It was definitely very fat for its' size last I saw it and definitely due for a molt which is why I didn't think anything of not seeing it for a few weeks. But, still, it was tiny, the little husk of it could still be in the web tunnel, it's just too tiny to find.

Oh well, it's not hurting anything to leave it for another few months just in case- but, I'm thinking it had an issue with the molt or something and then got eaten.
Well, good luck! Although it sounds like you may be right, but good luck anyway! I hope it turns up somewhere
 

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