P metallica a spaz

[SpiderDad61]

Anyone else who has a metallica notice this? Mine is a nervous nelly. As soon as I turn on a light and look at the enclosure, it runs from spot to spot, spazzes around and freaks out. Wonder if it's a metallica thing because my vittata isn't nearly as bad, and it's a 1" smaller sling.

 

[micheldied]

Anyone else who has a metallica notice this? Mine is a nervous nelly. As soon as I turn on a light and look at the enclosure, it runs from spot to spot, spazzes around and freaks out. Wonder if it's a metallica thing because my vittata isn't nearly as bad, and it's a 1" smaller sling.

I don't remember if you were the same poster on AB who made a thread about P. metallica being skittish, but yes; they're more skittish than any other Pokie species I've had.

 

[MassExodus]

Mine was skittish up to about two inches, she actually teleported to my hand once. She's gotten much calmer as she grows, but still has a tendency to dart if she's startled.

 

[Tomoran]

My P. metallica loved to do laps around her enclosure as a sling at the slightest disturbance, but now she is actually quite chill. I've heard they can be quite photosensitive, but she sits right out in the open (which is nice, because she is darned pretty!) and doesn't freak when I open or disturb her enclosure. My P. vittata has always been always been very calm as well.

 

[Will]

Yep, my P metallica sling (1.25" dls) is so nervous. I try and be so slow and smooth when I do anything with her enclosure but the slightest vibration and she's doing laps. She runs away from live food too, so I've found I have to butcher a cricket and leave it in there and she will readily gorge herself on that.

 

[Fuzzball79]

Mine was really calm and never bolted much, but maybe that was another sign that something wasn't quite right with it (died as a sling ).

 

[Will]

Gutted, did it stop feeding? Bad moult? Or did it just suddenly die?

Expensive loss too!

 

[Fuzzball79]

Gutted, did it stop feeding? Bad moult? Or did it just suddenly die?

Expensive loss too!

It was doing fine until its last moult, although looking back it hardly grew with any molt before that.
After its last molt it had one small meal and then went into hiding, which I thought of as completely normal for a P. Met. Then one day I found it at the bottom of its bark. I left it alone, but noticed it had difficulties climbing and generally hardly moved, seemed paralyzed in its back legs. I ended up putting it in ICU, where it perked up after a while, so put it back into its jar (cleaned it out, just in case). It looked like it tried to molt, went on its back but after a day like that, it suddenly flipped back over not molted. I put it back in ICU after a few days, so I could make sure it was keeping hydrated and in a dark quiet area, but it died a soon after.
Nothing had changed in its husbandry, so with it always having been quite runty, I wonder whether it was just not able to molt for internal reasons.
Some slings are just not meant to live .
The slings are not too expensive in the UK anymore (£25 - $37), but it's the feeling of failure that got to me, as it had been my first and only OW.

 

[Will]

Yeah mine was 25 quid from TTS but it's still not cheap for a small sling.

I think you're right though, some slings are just destined to pass away.

 

[Chubbs]

Yeah that's pretty normal for these guys.