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Please help! Tarantula sprayed with Windex

MeganG

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I just joined this group because I spent most of my lunch break looking to see if I could do anything to help a tarantula sprayed with Windex. Can I? I got him out of the chemical as quickly as I could and tried to rinse him a little with water. I put a paper towel down in an old aquarium and covered the top and put in air holes. I put him in the dark and was wondering if there is anything else I can do. I have almost zero experience with these animals. I held one once. This one was at my office and people sprayed it to slow it down and used it to scare another coworker of mine.
 

Kymura

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What kind of a low mentality does something like that, sick miscreants.
Just do what your doing honey and hope for the best, make sure it has a full water dish. What size is this T?
 

MeganG

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How long before I should know? Hours? Days? Should I leave him on the paper towel or put soil in for him? I'm a little nervous about holding him. I don't want to cause him more problems than he already has!
 

MeganG

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I know, Kymura! Pretty sad for grown men to treat anything this way!! He's a pretty good size, just a little bit smaller than the size of my palm, maybe 3 or 4 inches across.
 

Kymura

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How big is it and how much windex was on it, was it drenched in it? So hard to tell without seeing the Tarantula and all. You could put some coir on one end of the tank and let it decide where it's most comfortable. There's unfortunately just no way to tell hun. It's a wait and see and hope for the best.
Edit: must have posted same time just saw size.
Just keep it really well ventilated for now plenty of clean water. A jar lid works as does any water bottle lid but they hold less. Is it moving around at all hun? Or curled up...?
 

MeganG

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I'm not sure if they sprayed him in the cup or on the ground and then scooped him up. I think if was the fumes that were so bad for him. He was in a throw-away cup with a lid. I thought it had blue cola in it and I was draining it when they said that it was Windex! I immediately opened it up to let the fumes out, but I had to keep it half covered as I drove home.

I'll get him some water. The aquarium is small, but I can fit a jar lid in there. He is just sitting still now. Kinda stretched. Not curled up. He has one little hand kinda reaching out. He did curl up for just a second when I added water to the cup to rinse out the chemical, but he's just sitting there now.
 

kormath

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turn them in to HR/Management for animal cruelty. No excuse to do that to any animal.

Leave it be for a few days, keep the water dish full, let it settle in then give it a large cricket and see if it eats.
 

MeganG

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I don't think that they meant to kill it. I prefer to think of them as just extremely dumb! Once I figured out what was wrong - I just heard my female co-worker screaming and saw her waving a cup around - I walked right up to them and asked if I could have it. (That was right in front of our bosses office.) They said sure and just handed it me. I am about to go check on him and give him some water. I will definitely keep you all updated.
 

Redacted

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No respect for people's things. No respect for animals.

Correct or not, I don't know, but I'd submerge the T in warm water for a minute, which a healthy T can weather, remove to dry well-ventilated place and hope for the best.

Good luck.
 

syzygy

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I sort of did the same thing. I was setting up new terrariums and had put in new substrate and fussed around with rock and branch placements and just sort of in my OCD zone and then I grabbed my blue bottle with distilled water to spray it all down real good. Of course what I actually grabbed was a clear bottle filled with blue windex that my wife had just set down for a second. I sprayed the entire thing down before the smell hit me. Fortunately no T's were involved so I was able to dispose of the substrate and clean everything else.

I'd spray it down really well with water. It won't like it, but as long as the book lungs are not submerged it won't drown.
 

Kymura

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No respect for people's things. No respect for animals.

Correct or not, I don't know, but I'd submerge the T in warm water for a minute, which a healthy T can weather, remove to dry well-ventilated place and hope for the best.

Good luck.
Submerging it SEEMS harsh but I agree the T will have more of a chance the more of that stuff comes off it... The T won't like it but it's better than death.... :(
In total agreement here.
 

MeganG

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This is him when I got home. You can see a little blue Windex dot on the paper towel.
 

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MeganG

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I put in a new, clean paper towel and a jar lid with water. Do you really think I should dunk him in water? How exactly should I do that?
 

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MeganG

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He moved right over to the water! I have him in a cabinet to keep him safe from my cats and in the dark to help with stress. I read that somewhere today when I was trying to figure out how to help him.

Like I said, I know nothing about Ts, but I think him still moving around is at least a good sign!
 

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MeganG

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Ok. I did the warm water. I had him submerged for maybe 10 seconds. I put another paper towel in with him. And put his water back. He's just kinda laying there again. I put the cover over his tank and put him back in the cabinet.
 

Kymura

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Now we just wait and see. Keep checking though in case it suddenly feels better and tries to escape. Do you have an old screen or plastic canvas you could lay over it?
 

MeganG

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I have it sealed pretty well with Press N Seal around the top. Can the paper towels be too wet? It looks pretty humid in his tank. Should I take them out and put dry ones in? He was holding on to one paper towel pretty good while I was running the warm water in his tank. I didn't want to hurt him by ripping it away. It was wet and now the other one I put in is wet too. It's about 70 degrees in my house.
 

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