• 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!

HELP. WTH!! Freaky death.

Lee'scrazybeasts

Lee'scrazybeasts

Member
3 Year Member
Messages
40
Location
Hilton derby
I was given a hat hati a couple of weeks ago. It was eating fine a few days ago but when I came to rehouse it today I found it dead. But not in the usual way. It has completely wrapped itself in it's own webbing. Its four hind legs curled under in a death curl and its front four in an attack stance. It's not the moult. I'm not a newbie. I'm at a loss as to why and how it managed to do this...
 

Attachments

  • 20190912_175535.jpg
    20190912_175535.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 184
  • 20190912_175547.jpg
    20190912_175547.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 191
  • 20190912_175530.jpg
    20190912_175530.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 179
Enn49

Enn49

Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Tarantula Club Member
Messages
10,909
Location
Malton, UK
I'm sorry I can't help but I will be interested to see if anyone can come up with a solution for you. Definitely a weird one :rolleyes:
 
AndrewClayton

AndrewClayton

Well-Known Member
Messages
276
Location
Wishaw, Scotland
It looks like another spider has wrapped it in web this would be practically impossible for a T to do to itself it’s wrapped around too tight to have just stuck to the spider if the burrow collapsed
 
Jess S

Jess S

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
1,197
Location
South Wales
I understand how everyone thought it was web though. That's exactly how it looks in the photo! Anyone know what sort of mould looks like that?
 
Stan Schultz

Stan Schultz

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
98
Location
Anywhere in North America.
Jess S said:
I understand how everyone thought it was web though. That's exactly how it looks in the photo! Anyone know what sort of mould looks like that?
Click to expand...

Potentially about 10,000 different species. A better question might be, "What kinds of fungi are known to infest terrestrial arthropods, living or dead?" That might narrow it down a bit.

Or you could send it to a competent mycologist who might culture it in an effort to get "fruiting bodies" (the various spore forming structures used by fungi for reproduction). Or do a DNA analysis of it.

How would you go about this? Google mycology arthropod parasite site:.edu. I got over 9,000 hits. Or contact a botanist at a local college or university for help in finding such a person.

For what it's worth, I have the unsubstantiated opinion that what you have there may be a type of ascomycete (there are more than 64,000 known kinds!), but don't quote me on that. It's far more wishful thinking than a scientific pronouncement. And, guessing it to be an ascomycete is laughably non-specific, about equivalent to saying that the thing that just ate your cat was some sort of vertebrate.

You can find out more about fungi (a.k.a., "mold") here.

Hope this helps.
 
Jess S

Jess S

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
1,197
Location
South Wales
Stan Schultz said:
Potentially about 10,000 different species. A better question might be, "What kinds of fungi are known to infest terrestrial arthropods, living or dead?" That might narrow it down a bit.

Or you could send it to a competent mycologist who might culture it in an effort to get "fruiting bodies" (the various spore forming structures used by fungi for reproduction). Or do a DNA analysis of it.

How would you go about this? Google mycology arthropod parasite site:.edu. I got over 9,000 hits. Or contact a botanist at a local college or university for help in finding such a person.

For what it's worth, I have the unsubstantiated opinion that what you have there may be a type of ascomycete (there are more than 64,000 known kinds!), but don't quote me on that. It's far more wishful thinking than a scientific pronouncement. And, guessing it to be an ascomycete is laughably non-specific, about equivalent to saying that the thing that just ate your cat was some sort of vertebrate.

You can find out more about fungi (a.k.a., "mold") here.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Thanks Stan Schultz for that reply. I can now die happy!! Thanks for The Tarantula Keepers Guide, still going strong years later :)
 
J

Joelle

New Member
Messages
5
Location
West Haven
Lee'scrazybeasts said:
I was given a hat hati a couple of weeks ago. It was eating fine a few days ago but when I came to rehouse it today I found it dead. But not in the usual way. It has completely wrapped itself in it's own webbing. Its four hind legs curled under in a death curl and its front four in an attack stance. It's not the moult. I'm not a newbie. I'm at a loss as to why and how it managed to do this...
Click to expand...
Was it a female? I had a female that webbed herself inside a bubble but she used the walls of corner of cage to hold it down I guess - she was entirely inside a bubble of her own webbing and then laid an egg. If yours was female maybe she attempted to do the same thing but was egg bound? Other than that I have never seen anything like it. I saw your pics-crazy! Are you sure you don’t have a small black widow that could’ve gotten in cage? They can kill T’s way bigger than themselves?
 
AndrewClayton

AndrewClayton

Well-Known Member
Messages
276
Location
Wishaw, Scotland
Joelle said:
Was it a female? I had a female that webbed herself inside a bubble but she used the walls of corner of cage to hold it down I guess - she was entirely inside a bubble of her own webbing and then laid an egg. If yours was female maybe she attempted to do the same thing but was egg bound? Other than that I have never seen anything like it. I saw your pics-crazy! Are you sure you don’t have a small black widow that could’ve gotten in cage? They can kill T’s way bigger than themselves?
Click to expand...
you should read the whole thread buddy they got to the bottom of it lol
 

Latest posts

Top