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Please tell me this isn't death curl.....

Squeekee35

Member
Messages
53
Location
Maryland
My fireleg molted a few days ago. She has been coming out and walking about even today. I saw her fangs looked black so tried to feed her but she wouldn't take it. Now the lights are out for the nite. When I checked on her some of her legs are curled under. But only a few. Not sure what is going on. Could it be the start of death curl even though she seemed fine today? Can u see from the pic some of her legs are curled under?
 

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timc

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
671
Location
Delco, PA
The picture looks like you either caught her grooming, or doing some kind of post molt stretches. A death curl wouldn’t occur on the vertical sides of the enclosure, at least not any i’ve ever heard of. Generally by that point spiders are too exhausted to climb. Nothing to worry about. Try feeding again in a week. Won’t hurt the spider to wait that long, as long as water is provided.
 

Volkswachter

Member
Messages
56
Location
Ontario
My M. balfouri female does all kinds of weird stuff; sometimes weird enough for me to poke her to see if she's dead. She's not. If your T is death curling; chances are there's nothing you can do (if they're younger you can ICU them to see if that helps) so generally just checking back in a few hours to see if anything's changed is all you can do. If things change then it's not a death curl. Death curls occur when the internal hydrodynamic pressure is too low to keep the legs straight; if they can straighten out and walk around normally then they're probably fine.
 

Casey K.

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Tarantula Club Member
Messages
4,924
If the tarantula hasn't eaten anything, my main concern would be the whitish/gray fluid near the fangs/in its mouth.....have you noticed this or tried taking a wet cotton swab and removing the residue?
 

TokeHound

Active Member
Messages
170
Location
USA
This is definitely a good thing to learn from. Looked like a death curl to me but I'm glad I read through this forum, so I won't freak out if my T's do this to me :p
 

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