Regal jumper, had her since the spring. Twice this week I have found her upside down on the floor of the enclosure. The first time I turned her over with a paintbrush and she walked off. Tonight she is on her back again and I have not touched her.
She has not eaten for about five days and there is a thick patch of webbing up in the corner she has been sitting in. Should I be flipping her back over or is that exactly the wrong thing?
Worth separating this from the other version so you know it next time. A spider that is not moulting and keeps falling off the walls and ceiling is usually weak, and the common cause is dehydration: they drink droplets, and a dry stuffy enclosure leaves them clumsy.
Mist the side of the enclosure rather than the spider so droplets form, a few times a week, and keep the ventilation good. The giveaway is no hammock and recent eating, which is the opposite of what you have.
Age does it as well. They live a year or two and mature males get noticeably clumsier near the end.
The one I would check in your room while you are waiting: they are extremely sensitive to anything in the air. Bug sprays, aerosols, air freshener, strong cleaners, scented candles, incense. Exposure shows up as twitching, loss of coordination and then death, and people rarely connect it to the plug-in down the hall.
Move her away from anything like that and ventilate. Almost nothing out there treats a sick spider, so prevention is genuinely all there is.
@thick_hammock · 6d ago · 3 replies
Do not touch her. Thick hammock plus five days without food plus lying very still is a moult, and disturbing a spider mid-moult can kill it. That is the one thing in this hobby with no second chance.
Leave the enclosure shut, do not mist onto her, and take out any live prey that could bother her. Afterwards you will find the shed skin. She will be soft and fragile for a while, so wait until she is moving around normally before you offer anything.
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@on_her_back_again · 6d ago
I flipped her over on Tuesday. Have I done damage I am not going to see yet?
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@thick_hammock · 6d ago
Tuesday may well have been before she started, and she walked off afterwards, which is a good sign. Nothing to do now except leave her completely alone until the skin appears. Most of them get through it; the ones that do not are usually the ones that were handled during it.
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