A mildly dehydrated tarantula will often recover within 24 hours, but a couple of days might be necessary. Having a second clean container ready to move the tarantula into if the towel becomes dry or dirty is a good idea. Check on the spider a couple of times a day and move to clean container as needed.
Keep it somewhere dark, humid and quiet (bathrooms, particularly with a warm shower left running nearby, are a good place) and you should see improvement within a few hours to a few days depending on the severity of the dehydration. Change the tissue as necessary to avoid stagnancy. Good luck!
Then put anything plastic (I usually cut a part of a ziplock bag to fit in the container) over the paper towels and put your spider on top of the plastic so it doesn't get wet. Close the container and leave it in there for 1-3 days. This will rehydrate it, allowing you to be able to move the legs.
It all depends on what type of tarantula you have. Some can go weeks without water while others can go for months but when they're thirsty enough they'll come out.
Water. Water is vital to your tarantula. It can survive for weeks without food but quickly die without water. A small container such as a coffee jar lid half-full of water will provide drinking water and help keep the humidity up.
Gently place the tarantula inside and secure the lid. Place the container in a warm area. If possible, somewhere a bit above room temperature (upper 70s to mid-80s) is helpful. A mildly dehydrated tarantula will often recover within 24 hours, but a couple of days might be necessary.
Conversely, to increase humidity levels, moisten the substrate in the tank, but ensure that it is not seeping water. Adding water to the water bowl can also help increase humidity levels as it evaporates. Adding sphagnum moss to the enclosure can also help maintain humidity levels.
There may still be a chance to save your tarantula – many tarantula owners have been able to recogize the signs of a death curl and intervene before it was too late. Many times, a death curl is simply a sign of dehydration, and a tarantula can be nursed back to life by being put in an ICU or given access to water.
It is extremely important for your tarantula to always have water within its reach. They seldom drink, but when they do, they drink a lot. Remember that your tarantula can move thanks to it locomotive hydraulic system, and it is obviously very important for all its biological processes.
If it's otherwise ailing, it's often due to dehydration, especially if its abdomen is shrunken. You can sometimes revive a dehydrated tarantula by gently dripping water directly into its mouth over a period of time.
If you think your spider may be dehydrated, there are a few signs to look for. These include a shriveled abdomen and an inability to coordinate limbs or lift the body off the ground. Dehydrated spiders may also be more sluggish than usual and have trouble spinning webs.
Choice tests demonstrated conclusively that spiders fed on nectar, honeydew and sugar solutions to obtain nutrients, and not simply to obtain moisture. Component sugars of extrafloral nectar (sucrose, glucose and fructose) and honeydews (maltose, melezitose and raffinose) were equally acceptable for feeding by H.
When your specimens have spent a little too long in the freezer or have become brittle, they are prone to breaking through the process of pinning or pointing them for your collection. Placing dry specimens in a relaxing chamber for 1-3 days can rehydrate them enough so they are soft and pliable again.
Feed the crickets.
A well-fed cricket will nourish your tarantula better than a starved one. Keep a shallow container of dry oats in the cage, or buy bug food and cricket-specific supplements. Try to keep the food in one corner of the cricket habitat, so that it is less likely to become contaminated or moldy.
Treatment: Offer water in a large, shallow open dish immediately. This spider will eagerly lower it's 'chest' area into the water and drink slowly for many minutes (even hours) to replace the lost moisture from its body.
Tarantulas, like all living organisms, need water for basic cellular functions. They can go weeks without it, but eventually, the lack of water will become a bigger concern than the lack of food.
As tarantulas grow, they molt, or shed their old exoskeleton. To do this, they have to expand and contract their bodies to push off the old exoskeleton. Male tarantulas die a few months after mating and have a typical lifespan of five to seven years. Females live much longer, sometimes up to 25 years in captivity.
Preserving a dehydrated Tarantula is fast and easy with Encapso® K silicone encapsulation rubber. When cured, Encapso® K looks just like water and will last a long time. This Non-Hazardous – 2 part silicone rubber is easy to use, UV resistant and cures without generating any dangerous heat or fumes.
There are two types of tarantula: arboreal (tree dwelling) and terrestrial (ground dwelling). For the tree-dwelling types, any fall from even a metre or so onto a soft surface can be fatal. This is because the impact can split the abdomen, resulting in massive blood loss.
A lot of beginner species available today are not going to be super moisture dependent but will still greatly appreciate misting every few days or moistening some moss in their enclosure. You don't want their enclosure to become swampy, so if you notice this, either start misting less, or less frequently.
The cobalt blue tarantula or Cyriopagopus lividus is a species of tarantula which is in the family Theraphosidae which is native to Myanmar and over the border into Thailand. It was originally described as Haplopelma lividum.
When something in a tarantula's tank is not quite right (like the substrate being damp or a tank change), a tarantula might try to “escape” the problem area and start climbing. They may also do this if there are uneaten prey items that are bothering or annoying them.