P. wahlbergii appears to be sick

[Boosh96]

Hi everyone,

I have 2 P. wahlbergii and one of them appears to be in pretty bad shape. I think it's a female and she molted about 2 weeks ago, no wings yet - I'm not sure if that's relevant information but it can't hurt. As of today she's moving very slowly and seems pretty weak as well - in fact she doesn't appear to be able to hang upside down without falling. She's listless and unresponsive, and she hasn't seemed interested in food for the past few days but I've only noticed the other symptoms today. 

I've been feeding them each an appropriately sized dubia roach about 3 times a week and giving them a good misting every day or two. Temps are in the high 70's to low 80's for the most part. Their enclosures are pretty basic - just fruit fly cups with a few sticks.  I feel like it's worth mentioning that the other one is a recently-molted mature male kept under the exact same conditions, and he's doing just fine. Needless to say, I'm concerned. What do I do?

 

[hibiscusmile]

Sorry for late reply, how is she now? Maybe going into a molt?

 

[Boosh96]

She didn't make it 

 

[hibiscusmile]

Sorry to hear that, I am sure you wanted to mate them and that sucks.

 

[Boosh96]

I appreciate it. I bought them as babies (L2 I think) and I didn't really have any plans to breed them but I began to consider it once it turned out to be a male and a female. Either way it's a shame 

 

[hibiscusmile]

I agree.

 

[Mantid-Tim]

Just wanted to note here. I had 4 wahlberghii. All were female. I got them at different times as well so the two pairs were each from different ooths. Three of the four died within a month of their adult molt almost exactly as you described. They each just got weak and went to the bottom of their cages and died within a day. The third (and maybe second too) I put down once I saw the same symptoms for a bit. I raised them from an early instar so its less likely it was the conditions, being they made it all they way to adulthood with no problems. Just figured I'd mention it....

 

[craigbaker]

If they all died within a one week period it’s likely something toxic either from feeders or cleaning fluid or fumes ?