Hi...I picked up a Caribena Versicolor sling (3/4") from a local shop nearly a few weeks ago. I had seen it a few other occasions and it always looked in rough shape. Tiny abdomen, little webbing and just huddled in a corner. It also had several live prey items in with it when I rehoused; telling me it hadn't been eating.

I am a new keeper I just started at the end of July and despite my inexperience I figured I could at least give it a better opportunity then it had currently. I posted about it previously when I picked it up. The enclosure ended up drying out very quickly and I left it that way as people advised. Kept a water dish and saw it drink sometimes but it would just never eat and the abdomen was so tiny.

Finally yesterday I saw it over a mealworm I offered (crushed head) and was thrilled. It wasn't there super long but it was there a good 10-15 min and I really thought things had finally begun to turn around.

But when I came in this morning it was on its back wedged into a tight spot. I was thrilled at first because a successful molt would be awesome and explain the lack of an appetite. This excitement quickly turned to dread as over the next few hours I observed no movement/twitching, pulsing, splitting of the carapace etc etc any signs of life.

I am not giving up hope I heard weird things can happen and the sling take ages but my gut is just telling me other things. I know I shouldn't feel the immense guilt that I do... the little thing could've been doomed before I picked it up but since this is my first time experiencing this as a keeper I'm just...pretty numb today. The store I got it from said I had some kind of 2 weeks guarantee thing and that they'd "take care of me" if something happened. If I have to bring in the enclosure etc they will see it's set up well and ventilated etc. Who knows what they'll actually do but I'm not really worried about it just may point to them also recognizing it wasn't doing well.

I still want to own a C versi so bad but now I'm very trepidatious... When I do go that route again I'll probably pick it up from Fear Not as their slings have been very healthy... but hard to even think about at this point. All I can dwell on is that I somehow failed this beautiful little T.

So yeah sorry this isn't the kind of post anyone wants to see or read... I just have no one to talk about it with especially people who understand or have been through this. My first molt experience was something I was anxiously looking forward to and now I fear I'm dreading my other Ts going through one.

Please be kind and as I said before the enclosure pics in the last post are a bit misleading as the moisture evaporated very quickly and I had crispy moss by the next day. The dish would also evaporate quickly so stagnant air was definitely not a issue. If anything I'm afraid it was too dry sigh...