# CHECK FOR SPIDERS!! Sharing my story!



## Maliceinwonder_land (Jul 2, 2015)

Hello all.


Yesterday my beautiful red foot, Gelatin Dessert --AKA Jello-- passed away. She died a very painful, terrible death. My heart aches. She was bit by a black widow and went into severe anaphylactic shock.

I'm sharing my story in hopes that* EVERYONE* check their enclosures for spiders! I never imagined that something like this could happen. Especially not to me. My boyfriend and I are devastated. Our torts are our children. Losing Jello is the same as losing half of our heart.


Here is my horrible story. I hope that it inspires you to check your enclosures. I wish I would have known. I wish I could have somehow prevented this horrible incident.


Yesterday morning I went off to school. My boyfriend, Brandon, was playing with Jello as usual. She was her same usual self. Happy. Active. Climbing. It was a normal day. Throughout the day we periodically check on the torts. Her daily checks went well. Jello was an extremely healthy tortoise. Her last vet appointment, the vet commented on how wonderful it is to see such a healthy, active tortoise. We had to trim part of her shell, and the vet was shocked at how brave and friendly she was. She didn't pull her head into her shell at all. Jello loved people. She even knew her name! Yes, she really did come when we called her name. Every morning we would say "Jello!" and she would come walking out of her enclosure out to see us. She was more like a small dog than she was a tortoise. We were sure that since we were caring for her so well, and that she was only three years old, we would have many, many years with her. 

Yesterday evening Brandon went to go give the torts dinner. They are different species and housed in different enclosures. Anyways, Jello got a pile of greens and a big, juicy strawberry; her favorite treat. After he put the food in their enclosures, he hurried upstairs so that we could eat our dinner. About 15 minutes went by, and we were done with our food. We went downstairs to go watch TV and check on the torts. 

Jello had not come out to eat her food. That was so strange, since I swear she can smell a strawberry from over a mile away. I thought that she might be sleeping. So I opened her enclosure so I could bring her to her food. That is when my heart sank.

She was so swollen. Her eyes were swollen shut. Her neck had swelled up to the size of three of my fingers combined. Her legs were swollen too. She was blistered. She had bloody froth coming out of her mouth, and blood coming out of her nose. She was also wheezing. I knew that it was a spider bite, and that we would be helpless with any attempt at saving her. The only thing we would be able to do would be to put her out of her misery. (I'm majoring in biology/pre-medicine. I have a deal of knowledge within the sciences, including a bit of entomology. I know which spiders are native here and can cause that kind of damage. I've also seen this before in other species.) Within thirty seconds after I found her, I was already on the phone with the on-call emergency vet. The emergency medical center for animals is less than five minutes from my house. I drove as fast as I could to get there. From the moment I found Jello in such horrible condition, up the the point that I arrived at the vets office took less than five minutes. In that short time period, she had died. The vet agreed that it was indeed a spider bite. The only venomous spider native to my state is a black widow. Also, the signs of a black widow bite were very apparent in her. She had blisters all over her. They were oozing. Her nose was dripping blood. Blood was seeping out of her eyes. Frothy blood was coming out of her mouth. She was so, so, swollen. I've worked with a great deal of animals before, and I've seen a lot of pretty horrible things. This was by far _the worst damage I've ever seen_ in any species of animal.

We took our sweet Jello home for the final time, and buried a grave for her. I wanted to take pictures for medical reference, so others could prevent this from happening to their babies. Brandon refused to let me take pictures of our baby in such terrible condition. That was understandable. It was so hard to see. 

This happened in a matter of MINUTES. My beautiful, healthy baby was fine one minute... and then dead the next. This was a horrible experience for Brandon and me. My heart hurts so bad. I can't stop thinking about all the "what ifs." I don't know what to do with my other torts. I'm assuming they went to Jello's hide due to it being damp, humid, warm, and dark. I've been checking on my other baby every hour. I've been making sure there are no spiders in his enclosure. 

Please, please, PLEASE check for spiders. I noticed a tiny little spiderweb in her enclosure about a week ago. I thought absolutely nothing of it. Never would I have imagined that it was a black widow, nor would I have thought a black widow would cause such a horrible, gruesome, painful death for my dear baby. Love your pets everyday. Cherish them. Even if you're doing everything right on your part, you never know what can happen. They can be here one minute, and gone the next. It happened to me. I never thought it was going to end like this for her. So please, check for spiders. Don't let this happen to your babies. 


The picture posted is a picture of Brandon, Jello, and me. We lost a family member. She will forever be missed.


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## spud's_mum (Jul 2, 2015)

That's so sad! I'm so sorry for your loss


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## teresaf (Jul 2, 2015)

That is so sad. Sorry for your loss. I doubt that you could have done much about the spider though. there are so many things tortoise owners have to watch out for that if we have to add spiders to the list were gonners. I mean, we have to protect them from wild animals, pets, ants, snakes, moles, squirrels...now spiders? We can't keep them in a plastic bubble the rest of their life. There is always going to be something even the best care taker misses....Don't beat yourself up. Who would have guessed that THIS would have happened. A freak accident. However, now that you know there is one around there is probably a whole family(EKKK). I would ask around about how to get rid of every spider on the property but in a tortoise safe manner. You may want to remove the tortoise that you still have until then.


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## JoesMum (Jul 2, 2015)

I am so sorry to hear this. We are fortunate in the UK that spiders are not this venomous.


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## christinaland128 (Jul 2, 2015)

That's terrible! I'm sorry for your loss, how heartbreaking. We don't see them much here in Michigan, I think we have brown recluse. What a terrible thing to have to discover, sorry again.


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## 4jean (Jul 2, 2015)

I am so sorry for your loss


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## Tort Love (Jul 3, 2015)

Maliceinwonder_land said:


> Hello all.
> 
> 
> Yesterday my beautiful red foot, Gelatin Dessert --AKA Jello-- passed away. She died a very painful, terrible death. My heart aches. She was bit by a black widow and went into severe anaphylactic shock.
> ...


So so sorry for your loss , so sad


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## bouaboua (Jul 3, 2015)

I'm so sorry for what happened.


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## wellington (Jul 3, 2015)

Omg, I am almost in tears. I am so very sorry this happened to her and you. My heart so aches for your loss. 
Thank you for Sharing that must had been hard for you. I too would not had thought they would die from a spider.


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## Lyn W (Jul 3, 2015)

This is such a terrible thing to have happened and a horrible experience for you and Brandon. I am so so sorry for your loss. Jello has had a good home and been well loved and cared for in his short life and I don't think you could have done anything more. Thank you for sharing your story and take care.


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## Jodie (Jul 3, 2015)

I am so sorry for you all. Thank you for sharing your story.


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## Carol S (Jul 3, 2015)

I am so sorry for your loss. What a heartbreaking experience.


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## Tom (Jul 3, 2015)

I think you have jumped to the wrong conclusion here. There are probably a million black widows within a mile of where I am sitting. All of my tortoises live outside and have for more than a decade. I would be shocked if I didn't find several black widows in every single one of my tortoise enclosures. There are probably dozens in some enclosures and inside their night boxes.

I've seen black widow bites and they don't match what you describe.

By the way, ALL spiders are venomous.

I mention this because, something killed your tortoise and I think you should try to figure out what it was. It is highly unlikely that this is the result of a spider bite.


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## Yvonne G (Jul 3, 2015)

I had the same thought. I vacuum out at least two black widows from my tortoise sheds every day. They are not an aggressive spider, choosing to run away rather than confront. I'm pretty sure they bite as a last resort. And then, when they do bite, the only spot showing there was a bite is the actual bite location. It doesn't make blisters all over the body. Maybe a brown recluse spider bite? They are much more destructive.


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## Odin's Gma (Jul 7, 2015)

I couldn't even finish reading it, how devastating. I am so sorry for your loss.


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## ZEROPILOT (Jul 7, 2015)

I'm very sorry for your loss.
taking Toms theory into consideration, make sure that you fully rule out all other possibilities.
Having another one of your tortoises suffer like this would be horrible.
I also have spiders both big and small in my enclosures and in my outdoor pens and hides.


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