All I found was a missing link.... Looked a lot like you Cerat hehehe

Ok I asked a stupid question :whistle:

@Scarab you mean it is like mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) or in when in humans Kuru; that broke out in Papa New Guinea, (people there ate their fallen comrades, lol) ?
That is not cause by a virus but a prion. Most viruses get better on it's own but there is no cure for BSE or Kuru. It is an abnormal protein in the brain (prion) that causes the brain to become sponge like because the cells die off. But it is a very possible explanation. a Prion is misfolded protein and is very tiny.So it is not a virus or bacterium. It seems the body cannot detect them. It is not contagious. It is probable that the incubation period could take years before the disease strikes and shows symptoms.
So it seems a very, very likely explanation.

that causes the brain to become sponge like because the cells die off.

Can alcohol cause this too?? :S

Most viruses get better on it's own

You mean without them taking any medication?

So it seems a very, very likely explanation.

What is? If the presence of Prions in the brain is not contagious, why the (possible and likely) spreading of DKS to other spiders in the vicinity? Why would we rehouse, clean, wash, sterilize, detox, sun bake and dry out all but the kitchen sink? If a "defective/misfolded/misformed" protein cases DKS, why would a spider have a possible chance of survival and/or improvement after every molt? Would it molt out those Prions?

Like i said in a previous thread about Dks, It must be something the tarantula injests.

But, i had my friend from poland come and visit me this week. He explained to me that
there are alot of reason that mite the cause of Dks. One reason, agrreing with me and Scarab
that the tarantula mite injest something. I like to believe this reason, as it makes more sense to me.
But where the fault comes in is. (I remember reading), as much as tarantulas hunt and catch food, they are
also very lazy, so countries in North and mostly South America they offen find specimens of different
species eating road kill on the side of the road. So if the tarantula does injest the viral infection
would the chances not be higher if it was eating road kill?

Now the one possible reason my friend explained to me. (I cant explain to the fullest because of hes broken english)
But, what i understood is that it has to do with the fluid inside the spider. Because the spider has so many joints
on its legs, its needs this fluid to allow free movement, but Dks mite be a shortage of this fluid.
Just a theory, he told me that his friend who is a very well repected breeder from CZE believes in.

He did how ever say, after i mentioned if genetics may be the cause, that it is very unlikely
and too complicated to be genetics.

The shortage of water or fluids ( or as us noobs would call it - "hemolymph") inside the joints of a spider, or anywhere else in the body, is called "dehydration" in broken English. The symptoms are completely different to that of DKS. Dehydration causes the spider to become lethargic and "lazy", eventually causing roadkill because it can't get across the road quickly. The twitching and erratic movements synonymous with DKS is caused by the infected nervous system sending "broken" messages to the tendons that control movement, is what I hear. Because all the movements of the spider, even its mouth parts and fangs are controlled by wee tendons, these don't function properly, causing possible starvation and dehydration, is what I hear. Ever tried sucking your lolly's pops after a trip to the dentist?

If spiders in some countries scavenge and eat road kill, has any scientific study shown what percentage of those "enlightened" spiders contract DKS? Many might, others just die under a truck tire.

Scarab, I was not disagreeing with you. I actually agreed with you on many aspects and was actually asking you if you thought it was the same as Mad Cow not telling you, but I must say I am a bit ambivalent in whether it is a virus. And I say ambivalent for good reason. I am very interested in things like human cannibalism (because of my studies) and diseases like viruses and bacteria so I read about it. So I was saying what was known about those prion-related diseases and not in actual fact anything as such about DKS in Tarantulas as there is no real proof of anything yet, no one has done a scientific study on tarantula illnesses or at least what I know of. In my opinion common sense does not always apply in biology otherwise there would have been no need for empirical studies. These Prion related-diseases are not curable you die from them after much suffering. And the brain does become like a sponge therefore the name spongiform encephalopathies. It is not contagious if a healthy cow stands next to an infected one the same goes for someone infected by Kuru, Chronic wasting disease in deer, Scrapie in sheep and Jacob Creutzfeld Disease in humans.
A Prion (proteinaceous infectious particles) related disease is when one organism eats particles from another exact same organism, like a cow eating food that was supplemented with cow meat and bone meal. Cooking, chemical disinfection or irradiation does not destroy the prion related disease. So using lipstick made from infected bovine products is a risk for example. Kind of scary…
The flu virus can be fought by antibodies (T cells) if the body is strong enough or if you opt to do so; with medication. T cells seems unable to detect prion cells either because they are too small or the fact that they are not viruses, so it cannot be fought against.
So it stands to reason when it is a virus when one cricket eats his friend, he will not only get the virus just by eating his friend, he will catch the virus other ways too like eating from the same carrot and living in the closed container with sick crickets.
Prions may also play a part in other neurodegenerative conditions, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Prion-disease can also be inherited so could some spiders inherit it from a parent?
So what I meant by it not being contagious is that what is known from prion-related diseases it then stands to reason that there is a possibility that DKS is not contagious, but that is speculation on my part.
The Flu, Marburg, Ebola, Rota virus etc can all be managed symptomatically and one can live a normal life afterwards; unless the virus caused a syndrome to develop like HIV developing into Aids or a virus developing into Sjogren’s disease, these syndromes are not viruses and they are lifelong diseases with bad side effects and symptoms. Viruses mutate and evolve into stronger strains, one day HIV might very likely become airborne. People do not die from Aids but from Aids related diseases or infections which include viruses and bacterium.

I guess all I am saying is that if it is a virus, it is not a normal run of the mill virus; as it seems to be affecting the tarantula on a much more prolonged basis like HIV affects a person or the AIDS-like virus in some animals like feline Aids or Feline Leukaemia. So could DKS as a virus can be moulted out? To answer your question, you cannot get rid of the damage done by Prion-related diseases there is no cure and a human or animal will die but likely if it is a virus.
There are too many causes for a neuron not being able to send an impulse correctly, virus-wise I am not sure how it could happen unless for example an extremely high fever is present and disrupts brain function or extreme hydration.
Why people clean their enclosures and such is their choice they might be worried it is an airborne virus. So… if the virus is airborne, then the cricket might get it anyway whether it is eating its friend or not and in that case then a major cleaning up might help. If it is not airborne then cleaning up might just help the T to fight the disease so that nothing else might affect the ailing T; you try to do whatever you can because you do not really know what will help but you try anything. I was in no way being sarcastic in any of my comments or being argumentative, I DO believe it is something they eat but not something in the environment such as a virus though. I know a virus cannot be cured as such but it can be fought and you will get well. I have not heard of any keeper with a mass outbreak of DKS either, as that would be very possible when it is airborne. Much like people working in the same office where one individual gets the flu, others will soon have it too. I was actually trying to come from another angle in my first observation about the Calcium to spark some debate to the effect that you are what you eat. Until there is proven, empirical and theoretical evidence on DKS I think everything is and will remain nothing but speculation. The way crickets are kept is very unsanitary and we buy it like this, I regularly find worms, mites and other strange things inside. How can a Tarantula be healthy eating contaminated crickets.