T Blondi molt - opisthosoma stuck!

Jorje · Feb 4, 2011

We have a T blondi that flipped over to molt in it's hide 7-8 hours ago. Things have been progressing well until the last hour. "He" flipped over, but his abdomen is still stuck in the old shell. He has come out of his hide, but he is dragging his exuvium with him. Should we be freaking out? Should we be pulling the old skin?

Humidity in his habitat is 77. I'm going to add more moisture now, but I'm hoping for more suggestions and support here. Thanks!

~ Jorje ~
http://arachnidmenagerie.blogspot.com/

Jacobchinarian · Feb 4, 2011

Jorje said:
We have a T blondi that flipped over to molt in it's hide 7-8 hours ago. Things have been progressing well until the last hour. "He" flipped over, but his abdomen is still stuck in the old shell. He has come out of his hide, but he is dragging his exuvium with him. Should we be freaking out? Should we be pulling the old skin?

Humidity in his habitat is 77. I'm going to add more moisture now, but I'm hoping for more suggestions and support here. Thanks!

~ Jorje ~
http://arachnidmenagerie.blogspot.com/

I am not sure if this would work and I'd only use it as a last resort but iv heard of people using a wet q tip to wet the stuck area and get it to fall off. If you have the tarantula keepers guide I think here was something in there that might help you.

Jorje · Feb 4, 2011

Read on another site that he can suffocate within a few hours if the abdomen is trapped around his book-lungs. I'm going to see what I can do to free him, but still watching for replies!

http://www.scottstarantulas.com/faq.asp

---------- Post added at 11:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:29 PM ----------

Jacobchinarian said:
I am not sure if this would work and I'd only use it as a last resort but iv heard of people using a wet q tip to wet the stuck area and get it to fall off. If you have the tarantula keepers guide I think here was something in there that might help you.

Thanks! I'm digging through the book now. I haven't found it yet, so if you know the right section let me know. I saw someone mention soap/water on here somewhere, but nothing specific. Do you know anything about that?

Jacobchinarian · Feb 4, 2011

The q tip idea isn't in the tkg I saw it here on arachnoboards. The part about stuck molts is on page 208-210. Read the part about glycerine on 208. I think that could help your t blondi.

Jorje · Feb 4, 2011

Jacobchinarian said:
I am not sure if this would work and I'd only use it as a last resort but iv heard of people using a wet q tip to wet the stuck area and get it to fall off. If you have the tarantula keepers guide I think here was something in there that might help you.

Thank you SOOO much! The wet q-tip worked like a charm! He seemed really stuck, but as I got each area wet it would peel away. He is completely out now and my heart is finally slowing down. Whew! My sleeping husband thanks you, too, because this is his baby and he would have been crushed if King didn't make it through the night! Thanks again!

Jacobchinarian · Feb 4, 2011

Jorje said:
Thank you SOOO much! The wet q-tip worked like a charm! He seemed really stuck, but as I got each area wet it would peel away. He is completely out now and my heart is finally slowing down. Whew! My sleeping husband thanks you, too, because this is his baby and he would have been crushed if King didn't make it through the night! Thanks again!

No problem I'm glad I could help. Plus now I know what to do if this happens to my theraphosa stirmi, Aragog. Also I'm surprised she didn't hair you. I know mine would have. Lol

zdillon · Feb 5, 2011

I really do not have to much experience with T. blonies but I do have one and it is my first one. Recently she molted and when I noticed some thing was not right, I put her in an ICU with alot of humidity in a warm dark area. A few days later she molted. The thing is that she molted in the up right postion, which does happen some times. She did have issues molting her abdomen, and once it was all over she lost her back right leg. She was having issues with her back legs right before the molt, that is what cought my attention in the first place. Then I noticed she was really week. Once I put her in the ICU she gained some life back, then molted. Once I felt she was strong enough, I moved her back to her old tank which I normaly keep the temp about 80*F and the humidity about 80-90%. Now she laying webs and eating very well again. Like I said, I do not know alout about blondies, but I hope my experience can help you. You may also want to contact Fran. He knows alot about blondies.

Jacobchinarian · Feb 5, 2011

Also I forgot to mention. That is a stirmi not a true t blondi. She has no hair on her patella which is a give away she's a t stirmi.

---------- Post added at 12:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:04 AM ----------

zdillon said:
I really do not have to much experience with T. blonies but I do have one and it is my first one. Recently she molted and when I noticed some thing was not right, I put her in an ICU with alot of humidity in a warm dark area. A few days later she molted. The thing is that she molted in the up right postion, which does happen some times. She did have issues molting her abdomen, and once it was all over she lost her back right leg. She was having issues with her back legs right before the molt, that is what cought my attention in the first place. Then I noticed she was really week. Once I put her in the ICU she gained some life back, then molted. Once I felt she was strong enough, I moved her back to her old tank which I normaly keep the temp about 80*F and the humidity about 80-90%. Now she laying webs and eating very well again. Like I said, I do not know alout about blondies, but I hope my experience can help you. You may also want to contact Fran. He knows alot about blondies.

That's funny my t stirmi was my first also.

Jorje · Feb 5, 2011

Jacobchinarian said:
Also I forgot to mention. That is a stirmi not a true t blondi. She has no hair on her patella which is a give away she's a t stirmi.

Oh! We bought it as a T. blondi, but... do T. stirmis get as large? I had heard of bergundy goliaths before, but didn't know that was what we had. We also think it is odd that he molted from brown to black, but he does have red hairs on his legs, too!

---------- Post added at 12:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:15 AM ----------

Here is King after I *started* with the q-tip / water - this is after the first swipe because dabbing at the edges wasn't working.

Jacobchinarian · Feb 5, 2011

T stirmi t spinips t burgundy... They are all the same. They get just as big and are cared for the same. Mine was bought t blondi female but turned out to be t stirmi male. 99% percent of “t blondi's” you see are t stirmi. An adult female true t blondi would cost you $500+. My t stirmi molted from brown to black with the burgundy hairs also. Unfortunately that beautiful color will fade to the drab brown again in the next few months. The t stirmi might be a little better though. It is easier to breed and slightly hardier than the true t blondi's. The t stirmi are possibly natural hybrids between t blondi's and t apophysis and hybrids always get the better traits.

Fran · Feb 5, 2011

Jacobchinarian said:
The t stirmi are possibly natural hybrids between t blondi's and t apophysis and hybrids always get the better traits.

No, please

...They are not. They appear to be a separate sp.

---------- Post added at 01:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:34 AM ----------

Jacobchinarian said:
T stirmi t spinips t burgundy... They are all the same. They get just as big and are cared for the same..

Hm, I wonder how you are so sure about it

Jacobchinarian said:
An adult female true t blondi would cost you $500+.

That is not really the case...They can be as expensive as the owners want to. Is simply that very few people have true Theraphosa blondi in the US hobby.

---------- Post added at 01:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:37 AM ----------

Jacobchinarian said:
The t stirmi might be a little better though. .

Better?

. Like a Klaasi is better than a Emilia? Or red is better than blue?

PS: Please Jacob, dont take it the wrong way. I just felt that your statements had to be a little more precise.

gmrpnk21 · Feb 5, 2011

Fran loves his T. blondi

I am glad you got your T out of it's molt without too much stress

I wouldn't mind getting a peruvian blonde tarantula, as they are pretty large and VERY docile. Still itchy though...

Falk · Feb 5, 2011

Jacobchinarian said:
T stirmi t spinips t burgundy... They are all the same. They get just as big and are cared for the same. Mine was bought t blondi female but turned out to be t stirmi male. 99% percent of “t blondi's” you see are t stirmi. An adult female true t blondi would cost you $500+. My t stirmi molted from brown to black with the burgundy hairs also. Unfortunately that beautiful color will fade to the drab brown again in the next few months. The t stirmi might be a little better though. It is easier to breed and slightly hardier than the true t blondi's. The t stirmi are possibly natural hybrids between t blondi's and t apophysis and hybrids always get the better traits.

Why on this earth you think they are hybrids? So B. boehmei and B. baumgarteni are hybrids just because they look similar? Most hybrids cant even get offsprings and T. stirmi and T. blondi have diffirent localites.

BatGirl · Feb 5, 2011

I had the same thing happen with my Burmese cobalt blue who is normally very hostile, but instead she let me get near here to spray water on the rump which eventually softened it up and slowly it came loose and I was able to use tweezers to gently tug the old 'body' off. Then she went back to her old hostile self - that's gratitude for ya!

See post at:
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=170564

Mez · Feb 5, 2011

I had a miniture version of this happen.
I have some 3rd moult LP slings, one had just moulted but was dragging its abdomen around from its old skeleton stuck on its back. I just q-tipped the area, held the old skin with the tweezers and prodded the LP to walk forward and ta-da!
Obviously a bit more difficult with such a large and delicate T. Glad it all came through, i really want my little T. apophysis t moult!

Najakeeper · Feb 5, 2011

I just found my tiny T.apophysis sling stuck in molt. Everything but the abdomen was out but the two back legs are bent and seems seriously damaged. It seems like it will not be able to use them. The abdomen was completely stuck, I broke and removed it with a wet q tip and pinchers. I put it in an ICU, hopefully with minimum damage but I can not be sure as it is tiny.

Any suggestions?

Jacobchinarian · Feb 5, 2011

Thanks Fran I understand. I just remember hearing that information a while ago. Like how a lot of people were saying they were natural hybrids a few months ago. I just havent heard otherwise since. Alot of the information came from here:http://www.tarantulas.com/guyana_goliath.html And the part about the $500+ came from the classified section. Again I understand fran. You know a whole lot more about tarantulas especially theraphosa. I just wanted to justify what I said.

Fran · Feb 5, 2011

Jacobchinarian said:
Thanks Fran I understand. I just remember hearing that information a while ago. Like how a lot of people were saying they were natural hybrids a few months ago. I just havent heard otherwise since. Alot of the information came from here:http://www.tarantulas.com/guyana_goliath.html And the part about the $500+ came from the classified section. Again I understand fran. You know a whole lot more about tarantulas especially theraphosa. I just wanted to justify what I said.

Im not an expert, I just happen to be more interested with theraphosa

But thanks for your words

T Blondi molt - opisthosoma stuck!

Jorje

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Jacobchinarian

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Jorje

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Jacobchinarian

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Jorje

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Jacobchinarian

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zdillon

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Jacobchinarian

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Jorje

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Jacobchinarian

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Fran

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gmrpnk21

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Falk

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Mez

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Jacobchinarian

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Fran

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