Aaaargh, Molting Boehmei!! Help

[dennis]

I just bought my second spider today, a brachypelma boehmei.
It tried to molt yesterday, but when it layed down on its back, the girls in the reptile store thought he was dead, so they flipped him over. It had probably been 18 hours since then, and this is how it looks like.

I dont know what to do now, any help is welcome!!


Ðennis

 

[dennis]

Plz help, I think it's going to die when I don't help it!
Would it help if I flip it over again so it's on its back?

Ðennis

 

[Vayu Son]

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The best thing you can do at this point is nothing. Moving it this far into a molt will only disrupt the process and potentially endanger the animal. Sad to say if nothing has happened yet, it probably wont.

-V

 

[Chris]

I never give up on a spider until it is moldy...

Try bringing the enclusure into the bathroom and running a shower of pure hot water. This will raise the temp and humidity in the room and give the spider a fighting chance.

Leave the cage somewhere in the bathroom and keep it dark... only coming in to run another hot shower to get the levels back up.

Hope this works

 

[dennis]

thx, i will try the bathroom thing

 

[dennis]

I removed all the useless stuff from his container now, and i put the light on so the temp will rise. I have also misted a little bit, so the humidity will rise too, my mom doesnt want the bathroom thingy . I think he's looking better now, he just sits there, moving his 4 back legs slightly up and down... I think this is all I can do for him ...

Ðennis

ps. sorry for all the pics, but I just think one picture tells more then a thousand words...

 

[Code Monkey]

Sorry to say but that is a dead spider, if not by now, soon. First, although Chris means well, humidity has nothing to do with enabling a moult so the whole hot shower thing is just making you feel good and doing nothing for the T. It's a wive's tale that gets spread far too much on the internet with no evidence behind it.

You can see where the new skin is already separated from the old skin of the abdomen - this means the process did indeed begin and it is fixed countdown from that point that the spider cannot stop or otherwise interrupt. By now, the new skin has already begun hardening beneath the old skin. Within the next few days the T will become an immobile lump that will be unable to move, feed, or probably even breathe.

Since I doubt very much that a T can genuinely suffer, you can always hold out hope until you know there is none, or you can euthanise it by putting it in the freezer for a few hours - it's your call but I hope you didn't pay anything for the T or that the dumbass petstore will refund your money after it almost certainly dies.

 

[dennis]

Well, it's moving now...
Not moving very fast, but his legs are moving, like he's trying to get out. His former-head has opened, and i think he tries to get out there...

Will it still be of any help by putting him on his back?

They give refunds if the animal dies withing 48 hours after you bought it. But when I tell the guy he still isnt done molting, I'm almost certain he will give refund, or give me the Brachypelma Emilia that he had too... Anyway, I'm not giving up on this one yet!

Ðennis

 

[Code Monkey]

If the cephalothorax has opened up since you took that last pic there may be some hope, although now it's quite literally a do or die proposition - once the ceph pops it's only a matter of several hours before the new skin will harden thoroughly and whatever isn't out of the old skin by then is stuck. As for flipping it, that's a coin flip issue. You might save its life because it is easier to moult on the side/back. You might also guarantee that it dies by causing the T to try and temporarily halt the process once again after the ceph is popped and it's already been messed up once.

I'd probably leave it alone. You've more than beaten the odds by having a T *thoroughly* disturbed during a moult and somehow still initiating the process, you might as well see it though as is without further manipulating the scenario.

 

[The_Phantom]

I sure hope he'll be ok, please keep us updated. How heart breaking for you and T!

 

[Chris]

Originally posted by Code Monkey
It's a wive's tale that gets spread far too much on the internet with no evidence behind it.

I disagree... this procedure has helped with a few of my specimens that have been having molt problems.

Think of it this way... when you take an old molt and put it inside a humid container the shell softens up and is once again pliable... thats proof enough for me because a softer shell will almost surely provide an easier path out.

 

[Tarantula Lover]

hey

I really hope your T makes it, it makes me really sad on how stupid petstores are so so careless, if it dies, which i hope it wont go back there and teach them a little something about moulting!
Anyways, how much did you get it for anyways?
Thanks,

James

 

[dennis]

I paid 45 euro for it, thats about 45 bucks.
I have put it in its container now with high temp and high humidiation. I will keep it there till tomorrow morning. If he isn't done molting then I think I will end its life by putting it in the fridge. I don't think spiders need 40+ hours to molt ...
When he dies I can get refund, or a B. Emilia, don't know what to do yet, but this shop didn't do any good with me ... don't think I will ever get a T from them again...

But first, let's hope my Boehmei makes it


Ðennis

 

[The_Phantom]

No, put him in the freezer. I think.

 

[JDK]

Put him in the freezer to put him out of his suffering. That is a last resort if it is certain to die.