Is a bald abdomen worrying?

[ashleigh]

Is her bald bum and lack of dark coloration anything to be worried about? I heard they kick off hairs to help with throttling process... Is this correct in this case? Please let me know! Thank you in advance

 

[ashleigh]

Is her bald bum and lack of dark coloration anything to be worried about? I heard they kick off hairs to help with throttling process... Is this correct in this case? Please let me know! Thank you in advance

Molting process

 

[Flexzone]

Its totally normal, The urticating hair on the abdomen are designed to come off when flicked. They also spread them around as a defense to ward off predators imminently before a molt etc... Its totally natural, They'll develop a new coat of them each molt.

 

[ashleigh]

Its totally normal, The urticating hair on the abdomen are designed to come off when flicked. They also spread them around as a defense to ward off predators when imminently before a molt etc... Its totally natural, They'll develop a new coat of them each molt.

Perfect!! Thank you

 

[Thekla]

To be honest, I think the heights in the enclosure are a bit more worrying than her abdomen. If she were to climb those sides and fall, she could be severely injured, especially with those stones in the way.
Terrestrial NW Ts can't climb very well, and even less when they're in pre-moult.

I'd remove the stones and add more substrate.

 

[BoyFromLA]

To be honest, I think the heights in the enclosure are a bit more worrying than her abdomen.

I was thinking the same thing. It really did happen to my tarantula, literally today early morning.

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/what-did-i-just-witness.302344/

 

[viper69]

The T is in a cage is that is too tall. A fall from such a height and your T could go splat, splitting open the abdomen. They only should have 1.5x their DLS.

 

[chanda]

As has been said, a bald backside is not cause for alarm by itself - particularly if it's been a while since the last molt and another molt is due. If, on the other hand, the spider has molted fairly recently and is not due to molt again for quite a while, it can be an indication that the spider is stressed and flicking hairs around willy-nilly. It doesn't necessarily mean that there's anything wrong with the spider, but if you can identify and remove the cause of the stress, it will be better for the spider in the long run - and give you a prettier/fluffier spider to enjoy, if it is no longer kicking itself bald. Things I've noticed that have caused my spiders to kick excessively include too much activity around the cage and being moved or rehoused. I've also seen bald spiders in shops or zoos that were incorrectly housed, with inadequate hides or substrate (and people peering in constantly, tapping on the glass, etc.)