MF Rosea on her back again only 6 weeks post-molt

[Amanda]

Hi gang... it's been a while!

I've had this WC mature female rosea for about 9 years now. Since I've had her, she's molted three times. The last of those was about 6 weeks ago. She hasn't eaten in that length of time, and now she's on her back in her hide. She's still moving and in no apparent distress. If she's averaged three years between molts, is there any chance in hell she's molting again in six weeks?

She is mature, full size, has previously been bred and produced a sac (8 years ago), and has not increased in size with any of her prior molts in my care.

Thanks for your insight.

 

[monstev20]

thats extremely odd. do you have any pics to add?

 

[BaddestRuffest]

I second the weirdness , pictures would be helpful but of course as unlikely as it may seem it is not impossible.

 

[Amanda]

Here she is...

This shot is taken through the side wall of a 10 gal tank. She has a burrowed cave beneath the cork bark that breaks through to this side wall. The rest of the tank is open except for the water dish. If she actually gets into active molting, I may tilt the cork bark out of the way because she doesn't have any vertical clearance to push the molt upward and off the way she's positioned.

If the tank is agitated in any way, she begins to move her legs again. Everything about her behavior is textbook "I'm about to molt." I would believe it if not for the molt six weeks ago.

 

[Marijan2]

maybe something was wrong with her last moult and she fastened it up to fix it

 

[korg]

Interesting... I guess you will just have to wait and see. Looking forward to hearing how this turns out.

 

[prairiepanda]

I'm really curious how this will turn out. 6 weeks doesn't seem like it would be long enough to develop a new exoskeleton...

 

[MarkmD]

Yeah that's a very weird situation, 6 weeks isn't much time between molts especially for Rosea, I'm interested to hear the results of her molting, keep us updated.

 

[grayzone]

as weird as this situation is, it is not entirely uncommon. Its unexpected/unusual of an adult rosea, but there are a decent amount of threads about ts double molting in short time frames.
Usually ends successful, but with no real size gain.

I would like to see what happens with it, so please post pics after the molt (if it even happens.. she may just flip back over?)

 

[Amanda]

The only anomaly that I can see with the previous molt, and it's a stretch to call it that, is an almost imperceptible bend at the tarsus/metatarsus of her right front leg. It's only slightly noticeable when she walks. She's been active since the molt, but she's taken in no calories. That's what worries me. I haven't even seen her drinking water. Who knows what her reasons could be. None of my others are molting right now, so it's not like it's in the air, lol.

At least I don't have to be anywhere until tomorrow evening, so I'll be here to monitor her.

 

[Amanda]

The plot thickens... She's upright (prize for grayzone!). I walked over to check on her about an hour and a half ago. I'm not sure if she felt the vibration from my footsteps or if I just approached at the right time. Her tank is sitting on a padded dining chair in a quiet corner, so who knows. She was still on her back, but scrambling on the underside of the cork bark until she righted herself. Once she was upright, I took the opportunity to adjust the angle of the cork bark in case she decided to flip again and go through with it. She hasn't flipped again yet. She's pacing the tank agitatedly. Her walking is pretty uncoordinated. I'm not sure if that's something I didn't notice before or if this is a result of an imminent molt. She has water, space, and quiet. Not much more I can do for now but wait.

 

[Formerphobe]

You sure she's a she?

 

[Shell]

You sure she's a she?

This was exactly what I thought just from reading the title of the thread (great minds think alike ), but the OP says she produced a sac in the past.

 

[Formerphobe]

This was exactly what I thought just from reading the title of the thread (great minds think alike ), but the OP says she produced a sac in the past.

Ah, missed that part.

 

[Shell]

Ah, missed that part.

I almost did too, no worries

 

[toast4nat]

You know... this might be a stretch (pun), but maybe she's just stretching? We all know the yoga poses tarantulas take on after molting, perhaps she's just making the shavasana pose, haha!

 

[prairiepanda]

You know... this might be a stretch (pun), but maybe she's just stretching? We all know the yoga poses tarantulas take on after molting, perhaps she's just making the shavasana pose, haha!

Hmm, my G pulchra has done this a few times since molting but it's only been a couple weeks so it's obviously just a stretch in my case. But 6 weeks? You'd think it would be done stretching by now...But, it is a rosie, so it doesn't have to make much sense.

 

[SuzukiSwift]

This is very interesting! I wonder why she flipped? Its fascinating

 

[Amanda]

Finally a development!
I was up all night and all day studying for an exam, with the exception of a three hour nap on the couch. She was restless the entire time, stumbling around the tank and seeming very agitated. She didn't rest for longer than 20 minutes at a time. I got home from my exam an hour ago and found her sitting in a corner of her tank... no change. I ate dinner, and when I just walked past to put the dishes away, I found her on her back again! The problem now is that she's on her back in her water dish. It's wide and shallow, maybe 5" in diameter and has 1/4" - 3/8" of water in it.

She's very thin, probably because she's drained her reserves to crank out a new exoskeleton for whatever reason. I haven't seen her drink water all day or night. This morning I wet a kitchen towel and covered her screen lid with it to increase the humidity. I'm in Florida, so I never worry about humidity, but I felt like I should try to do something. I re-wet this and replaced it before I left home earlier. I'm concerned that she's laying in water, but I don't want to disturb her now that she's actually doing something.

 

[spiiderwebb]

I've never heard of a MF rosea doing something like that, but maybe a small injury was bothering her so she decided to force herself into a molt to correct it.

T's work in mysterious ways (; but I'm glad she's successfully molting!