My baby's on her back!! Freaking out!!

[Simon83]

So I know most of your are used to this by now...but I'm totally losing it here having never had a t molt before after a couple of weeks in pre-molt my g.pulchra sling is on her back. I'm totally freaking out like crazy parent hoping she'll be ok! What can I do to make sure everything goes smoothly? Temp is 70 degrees...should I mist or top up her bowl to make sure she has enough moisture in there to help? I've also switched off the light...will it disturb her if I keep the light on to watch?

Sooooo excited!

 

[le-thomas]

Just leave her alone and don't freak out. Molting is an important time, but there really isn't much you can do to help once she's started. Keep the lights on and watch if you like, she probably won't care.

 

[annabelle]

how exciting! she will be fine!

 

[Simon83]

Thanks guys, I've left her to it and checked up on her every now and then. She's pretty much all popped out now and stretching her legs. Can't wait to see how she looks when she's all hardened up!

 

[Anonymity82]

Thanks guys, I've left her to it and checked up on her every now and then. She's pretty much all popped out now and stretching her legs. Can't wait to see how she looks when she's all hardened up!

I can't wait for my first molting experience! My G. rosea probably wont be molting for awhile, but my P. murinus sling should sometime in the next month. I'm pretty sure I read that the humidity within the enclosure doesn't affect molting as much as one would think. At least for T's. Congrats!! Take pictures!! We love pictures!!

 

[grayzone]

lol... i remember remember my first molt experience i got to witness .. i watched for like 8 or 9 hours to discover my "female L.p " molt into a MATURE MALE.. cool experience none the less

 

[Anonymity82]

lol... i remember remember my first molt experience i got to witness .. i watched for like 8 or 9 hours to discover my "female L.p " molt into a MATURE MALE.. cool experience none the less

That's still pretty cool though! My first arachnid molting experience was my Emperor scorpion who got stuck and ultimately died. That really sucked.

 

[Simon83]

njolan1 - sorry to hear about your scorpion :-( that was my biggest worry with Sadako molting, that she wouldn't make it. Thankfully she has though. I hope you get to witness your first molt soon...so exciting when it happens for the first time!

grayzone - wow, that is a long time to watch her molt lol I just kept coming back to mine every now and then to see how she was getting on, don't think I could sit that still for that long

Well here are the pics the molt pics aren't that great because I didn't want to open up the lid and disturb her. I love how big her legs have gotten now, it's amazing how much they grow in one molt. I do have one question though - when I can I start feeding my little ball of love? Now she's lost her shelf ass she seems really thin after not eating for a good 3 weeks so I'd like to get some grub down her as soon as possible...though I think she was munching on her molt a couple of hours after sqeezing out of it [

 

[Formerphobe]

Congrats on your first molt! Watching a spider molt never gets old, at least not for me. It's usually safe to feed about one week after a molt.
Some of them will chew on their molts. There are a lot of theories on this behavior. Anthropomorphically speaking, I think some of mine do it out of spite, to keep me from determining their sex...

It did have a bodacious bottom on it!

 

[unclechewy]

Nice looking T, I love the before and after pictures.

 

[CleanSweep]

Yeah, molt time is exciting. Had one molt a week ago and 3 others in premolt. My T. stirmi is one of them. She has two legs that should be fully regenerated in the next molt so I can't wait. Congrats on the new molt. Like said above, one week is about how long they will eat after a molt. Just wait that week until you feed. The fangs are part of the exoskeleton too. They have to be hard or they can be damaged when the T eats if fed too soon. Most of the time they won't eat until they are ready so don't get worried if it doesn't eat the first try.

 

[Formerphobe]

The more mature it gets, the longer you should wait after each molt to feed it.