Old Moult Scare

[EtienneN]

Feel free to laugh at me. My adult female P. metallica moulted about 2 ish weeks ago and I forgot to snag the moult out of her web sock when she was in her cork bark tube. Anyways she moved it today and I honestly forgot it was still in the enclosure. She’s not the biggest girl only about 6 inches, but when I saw the old moult laying there on the substrate I got that piercing burning feeling in my chest and my stomach plummeted because for about 1 full second I thought she was dead. Luckily she was chilling under some foliage and was as happy as a T can be. The moment was prolonged bc she wasn’t on the glass and easy to see. I had to turn my phone light on and use it as a torch to find her. I’m pretty sure I can’t be the only one here who has experienced this. Feel free to share your “moult scare” stories whilst LOLing at me.

 

[Vanessa]

I put my moults out on small memo sheets to dry, before I label them and put them into their baggies, and I have come out in the morning with my coffee and almost had a heart attack thinking that the actual spider was sitting on the shelf. Now, I try to place them out of sight to dry until I can bag them.

 

[Minty]

Yeah has happened to me too. My wife even shouted to me that one of my tarantulas was dead, only for me to hurry into the room and confirm it was just a moult. Horrible pang of dread when it happens. Lol

 

[Teal]

6" for a female P. met is pretty big! They are smaller pokies.

We left out a 6" A. met molt to dry once when we went out of town. My partner's mom asked if she could borrow something from the house, then called in a panic because "there is a HUGE SPIDER on the counter!"

 

[EtienneN]

Or also when there are old moult legs that the T strewns around you wonder if the tarantula dropped a leg. Then you gotta go look at your T and count all the legs and palps. Meanwhile your spider secretly thinks you’re crazy.

 

[Teal]

Orrr when a little sling molt floats off the shelf and you momentarily freak out thinking someone got loose!

 

[BoyFromLA]

My Caribena versicolor did this to me once.

 

[Vanisher]

Feel free to laugh at me. My adult female P. metallica moulted about 2 ish weeks ago and I forgot to snag the moult out of her web sock when she was in her cork bark tube. Anyways she moved it today and I honestly forgot it was still in the enclosure. She’s not the biggest girl only about 6 inches, but when I saw the old moult laying there on the substrate I got that piercing burning feeling in my chest and my stomach plummeted because for about 1 full second I thought she was dead. Luckily she was chilling under some foliage and was as happy as a T can be. The moment was prolonged bc she wasn’t on the glass and easy to see. I had to turn my phone light on and use it as a torch to find her. I’m pretty sure I can’t be the only one here who has experienced this. Feel free to share your “moult scare” stories whilst LOLing at me.

Wow! What a relief that must have been!