Spider lost tooth..

[AcidQueen]

Spider lost chelicera..

Alright here's the deal.
Today when I was feeding my T's I popped in a cricket with my Phormictopus sp. cochleovorax female. She molted a week or so ago and I didn't think anything was wrong, but when she grabbed her cricket I noticed something white.
When I looked a little closer I saw she lost a whole chelicera
Not just the fang but also what's above there.. and all there's left is a small white stump.
Other than that there seems to be nothing wrong with her and she's eating fine, so I suppose she'll be alright after a molt or two. But I was just wondering, has anyone ever had a similar experience, and does anyone have an idea how this can happen?

Acid

 

[Endora]

Wow, i have never seen anything like that ! i didn't even know it could happen... i hope everything turns out for the best. But if i had to guess i would say she will be alright after a molt or two. How old is she ?

 

[AcidQueen]

She's about 5 cm bodylenght..

 

[bonesmama]

That's her Chelicera- and as long as she's still able to eat (and even if she couldn't, she could force a molt and fast until it was regenerated as long as she had water) she'll be ok.

 

[Keith Richard]

It'll be interesting to see if the tarantula will be able to control the flow of venom to the remaining fang only. Otherwise, you're going to get venom spewing uncontrolled out of the "stump" while the functioning fang injects its prey.

 

[Scolopendra55]

Looks like she can still eat so she'll be fine till the next molt.

 

[Lover of 8 legs]

It'll be interesting to see if the tarantula will be able to control the flow of venom to the remaining fang only. Otherwise, you're going to get venom spewing uncontrolled out of the "stump" while the functioning fang injects its prey.

I don't see a problem with this since the venom gland is located at the base of each chelicera. Actually the white portion that remains looks like the the outer covering of the venom gland of that chelicera.

 

[HuonHengChai]

ouch, i didn't know that could happen, thanks for the infomation and all the best for your baby. It will be fine IMO.

 

[Wish_mastera]

I've heared about the same problem with chelicera of another T. The boy said that his subadult T was regenerated his chelicera on the second molt after the lost. Sorry about my english. You can see little down of the page my topic about my fangles blondi. Its not the same problem, but its something like that.

 

[AcidQueen]

Thanks for your input everyone!

 

[Pennywise]

This can happen when Tarantula is fed too soon after molting. It can take 10 days to 2 weeks or even more for fangs to harden on an adult T. Fangs start off white immediately after molt then turn darker till they are black = hardened

 

[AcidQueen]

this is no adult t, but a sling and it happened during the molt, not because of feeding too soon.. so your remarks don't make too much sense..
have you ever seen this before mexican8s?

 

[Keith Richard]

I don't see a problem with this since the venom gland is located at the base of each chelicera. Actually the white portion that remains looks like the the outer covering of the venom gland of that chelicera.

You've just contradicted yourself. If, as you suggest here, the venom gland is still intact, then my earlier post still stands. I'm not suggesting that there is a problem, just that it'll be interesting to see if the spider can control the flow of venom between each fang...or what was a fang.

It's interesting that the "hard wired" instinct to eat overules the fact that physically, the spider isn't ready, or capable of catching and consuming prey.

 

[CopperInMyVeins]

It's interesting that the "hard wired" instinct to eat overules the fact that physically, the spider isn't ready, or capable of catching and consuming prey.

What? She said that it's catching and eating prey normally.

 

[Keith Richard]

What? She said that it's catching and eating prey normally.

Guess I misinterpreted the original post. For some reason I got the impression that the loss of chelicera was due to a feed.

Anyway, it's Friday.

 

[Pennywise]

If it happened during the molt AQ the fang might still be stuck in the T's old exuvium. Do you have it?

 

[Tescos]

I only know of a friend of mine who had a B.vagans (I think it was) that lost one of its chelicera in a moult. Funny thing is though is that it has never botherd to replace it in any successive moults since. It eats fine though and manages ok, just looks a little funny.

 

[AcidQueen]

If it happened during the molt AQ the fang might still be stuck in the T's old exuvium. Do you have it?

I threw it away when I saw she'd molted, I didn't look twice and noticed the lost chelicera after a week when i wanted to feed her..
So no, I don't have it, but I suppose it happened during the molt since I didn't find the lost chelicera in her enclosure..

All in all, a weird experience. I wonder if she'll grow it back..

 

[Pennywise]

I do hope so

Having no better reference than a large exuvium from a T. Blondi (what else) exuvium from last week it looks like the Chelcithera is included in the molt. The only problem I see is that it is not there on your T. The logical conclusion is that it was somehow stuck to the old exuvium during the molt. If a leg can grow back, maybe this too.

 

[Wish_mastera]

Legs and fangs could regenerate, but cheliceras I think its little more complicated. But in 2 molts it will probably regenerate it, when eats normally. Meybe even faster.