What to do with molts?

ediblepain

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 24, 2016
Messages
98
What do people do with molts? I usually toss them in the garden.. but the one from this morning i did something kind of weird with it. I shoved it in my mouth so it looked like a T was chilling in my face hole, and scared the heck out of my partner. Not the best idea, i know.. but it was funny (to me.. not them). What cool things can be done with them?
 

chanda

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 27, 2010
Messages
2,229
...I hope it was the molt of an OW tarantula? I can't even imagine getting a mouthful of urticating hairs.

I save mine and sometimes spread them out and mount them in shadow boxes. I have one that's a growth progression for my very first T (B. albo) with every molt from sling to adult. They make cool displays, plus I use them in the classroom when explaining the molting process. I also have a few OW molts that I let the kids touch. They really get a kick out of touching the fangs!
 

Ungoliant

Malleus Aranearum
Staff member
Joined
Mar 7, 2012
Messages
4,096
What do people do with molts?
If I still need to sex the tarantula, I process the abdomen for sexing. Otherwise, I like to save the molts (for at least the next molt) to see how much my tarantula has grown.

I gave my pulchra's most recent molt to a kid; his dad is going to encase it in resin.
 

Venomgland

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jul 23, 2017
Messages
148
Sex them, then put them in your windows around your house to keep looters and burglars out.
 

SkittleBunny

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 25, 2016
Messages
96
I like to keep the best one from each of my T's and display them next to my enclosures, so if they are burrowed someone viewing them can see what they look like.
 

Rittdk01

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 4, 2016
Messages
258
Mine are in shadow boxes on the walls in my spider room. The molts from my adults anyway.
 

Rittdk01

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 4, 2016
Messages
258
Beautiful display. May I ask your procedure for mounting? Do you need to do anything to preserve the molt so it doesn't begin to decay or smell? That looks beautiful!
You dont need to do anything to the molt for decay. If it were the actual spider you have to remove all the fun stuff out out the abdomen and under the carapace to keep it from getting stinky.
 

Anoplogaster

Arachnodemon
Joined
Jan 15, 2017
Messages
675
I like to keep the best one from each of my T's and display them next to my enclosures, so if they are burrowed someone viewing them can see what they look like.
I keep them for that same reason. Not next to their enclosures, necessarily. Just in a big jar. I pull them out to show people. And students love seeing them too:)
 

WoofSpider

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 31, 2016
Messages
81
I have just been keeping mine in a spare enclosure that is not currently in use. My Ts are mostly all too small to sex, so I just hold on to them for no reason I guess.
 
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