Worried about B hamorii sling

[TeddyBearTarantula]

I have a B hamorii in premolt, her abdo is completely dark and shiny. Today I was doing maintenance when I realised her enclosure was showing significant amounts of mold and looked generally rank. I think the humidity was a bit too high and I noticed because I was looking at it through a magnified lense and what I thought were grains in the substrate was in fact something rooting with greens/white fungus stuff at the top! Also I noticed mangy cricket debris that wasn’t visible to the naked eye so I think this may have been the catalyst for the mold.
Because the sling is only 1cm it seemed easier and more logical to set her a new deli cup up, so I could also give her a drier environment/less humidity. When I put her back in she was a little stressed and went to climb the wall, she slip and did a head first roly poly, landed on her back and struggled to flip back over, I felt so bad for her.
She is walking around and seems intact after the fall, she was clearly waddling and struggling to grip when climbing, likely being so close to molt, but all she’s done since is sit on the damp side of the enclosure and not gone back under her leaf.
I’m really worried I’ve traumatised her, she’s only a dinky but I love her, she is so cute.
Do you think she will be okay and recover from this? I regret my decision to change her home now, I’m worried I’ve caused an issue. I’ve attached a photo of her that I took after her fall.

Any advice and opinions are always welcome.

Thank you
A very worried spider mummy

 

[dangerforceidle]

How far was the fall? It sounds like a very short distance onto substrate. Tarantulas can be fragile when falling, but not that fragile -- especially as slings. It will be ok.

This close to moulting, it's best to just leave them be. The mold wouldn't cause any issues so changing sub around was unneeded. At least, it was not urgent.

 

[Toddydog]

I suggest getting a small lego or a bottle cap or something and using it as water dish. Dry out the substrate completely. They like it dry and it will cut down on mold.

 

[Andrea82]

She's probably just stressed out from the rehouse, don't worry. They're not at their most elegant when in premolt, slipping of things, having trouble righting themselves because of the big bloated behinds. Add a waterdish and just leave her be for a while

 

[NukaMedia Exotics]

Unless it fell from a considerable height it should be fine. I've had a versicolor sling jump off the top of its enclosure onto my desk (probably fell 6 inches) and I was worried it hit hard but its still doing fine.

 

[spookyvibes]

I have a B hamorii in premolt, her abdo is completely dark and shiny. Today I was doing maintenance when I realised her enclosure was showing significant amounts of mold and looked generally rank. I think the humidity was a bit too high and I noticed because I was looking at it through a magnified lense and what I thought were grains in the substrate was in fact something rooting with greens/white fungus stuff at the top! Also I noticed mangy cricket debris that wasn’t visible to the naked eye so I think this may have been the catalyst for the mold.
Because the sling is only 1cm it seemed easier and more logical to set her a new deli cup up, so I could also give her a drier environment/less humidity. When I put her back in she was a little stressed and went to climb the wall, she slip and did a head first roly poly, landed on her back and struggled to flip back over, I felt so bad for her.
She is walking around and seems intact after the fall, she was clearly waddling and struggling to grip when climbing, likely being so close to molt, but all she’s done since is sit on the damp side of the enclosure and not gone back under her leaf.
I’m really worried I’ve traumatised her, she’s only a dinky but I love her, she is so cute.
Do you think she will be okay and recover from this? I regret my decision to change her home now, I’m worried I’ve caused an issue. I’ve attached a photo of her that I took after her fall.

Any advice and opinions are always welcome.

Thank you
A very worried spider mummy

Will she be traumatized? No, she's going to be fine. Tarantulas don't really "feel" in the sense that we do. If a tarantula could feel traumatized, they probably would also be able to feel love and attachment, thus making them into eight-legged hamsters. I think you did the right thing by moving her. Sounds like she had a lot of mold in her enclosure. After looking at the picture, it might just be me, but it looks reeeaaaalllly wet in there. The sub doesn't need to be that soggy for a sling. If you can squeeze drops of water out of it, then there's too much water. Sub should be able to hold its shape when squeezed but not produce water.
She is so cute Hope she molts for you soon!

 

[TeddyBearTarantula]

How far was the fall? It sounds like a very short distance onto substrate. Tarantulas can be fragile when falling, but not that fragile -- especially as slings. It will be ok.

This close to moulting, it's best to just leave them be. The mold wouldn't cause any issues so changing sub around was unneeded. At least, it was not urgent.

It was literally half a centimetre! It was the way she fell and roly poly’d so dramatically that stressed me out! She is fine now, back chilling under her leaf! Thank you for your response tho. I do wish I had left it but luckily no harm was done and her enclosure is clean now.

 

[TeddyBearTarantula]

She's probably just stressed out from the rehouse, don't worry. They're not at their most elegant when in premolt, slipping of things, having trouble righting themselves because of the big bloated behinds. Add a waterdish and just leave her be for a while

That’s what I’ve done, added a water dish and left her to settle back down. Bless her she looked like she was trying to walk on ice!

 

[TeddyBearTarantula]

How far was the fall? It sounds like a very short distance onto substrate. Tarantulas can be fragile when falling, but not that fragile -- especially as slings. It will be ok.

This close to moulting, it's best to just leave them be. The mold wouldn't cause any issues so changing sub around was unneeded. At least, it was not urgent.

So mold doesn’t bother them, then? Obviously it’s not pleasant to have around and it should be gotten rid off, but it’s not an urgent problem, so next time given this situation again, it would be safe to leave until a better time to deal with?

 

[dangerforceidle]

So mold doesn’t bother them, then? Obviously it’s not pleasant to have around and it should be gotten rid off, but it’s not an urgent problem, so next time given this situation again, it would be safe to leave until a better time to deal with?

I think there is a gradient when it comes to mold. From the photos, I don't think what you had appearing would be a problem. If the entire surface of the substrate was covered with a thick white fuzz that looked kind of like spider silk -- ok, that's a different story.

That said, she'll probably be happier on the drier substrate anyway, so a rehouse wasn't a bad idea in this scenario. Just a bit of poor timing as the little thing gets ready to moult.