# Checking for the sucking stomach on your molts



## Nightstalker47 (May 4, 2018)

I noticed we don’t have a thread on this topic, so if anyone has further experiences with this and whether or not their specimen survived the ordeal please share in this thread. Hopefully we can compile some useful data for the future.

Although this has not happened to me yet, thankfully, many have reported issues with tarantulas molting and then no longer managing to get food down, this has been the result of an issue with the sucking stomach. You can inquire simply by examining the last molt or exuviae, the tarantula also needs to shed the previous sucking stomach on the molt, so if it’s not there…there’s your issue.

It’s pretty simple to check for, so in the future, when you guys are sexing molts and whatnot, you mineswell verify that the sucking stomach was indeed successfully molted. It should look like this.

Reactions: Like 11 | Thanks 3 | Agree 1 | Informative 17 | Helpful 3 | Useful 4


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## MetalMan2004 (May 4, 2018)

I always found this extremely fascinating and strange.


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## Ashley2070 (May 4, 2018)

Yeah my E. murinus I posted about a little while back had this issue. He didn't molt out his sucking stomach and was extremely skinny I really didn' have much hope for him. I came home from work one day and I was so ecstatic/nervous to see him on his back molting but he actually pulled out of it. It was 149 days it took him to molt. Here's the picture of his sucking stomach after the last molt

Reactions: Like 8 | Agree 2 | Love 3


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## EulersK (May 4, 2018)

Yeah, I had a similar experience as @Ashley2070 did. Mine was a B. vagans. Luckily, he was fat enough that he was able to molt without having had a single meal the entire molt cycle. Perfectly healthy (albeit extremely skinny) after the second molt.

Reactions: Like 5


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## Dovey (May 4, 2018)

I love the sucking stomach. I always think of it as a little biological straw. Of course, one would. If one cannot have so much as a diet soda without a straw. I'm a bit of a straw fanatic.

Strictly speaking, as far as function goes it's probably more directly akin to my pumping gravel vacuum for the aquariums.

Reactions: Agree 2 | Funny 1


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## sdsnybny (May 4, 2018)

If they don't molt the sucking stomach, wouldn't they also not be able to drink?
I lost a P. rufilata about 5" after a molt and it tried to eat and drink but ended up just wasting away. I literally had to pull him/her out of the water dish on two occasions as he was to weak to climb yet he kept going back in completely submerging his carapace. terrible way to go

Reactions: Agree 2 | Sad 11


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## Greasylake (May 4, 2018)

sdsnybny said:


> If they don't molt the sucking stomach, wouldn't they also not be able to drink?
> I lost a P. rufilata about 5" after a molt and it tried to eat and drink but ended up just wasting away. I literally had to pull him/her out of the water dish on two occasions as he was to weak to climb yet he kept going back in completely submerging his carapace. terrible way to go


Yep if they don't molt the sucking stomach they can't drink either, which does decrease the T's chances of making it to the next molt but I'm assuming making sure the substrate stays moist would improve its chances of making it to the next molt, assuming the species will be okay with the moisture that is.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## cold blood (May 4, 2018)

sdsnybny said:


> If they don't molt the sucking stomach, wouldn't they also not be able to drink?
> I lost a P. rufilata about 5" after a molt and it tried to eat and drink but ended up just wasting away. I literally had to pull him/her out of the water dish on two occasions as he was to weak to climb yet he kept going back in completely submerging his carapace. terrible way to go


I guess you could say this would be one case where an obese adult would have a significant survival advantage.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 7


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## Razzledazzy (May 5, 2018)

I've not yet had a molt in my care and didn't know this was something I needed to look for.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 4


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## Mirandarachnid (May 5, 2018)

Razzledazzy said:


> I've not yet had a molt in my care and didn't know this was something I needed to look for.


This is why arachnoboards is a beautiful place.

Reactions: Like 3 | Agree 18


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## Nightstalker47 (May 5, 2018)

Razzledazzy said:


> I've not yet had a molt in my care and didn't know this was something I needed to look for.


It's very rare...had so many molts at this point and it's never happened to me. Don't worry too much, just something to keep in mind for the future.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 2


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## SkittleBunny (May 5, 2018)

Wow i had no idea they shed the sucking stomachs.. I always thought that little floppy thing on molts was what held the carapace down from the inside.. Now I know. 

Im also a little disturbed... Ive used these as handles to grab molts a couple times. Lol

Reactions: Agree 1 | Funny 7 | Love 1


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## Little Grey Spider (May 5, 2018)

It's the first thing I check for.... I was holding my breath on my most recent molt (H. pulchripes) because he didn't drag the old exo out of his hole. Seeing them eat for the first time sure is a big relief.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## boina (May 5, 2018)

I had a Pamphobeteus vespertinus juvenile female with this problem. She was extremely skinny and I was really worried but she made it to the next molt. I kept the enclosure seriously moist during that time, though.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1 | Informative 1


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## JBarbaresi (May 15, 2018)

Question for those of you who have experienced this... was your T attempting to eat when they had an issue with the sucking stomach or just killing and abandoning?  I got a 3” p. Subfusca a little over a week ago and she has been killing and wrapping her food. I was taking the food out of the enclosure so it wouldn’t spoil. After the third time doing this I started to get concerned and decided to leave the wrapped cricket in there (yesterday). When I got home from work last night I was relieved to see she grabbed the dead cricket and looked like she was eating it, but this morning she still had it and it looks to be mostly intact. I’ve seen her drinking, or attempting to drink, on 2 separate occasions over the past week. She hasn’t molted in my care but I was told the last one was about 2 months ago.

I know this sounds like sucking stomach, could it be anything else?  Maybe stress from the recent shipping and new environment?


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## Greasylake (May 15, 2018)

JBarbaresi said:


> I know this sounds like sucking stomach, could it be anything else? Maybe stress from the recent shipping and new environment?


If it was holding it and was able to eat it, it would. I really think at this point it sounds very much like a sucking stomach issue.


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## AngelDeVille (May 15, 2018)

The intewebz is great.

The info I had 20 years ago was limited to that black and white pamphlet book that covered snakes and scorpions, and whatever hearsay I could get from teenage kids with nose rings at the local shop.

Reactions: Agree 2 | Funny 2


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## cold blood (May 15, 2018)

AngelDeVille said:


> The intewebz is great.


But its also dangerous...considering there are *far* more places offering poor or outright bad info than there are places offering quality info.  Its really incredible just how much poor or wrong info is out there floating around on the net...and most new people have no clue which is which...how could they, right...care sheets are a prime example...and they tend to be exactly where the new keeper gravitates to first...which can really mess up a new keeper's perspective....as we see here on a weekly, and even almost a daily basis.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## JBarbaresi (May 15, 2018)

cold blood said:


> But its also dangerous...considering there are *far* more places offering poor or outright bad info than there are places offering quality info.  Its really incredible just how much poor or wrong info is out there floating around on the net...and most new people have no clue which is which...how could they, right...care sheets are a prime example...and they tend to be exactly where the new keeper gravitates to first...which can really mess up a new keeper's perspective....as we see here on a weekly, and even almost a daily basis.


Have you considered creating a sub-category that could outline care requirements broken down by genus or species?  For instance a thread within the sub category for poecilotheria species, another different thread for brachypelma species, etc...  I'm sure all the information it out there but sometimes it's hard to find if not well organized.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## Ashley2070 (May 15, 2018)

Mine did the same thing. It would capture and try to eat it's prey but the cricket was still mostly in tact and just a little squished up when it was finished because it eventually gave up trying and discarded it. Really sad to see. Hopefully since yours is still pretty small it shouldn't be long till it molts out again. Good luck!





JBarbaresi said:


> Question for those of you who have experienced this... was your T attempting to eat when they had an issue with the sucking stomach or just killing and abandoning?  I got a 3” p. Subfusca a little over a week ago and she has been killing and wrapping her food. I was taking the food out of the enclosure so it wouldn’t spoil. After the third time doing this I started to get concerned and decided to leave the wrapped cricket in there (yesterday). When I got home from work last night I was relieved to see she grabbed the dead cricket and looked like she was eating it, but this morning she still had it and it looks to be mostly intact. I’ve seen her drinking, or attempting to drink, on 2 separate occasions over the past week. She hasn’t molted in my care but I was told the last one was about 2 months ago.
> 
> I know this sounds like sucking stomach, could it be anything else?  Maybe stress from the recent shipping and new environment?


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## cold blood (May 15, 2018)

JBarbaresi said:


> Have you considered creating a sub-category that could outline care requirements broken down by genus or species?  For instance a thread within the sub category for poecilotheria species, another different thread for brachypelma species, etc...  I'm sure all the information it out there but sometimes it's hard to find if not well organized.


I wish I could locate an earlier reply on this.


But reason is that its really not feasible and would probably only serve to confuse....as care sheets pretty much do.

Fact is, there are only a _handful_ of ways to keep a t, with only slight variances.

There are those arid species, which are simply kept dry with a dish.   There are tropical, which can be kept partially damp and allowed to dry, and there are a select bunch that require damp sub that should never be allowed to dry.   Which is why care sheets are not only pointless...but writing real ones would be _incredibly_ redundant.

For example, Poecilotheria would be in _broad_ that middle grouping....basically where the majority of non-arid species would lie.

Then there's housing...avics and relatives are kept one way, all other arboreals are kept differently, but essentially the same to each other....all terrestrials can be housed the same basic way, all fossorials are also, housed in the same basic manner....and again, there's generally a degree of acceptable variances.

Then there is slings...aside from a few Africans, they're all housed basically the same, requiring damp sub....with the notable exception of Avics and their relatives.

Another thing is that there are wide variances, not only in what they can tolerate and handle, but within each person's home environment....for instance a person in say, Vegas, would need to (or could) do things quite differently than someone in humid Florida...and again differently from someone in the UK.   So one sheet, would not always fit all people, in all locations.

This is why care sheets are terrible and why experienced keepers would just like to see them all just go away altogether, as opposed to "better ones", that wouldn't _actually_ be better for everyone.

Its better for beginners to just get a broader understanding of the genera they are looking at...once you get one, all others in that grouping will follow suit, and they will see that they don't need to ask how to house/keep, for instance,  a Brachy, when they already keep Grammostola....or an A. avic, when they already keep a versicolor.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1 | Award 1


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## JBarbaresi (May 15, 2018)

Ashley2070 said:


> Mine did the same thing. It would capture and try to eat it's prey but the cricket was still mostly in tact and just a little squished up when it was finished because it eventually gave up trying and discarded it. Really sad to see. Hopefully since yours is still pretty small it shouldn't be long till it molts out again. Good luck!


How big was yours when it went through this?


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## Ashley2070 (May 15, 2018)

JBarbaresi said:


> How big was yours when it went through this?


Mine was about the same size around 3"


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## kevinlowl (May 16, 2018)

Ashley2070 said:


> Yeah my E. murinus I posted about a little while back had this issue. He didn't molt out his sucking stomach and was extremely skinny I really didn' have much hope for him. I came home from work one day and I was so ecstatic/nervous to see him on his back molting but he actually pulled out of it. It was 149 days it took him to molt. Here's the picture of his sucking stomach after the last molt


149 days so around 5 months. How big was he before the molt?

Edit: Never mind, didn't see the reply above.


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## Ultum4Spiderz (Jul 19, 2018)

Ashley2070 said:


> Yeah my E. murinus I posted about a little while back had this issue. He didn't molt out his sucking stomach and was extremely skinny I really didn' have much hope for him. I came home from work one day and I was so ecstatic/nervous to see him on his back molting but he actually pulled out of it. It was 149 days it took him to molt. Here's the picture of his sucking stomach after the last molt
> 
> 
> 
> ...


king baboon didn’t make it when it stopped eating. It’s burr


Ashley2070 said:


> Yeah my E. murinus I posted about a little while back had this issue. He didn't molt out his sucking stomach and was extremely skinny I really didn' have much hope for him. I came home from work one day and I was so ecstatic/nervous to see him on his back molting but he actually pulled out of it. It was 149 days it took him to molt. Here's the picture of his sucking stomach after the last molt
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I gotta start looking at my molts more , king baboon never refused food til Last molt. It’s burrowed collapsed maybe it wasn’t deep enough substrate or wet enough. Top soil wasn’t fine enough, would not eat even pre killed.
Had way to much ventilation in Container, was 6-7” substrate.
It never ate post molt, at all.


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## Nightstalker47 (Jul 19, 2018)

cold blood said:


> This is why care sheets are terrible and why experienced keepers would just like to see them all just go away altogether, as opposed to "better ones", that wouldn't _actually_ be better for everyone.


I don't completely agree, there are plenty of crap care sheets online, no doubt about it...but the ones on AB are more then reliable. It also saves us the hassle of repeating the same thing over and over again every time the question comes up. 

For certain troublesome genera, like theraphosa and avicularia for example...a detailed guide can be very useful to the newer keepers.

Reactions: Lollipop 1


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## cold blood (Jul 19, 2018)

Nightstalker47 said:


> I don't completely agree, there are plenty of crap care sheets online, no doubt about it...but the ones on AB are more then reliable. It also saves us the hassle of repeating the same thing over and over again every time the question comes up.
> 
> For certain troublesome genera, like theraphosa and avicularia for example...a detailed guide can be very useful to the newer keepers.


My point was a basic understanding is more important and would answer any care sheet questions a person may have (without a care sheet need).   So I don't really agree with you either...hehe.

I wasn't saying a care sheet _couldn't_ be accurate, just that they would be redundant...incredibly redundant...you could make 100 of the same, and just change the species at the top.   Seeing care sheets gives new keepers the impression that all ts need to be kept a certain way, independent of others, which is not accurate and just causes confusion.


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## Nightstalker47 (Jul 19, 2018)

cold blood said:


> My point was a basic understanding is more important and would answer any care sheet questions a person may have (without a care sheet need).   So I don't really agree with you either...hehe.
> 
> I wasn't saying a care sheet _couldn't_ be accurate, just that they would be redundant...incredibly redundant...you could make 100 of the same, and just change the species at the top.   Seeing care sheets gives new keepers the impression that all ts need to be kept a certain way, independent of others, which is not accurate and just causes confusion.


They would definitely be redundant for most, I agree...but not for the two genera mentioned above. Others like members of the ornithoctoninae subfamily also have strikingly different requirements/tendencies then most arboreals...need much more sub, better vent, etc....

Some do require more specific care IMO, and its not always obvious to the untrained/uninitiated.

Another shot of the sucking stomach structures.

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 1


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## AphonopelmaTX (Apr 30, 2019)

A couple of points if I may.

1. The structure pictured and referred to as the sucking stomach is actually the lining of three different organs: the pharynx, esophagus, and sucking stomach.  The pharynx is the large rectangular structure closest to the chelicerae and is pictured to the left of the narrow tube-like structure.  The esophagus is that narrow tube-like structure in the middle, and the lining of the sucking stomach is the right-most part that looks like a deflated balloon.

2. An absence of any of these structures inside of a molt means absolutely nothing and can not be used to determine why a tarantula has stopped eating or drinking.  It is a very delicate structure and is easily broken during or after a molt is complete.  Especially if one looks for it after it dries.  Although I can not discount the possibility that an improper regeneration and removal of the lining of these organs as a reason for a tarantula to stop eating or drinking after a molt, not seeing these structures should not be used to make a diagnosis.  Correlation does not imply causation after all.

Reactions: Like 3 | Informative 2


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## Vanisher (Apr 30, 2019)

Nice post thanx!


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## Newspidermom77 (May 25, 2019)

I'd like to thank you guys for this thread! I just had one of my tarantulas molt for the first time in my care and without this thread I wouldn't have known to check!

Reactions: Like 1 | Thanks 1


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## Teagan (Feb 8, 2021)

So my tarantula recently died. He ate after his previous molt but stopped eating for a few months. I thought he was in premolt. He would spent almost all of his time on his water dish dipping his thorax in the water dish. He began acting weird very sluggish and had very little balance. I found him in a death curl. My question is do you think this was a sucking stomach issue. 

He was an immature male btw.

Reactions: Sad 2


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## Wenzer (Jun 7, 2021)

I read through the replies so far but I don't think it was mentioned, so I'm wondering:

Are there any other symptoms or clues that would point towards a dysfunctional (not sure if that's the correct word to use) sucking stomach? And in the event that this happens, is there anything else (I saw humidity was mentioned) that can be done to support the T? Or is it just a waiting game to see if they make it until their next molt?

I'm just curious, I don't have any tarantulas yet, just like to learn about this kind of stuff


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## Neonblizzard (Jun 7, 2021)

Thanks for making this thread! Really interesting and helpful


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## Haosen (Apr 21, 2022)

EulersK said:


> Yeah, I had a similar experience as @Ashley2070 did. Mine was a B. vagans. Luckily, he was fat enough that he was able to molt without having had a single meal the entire molt cycle. Perfectly healthy (albeit extremely skinny) after the second molt.


Do You Know what i can do if my  Nhandu coloratovillosus  did not molt its sucking stomach it has not been eating for 9 months and is extremly skinny


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## Haosen (Apr 21, 2022)

Does anyone know what i can do if my  Nhandu coloratovillosus  did not molt its sucking stomach im only 12 and i have been keeping him for only 1 and a half years so im only a beginer


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## thedragonslapper (Apr 22, 2022)

I had a sub P cancerides years ago who died mysteriously on me some time after a molt. Don’t remember if she ever took prey again. Maybe not molting her old SS might’ve been the cause of it. 15 years of T keeping yet never heard of this before. Sounds awful.


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