Juvie P regalis
Abdomen a bit mangled but can anyone tell the sex? This is from a 3" P. regalis. Thank you guys.
@Jesse Hughes You can probably open it up even though it looks mangled. it just needs to be rehydrated. Tips for getting a good image for molt sexing:
  1. Cut the abdomen off of the rest of the molt
  2. Cut off the bottom off the abdomen below the second pair of book lungs. (Otherwise, it has a tendency to fold in on itself.)
  3. Prepare a dish of water with a drop of dish soap to reduce surface tension. (Otherwise, the light molt has a tendency to float on top.)
  4. Place the molt in the dish. Let it soak for up to five minutes (until it becomes pliable).
  5. Photograph the inside of the abdomen, focusing on the area between the first pair of book lungs. Sometimes it helps to backlight the molt.

Lately, instead of removing the molt from the water before taking photos, I've been spreading it out in the water and taking the photo while it's in the water. It's a lot easier to spread the molt in water (it tends to fold on itself when you remove it), and the water acts as a diffuser of light.

Here is one I took using this method (a 3" male Acanthoscurria geniculata).
 
@Ungoliant Alright I'll give it a shot! Thank you for the helpful info. Seems pretty mangled but I am really wanting to know the sex, as people have been saying male and female from the ventral shots.
 
@Ungoliant I gently unfolded and untwisted it, but turns out I only had one side and two book lungs were missing. The insides were kinda messed up, I think he/she may have chewed on it a little.. I'm just gonna have to wait for the next molt and try this method again!
 
@Jesse Hughes The sooner you can remove the molt, the less likely your tarantula is to shred it. (I like to remove molts as soon as I can get to them anyway to confirm that nothing's stuck to the tarantula.)
 

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Category
Spermathecae sexing (Molts)
Added by
Jesse Hughes
Date added
View count
651
Comment count
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Device
Apple iPhone 5s
Aperture
ƒ/2.2
Focal length
4.2 mm
Exposure time
1/60
ISO
32
Flash
Auto, did not fire
Filename
furrow.JPG
File size
474.9 KB
Date taken
Fri, 29 June 2018 4:52 PM
Dimensions
2448px x 3264px

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