a bad/wet moult?

[malevolentrobot]

so i just looked at my P. ornata and i was pretty ecstatic to see that it had finally moulted, until i a wet looking abdomen and saw the back two legs missing their pads and shrivled up and limp looking. strangely enough, other than that, it looks fine so i am assuming the case is not so severe.

i've been reading the old threads posted in this thread and have come to the conclusion there is not much i can do to help the situation. maybe it will cast the legs if it gets tired of dragging them around?

i can't think of anything i did wrong, other than keeping my Ts on the cool side (sometimes dipping as low as 70) because of utilities costs. i knew it was going to moult soon, so i didn't mess with it and i am pretty sure it could not sustain an injury in the enclosure it was in.

i would appreciate any new theories or opinions anyone has to contribute, and i will try and give as much information on the situation as possible, especially if there is the possibility of further complications.

 

[Anastasia]

I really dont think temperature could be a factor
I believe its just an accidents, I have couple that had wet molts and one that 3times bad molt,
Poor thing just cant catch a brake

 

[Joelolly]

I've read in a few places that too much calcium has been known to cause a wet molt. Do you feed pinkies or have you changed up your T's diet any? I hope your little guy gets well though!

 

[malevolentrobot]

thanks ana, consensus does seem to be sometimes these things just happen. i certainly hope one bad moult is all i get, three does seem to be terrible luck indeed.

either it casts the legs or doesn't, hopefully it does so it can be corrected in a few moults. i'll be home in a few to see whats going on and give an update if anything has changed.

and no, joelolly, i do not feed pinkies to it or any of my other Ts. all of my Ts are on a mainly dubia diet, with occasional waxworms and crickets when my dubias run low. i also have heard of calcium being a possible factor for these things, and choose to avoid feeding vertebrate prey because it seems wholly unecessary (as well as more expensive!).

 

[malevolentrobot]

okay so i posted this thread a little over a month ago, and my ornata seems to be doing pretty fine. gimped around for a bit then pulled the leg off (it was actually kind of amusing to watch it circle around, like a dog chasing its tail...).

i guess i'm just venting now at this point, but... what are the chances of another wholly different T having a bad moult?

i came home to my 1" T. ockerti halfway in its moult, the legs look like they got caught something pretty bad, so i went in with tweezers and tried my best to delicately take off the old moult. i admit i probably could have used a bit more finesse, but i was able to carefully extract most of the spider. not much good came of the stuck legs though. poor thing looks like an absolute wreck, with the rest of the remaining legs all bendy andtwisty, and even of the ones it got out on its own some look like they are missing the first segement from being stuck. being the size of the spider i really cant see if its losing hemolymph, so i just put it in a basic ICU anyway. i am pretty bummed i'm going to be out of town this weekend so i can't check on it quite like i want to (my roommate has promised to keep an eye on it, however).

all 23 other Ts are doing fine, including my 1" LP who moulted today with no issues whatsoever. both were kept on a mainly dubia diet (i subbed crickets in maybe twice), with fairly decent humidity and the ockerti had solid temps around 80 once i moved the beginning of january.

if this is coincidence... it really sucks. i was pretty stoked about this ockerti, since i don't hear people talking about them much and it was such a beautiful little sling.

 

[shanebp]

Hmm, I usually relate wet molts to luck of the draw.. but in your case since your having a lot of them there could be a root cause, which to be honest.. I have no idea what it might be. Thats just assuming that it isn't luck of the draw of course, in which case, do you need a horse shoe or a rabbits foot? I can hook you up!

 

[malevolentrobot]

bumping this thread up because after two fine moults, once again my now 4" ornata has a gimp leg. iirc, its one of the same ones it had problems with back in december. the other one grew back fine and looks just like the other six, but the leg i am describing definitely looks developmentally behind.

it doesn't seem to be having issues with mobility though, isn't dragging it around like last time, so i don't know. i removed everthing in her enclosure (one of those craft cubes), save for a vine it could climb, after discussion about them wedging themsevles behind cork bark slabs and whatnot possibly causing them to moult funny. humidity is looking good enough i still see wet corners and sub is damp, but not sopping.


like ana said with one of hers, this poor thing just can't get a break.

there is a wee bit of good news though, its looking like a girl ventrally i just wish she wouldn't have shredded up that moult so i could be sure.