A really really really stupid question...

Crowbi

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 31, 2016
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39
But do Ts molt their fangs?

I've had my first SA/A molt ever and it's in perfect conditions, not torn or anything, and it has two very perfect looking fangs in it. This is a really bad picture but you can see them:

 

KezyGLA

Arachnoking
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Apr 8, 2016
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3,013
Yes they moult from fangs. The new fangs will be white after a moult and when start harden turn black. Once black is safe to feed.
 

TownesVanZandt

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May 12, 2015
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If you´re as clumsy as me, you ought to be a bit careful with those fangs. I have never been bitten by a T, but I managed to poke myself in the finger with the fangs from a Chilobrachys moult once. I wanted to check how sharp they were, and the answer is, they are really, really sharp :wacky:
 

EulersK

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Feb 22, 2013
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They molt everything you can see, and even some parts that you can't. Fangs, eyes, setae, spermatheca, you name it.
 

Vanessa

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Mar 12, 2016
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It's not a stupid question... it was your first experience with moulting. I'm sure that there are other newer people to the hobby who might think that something has gone terribly wrong when they see that the fangs are still attached to the old exoskeleton.
 

Trenor

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Jan 28, 2016
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They molt everything you can see, and even some parts that you can't. Fangs, eyes, setae, spermatheca, you name it.
Lungs. That's the one that always trips me out. I'm like dude, you need those to breath. Then it's all like, Naw man... I got another set right here.:D
 

Draketeeth

Arachnoknight
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Mar 22, 2015
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209
And the lining of the mouth and a stomach. That's the bit that gets me.
 

Andrea82

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Jan 12, 2016
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I remember looking at a video of a molting T, and thinking the molt was the new spider. I was wondering when it would finish and start moving already :D (in my defense, the actual spider wasn't moving for a long time either)

It stays fascinating to watch.
 

Jeff23

Arachnolord
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Jul 27, 2016
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620
When I first arrived here I knew that spiders molt to gain size but had never seen a video of it occurring (nor did I know what it involved). I have thought that my T's have died numerous times when I have found this furry ball with legs sticking up in the bottom of my enclosures (only to find it is a molt). I am confident that below those poker faces that my T's display is a secret laugh as they see me panic.
 
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Rittdk01

Arachnoknight
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Oct 4, 2016
Messages
258
My buddy has one tarantula, a rose hair. He's had her for years and told me a funny story. he had her for two years before her first molt. She went in her hide and didn't come out for weeks. He finally reached in and pulled out the molt, thinking it was the tarantula dead and dried out. Then she came out. i kid u not, he had no idea they molted lmao.
 

Vanessa

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Mar 12, 2016
Messages
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The stomach is the most precarious part. The space that it has to go through is extremely tight and, if even a bit of it breaks off and doesn't shed properly, it can result in death. If a tarantula never eats again after a moult, it might be because the stomach didn't shed itself properly.
 
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