Australian Tarantula not molting, someone please help

[James Oswald]

Hey everyone,

I have a bit of a worry i have a selenotypus sp 2.5 (Australian "bird eating" Tarantula). Its a sling and its about 1cm long. I have had him for a month now and he isnt molting. Im very new to tarantulas but i feel like he should of completed his first molt by now. He was shipped and im thinking is still a little stressed with the moving and shipping but im just a little worried could someone help me out here and it might calm me down.

 

[Trenor]

Post a few photos of him to make sure but he is likely fine. A lot of factors go into how often they molt and some species just flat out molt slower. (I've not kept this species so I don't know for sure)

As long as it's healthy with a plump abdomen I wouldn't worry about it not molting yet.

Good luck.

 

[James Oswald]

Post a few photos of him to make sure but he is likely fine. A lot of factors go into how often they molt and some species just flat out
molt slower. (I've not kept this species so I don't know for sure)

As long as it's healthy with a plump abdomen I wouldn't worry about it not molting yet.

Good luck.

This is him. he is missing a leg but he lost thank during shipping.

 

[Moonohol]

View attachment 243456
This is him. he is missing a leg but he lost thank during shipping.

It looks fine to me. I do not have experience with Australian Ts (yet), but the abdomen seems to be a good size and I have also read that many Australian species are somewhat slow growers. I don't think you have anything to worry about. A month isn't even that long for nearly any sling of that size to go without molting.

 

[James Oswald]

It looks fine to me. I do not have experience with Australian Ts (yet), but the abdomen seems to be a good size and I have also read that most Australian species are fairly slow growing. I don't think you have anything to worry about. A month isn't even that long for nearly any sling of that size to go without molting.

Thanks i knew they are slow growing like it takes 6 or 7 years to reach their biggest size and yeah but thanks u i was a little worried things wearnt going good but should his leg grow back over time

 

[Moonohol]

Thanks i knew they are slow growing like it takes 6 or 7 years to reach their biggest size and yeah but thanks u i was a little worried things wearnt going good but should his leg grow back over time

No problem! Usually with spiderlings, they're able to regenerate limbs within one molt. You should most likely see the leg grow back after its next molt unless it lost the leg too far in to its intermolt stage.

 

[AusBugKid]

Hey everyone,

I have a bit of a worry i have a selenotypus sp 2.5 (Australian "bird eating" Tarantula). Its a sling and its about 1cm long. I have had him for a month now and he isnt molting. Im very new to tarantulas but i feel like he should of completed his first molt by now. He was shipped and im thinking is still a little stressed with the moving and shipping but im just a little worried could someone help me out here and it might calm me down.

Hey mate, as Moonohol said Australian T's are slow growing. In fact Selenotypus are really very slow, even for Australian T's. Once our weather starts to cool down around May/Jun they will tend to not do much until it warms up, that includes moulting. My S. Plumipes sling last moulted in May. I think it's just down to conserving energy.
Out of curiosity has it mounted yet? If not hopefully with the weather warming up it should be soon...

 

[James Oswald]

Hey mat

Hey mate, as Moonohol said Australian T's are slow growing. In fact Selenotypus are really very slow, even for Australian T's. Once our weather starts to cool down around May/Jun they will tend to not do much until it warms up, that includes moulting. My S. Plumipes sling last moulted in May. I think it's just down to conserving energy.
Out of curiosity has it mounted yet? If not hopefully with the weather warming up it should be soon...

Hey mate hasnt molted yet but thanks anyway

 

[AusBugKid]

Hey mat


Hey mate hasnt molted yet but thanks anyway

Fingers crossed

 

[Akela]

Hi I am new to tarantulas I have a selenotypus 2.5 sling going through its first molt and would you believe it is upright it has been about 6 hours now and still has not done it yet and has not made any web should I b worried?

 

[Rigor Mortis]

Hi I am new to tarantulas I have a selenotypus 2.5 sling going through its first molt and would you believe it is upright it has been about 6 hours now and still has not done it yet and has not made any web should I b worried?

It's likely fine, 6 hours isn't that long. But I'd really suggest you not resurrect a 4 year old thread just to ask an unrelated question, lol. Pics of your spider and enclosure would be helpful.

 

[CommanderBacon]

Tell it that you have shamed it publicly and that it better molt soon or you will write a letter to its mum.

j/k I keep a lot of Aphonopelma and they take forever to molt. Just wait it out, friend.

If you are worried and fussing over it, maybe get another T that has a slightly faster growth rate to help keep you occupied.

Edit: Whoah I did not realize that this thread was very old when I commented.

If your sling is taking that long, something might be wrong, but there's not much you can do. I would probably very carefully add some moisture to the substrate around it to see if the increase in humidity will help.

 

[Neonblizzard]

If it hasn't molted since September 2017 then i would double check you haven't been sent a cardboard cutout of a sling