BAD MOLT? WHAT IS WRONG

[DjAmberSky]

My Mexican Red Knee molted less than 2 days ago and his abdomen came out looking very bald and had wrinkles.

I am so worried, is he okay?
The molt was very very wet, and when he was fresh out of the molt there where hairs on the abdomen but over time they seem to have disappeared.

Another issue I saw when I came in the morning to come check up on him I saw small white mites on his abdomen, when he started to dry out they disappeared.

 

[viper69]

Hard to know. Mites are attracted to moisture, they were probably drinking. They will hop into a bowl of water and die a few days later and turn brown, then sink.

The fact you have mites suggests your setup is either very dirty with poop and or too moist.

They usually don’t go into setups that are dry,
anything is possible though.

 

[DjAmberSky]

Hard to know. Mites are attracted to moisture, they were probably drinking. They will hop into a bowl of water and die a few days later and turn brown, then sink.

The fact you have mites suggests your setup is either very dirty with poop and or too moist.

They usually don’t go into setups that are dry,
anything is possible though.

I usually kept my enclosure very dry until I see they are going to molt, this male I have molted and appeared extremely wet when he was fresh out the molt. He was super wrinkled especially by his abdomen.

He seems to be doing fine, but this dose not look good.

 

[viper69]

I usually kept my enclosure very dry until I see they are going to molt, this male I have molted and appeared extremely wet when he was fresh out the molt. He was super wrinkled especially by his abdomen.

He seems to be doing fine, but this dose not look good.

Increasing humidity during a molt? Not needed, they aren't reptiles.

 

[joossa]

Can you provide a picture of the entire spider?

 

[Smotzer]

Not sure if they were actually mites, its a possibility maybe they were spring tails, by moisture you say.

Does it have acess to a water dish to drink? Super important after a molt.

 

[Spoodfood]

I read here a while back a good way to decrease mites is to first, change your substrate and hide, clean out the water dish, then leave a prekilled prey item in a catch cup or something close to the enclosure for a day. The mites will attract to that. Throw it away and don’t leave it too long. Make sure there’s no hidden prey items or bits stuck under the cork bark or in other enclosures too. If anyone can chime in and confirm this as a good idea that would be great, as I’ve fortunately never had a problem with mites. And also as a side note, you don’t need to moisten the substrate with any adult brachypelma species that I’m aware of. They like arid conditions. A decent sized water dish is perfectly fine.