Blood red fangs 5 weeks after molting.

[magneto]

I have a juvenile female 3" Acanthoscurria geniculata that molted maybe 5 weeks ago. She has eaten several times since and started to refuse food maybe two weeks ago so I assumed she was in premolt and stopped feeding.

Yesterday I found her next to the empty water dish (a sloppy idiotic oversight by me :wall in something dangerously close to a deathcurl. I filled the water dish at once and let it owerflow and moisten the substrate beside her, she climed into the dish and drank at once. Thinking I had avoided disaster I left her alone and went to bed.

When I checked on her today she was sitting on the glass wall next to the water dish and I noticed something I hadn't seen before. Her fangs where the color of blood. I do not know if this is something she's had since the last molt as she hasn't sat on the glass before and taken most of her food inside her hide where I can see her, but not in great detail.

I know they can have red fangs right after a molt but 5 weeks after? Is it something to worrry about?
My camera is rubish at small details so wasn't able to get a picture that would be any use.

 

[Storm76]

Get her into a catchcup if you can and post a picture please. It's kinda hard to believe that after 5 weeks that fangs are still red, that's not usual.

 

[magneto]

Get her into a catchcup if you can and post a picture please. It's kinda hard to believe that after 5 weeks that fangs are still red, that's not usual.

Well she still got her temper at least. Got haired several times during the process. Got a few photos that may be of use, but they are still of bad quality. The color of the fangs are much more red than the photos could capture but you can still see some of it.

 

[soundsmith]

The fangs do look abnormally light instead of black, but the pictures are not the greatest as you know. I have no idea why or what is going on, just confirming the observation. Hopefully she is ok, if not then someone here surely knows what is going on.

 

[Storm76]

THe whole area around the mouth looks pretty odd to me actually. The pictures aren't the best quality either, which doesn't help. Even an adult genic will be back to feeding normally after ~2 weeks from experience with my big girl. 5 weeks sounds excessively weird to me and I'm sorry, but those pictures I can't tell if they're red or what color at all. Only the area around her mouth looks completely beige on my screen - which isn't normal to me. Did you try feeding her since she molted?

 

[magneto]

THe whole area around the mouth looks pretty odd to me actually. The pictures aren't the best quality either, which doesn't help. Even an adult genic will be back to feeding normally after ~2 weeks from experience with my big girl. 5 weeks sounds excessively weird to me and I'm sorry, but those pictures I can't tell if they're red or what color at all. Only the area around her mouth looks completely beige on my screen - which isn't normal to me. Did you try feeding her since she molted?

The area around the mouth is a little reddish too yes. And yes she ate only a week after molting and has eaten at least 10 times since then. She only recently started to refuse food.

 

[Storm76]

Does she have a heatmat or any such nonsense? Kinda looks like a burn, fungus...or simply remaining from her old exoskeleton that didn't loosen itself?

 

[magneto]

Does she have a heatmat or any such nonsense? Kinda looks like a burn, fungus...or simply remaining from her old exoskeleton that didn't loosen itself?

No heatmat. Haven't seen any sign of fungus either. She is kept just as this species should be kept..exept maybe with the substrate a bit on the dry side as I'd rather refill the water dish more often than risk mold or fungi. So the only thing out of the ordinary that I can think of was the fact that I hadn't spotted the dry water dish this time. But I can't see that being connected to this.

If the old exo is still stuck around new fangs, wouldn't they be still black?

 

[lalberts9310]

I think if the exo was still stuck the fangs would still be black. Do you have the exo? If you do, look at it and see if it's the complete skin, fangs included. I don't know why her fangs and mouth are so weird looking, it really is very odd. Could you perhaps get a picture with more light? (using camera flash or something), the pics are, like said, not very clear.

 

[magneto]

I think if the exo was still stuck the fangs would still be black. Do you have the exo? If you do, look at it and see if it's the complete skin, fangs included. I don't know why her fangs and mouth are so weird looking, it really is very odd. Could you perhaps get a picture with more light? (using camera flash or something), the pics are, like said, not very clear.

Checked the old exo now. The fangs are missing, and the skin around where they should have been is a dark reddish brown color with a bright red edge around it.

 

[lalberts9310]

I don't know, it can be that the fangs stuck to the T. Could you get a pic with more light?

 

[magneto]

I don't know, it can be that the fangs stuck to the T. Could you get a pic with more light?

I tried more light when I took the previous pictures. The light just gets reflected back on the camera and obscures it even more. And call me overly cautious (wuss) if you like but I don't pick them up after a certain size. So pictures through glass walls is all I can do.

 

[soundsmith]

I tried more light when I took the previous pictures. The light just gets reflected back on the camera and obscures it even more. And call me overly cautious (wuss) if you like but I don't pick them up after a certain size. So pictures through glass walls is all I can do.

Use a flashlight instead and angle it different ways until you can get a clear picture without reflection. The light doesn't need to be aimed directly on the T, sometimes light bleeding from the edge of center is plenty.

 

[lalberts9310]

I tried more light when I took the previous pictures. The light just gets reflected back on the camera and obscures it even more. And call me overly cautious (wuss) if you like but I don't pick them up after a certain size. So pictures through glass walls is all I can do.

It's good you don't pick them up, handling is discouraged anyway, doesn't make you a wuss. I believe the fangs are stuck, but I can't clarify completely as I can't really make anything out from the pictures except that her mouth and fangs looks weird. And being 5 weeks since the last molt she may already be completely hardened. Awiec I know has some good experience with stuck exos, maybe pm her? What I also think you can do is up the humidity a bit and dampen the substrate. Hopefully she'll press the areas that got old exo stuck to her against the moist sub and it will maybe have a chance to get loose. I can't advice to take it off yourself as she has molted 5 weeks ago, I'm scared it may do more harm than good. I also don't know whether a T can successfully feed with fangs that got old exo stuck to it. I never really dealt with this before, only had 3 stuck molts of which one T died (completely stuck in old exo) and the one was stuck at the front legs and the other on the spinnerets, but both of the last instances I caught it within a few minutes of molting so the exo was easy to remove. Hopefully someone with more experience would chime in, sorry I can't be of any help further. I really hope she'll be okay.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Seems like someone throw Malocchio (Evil Eye) upon you my friend, you've been unlucky with T's in those months.

 

[lalberts9310]

Use a flashlight instead and angle it different ways until you can get a clear picture without reflection. The light doesn't need to be aimed directly on the T, sometimes light bleeding from the edge of center is plenty.

+1 this may also make things easier for us to see

 

[magneto]

Success! Still not good quality but a damn sight better than the previous. Hope these will do as I don't want to be haired again.

Sorry about the black dots. The lens is broken. The other photos where from the secondary phone camera and obscured the pictures with the reflection from the screen. These where much better despite the black dots.

 

[magneto]

Seems like someone throw Malocchio (Evil Eye) upon you my friend, you've been unlucky with T's in those months.

Tell me about it. What I find ironic is that when I started this hobby I was quite careless. But I never had an incident even once. When I started up the hobby this time I have been very careful about keeping them right and they just keep dying on me. Let's hope this one makes it at least.

 

[awiec]

I was summoned from my cave via pm to comment on the situation. Spiders are divided into two feeding categories, the "crushers" and "sippers", tarantulas are crushers in that the fangs are there to subdue prey and mash it up into a ball (and the occasional defense against predators). The main concern with old exoskeleton being stuck on the fangs is if it interferes with the catching and crushing of prey. From what I have read in the thread the spider has been eating fine and even drinking which means her fangs and mouth are working properly. Even if she were to lose her fangs you could feed her cricket/super worm soup as the mouth is whats important. I don't see the point in removing the exo but you would have to pinch grab her and gently wet and pull the old exo off, which is a lot of work and you could damage her fangs. All I would do is make sure she has water and watch her during her next molt, the old exo may make the molting process tricky but even if she pops her fangs off, she will still live if given proper care.

 

[magneto]

I was summoned from my cave via pm to comment on the situation. Spiders are divided into two feeding categories, the "crushers" and "sippers", tarantulas are crushers in that the fangs are there to subdue prey and mash it up into a ball (and the occasional defense against predators). The main concern with old exoskeleton being stuck on the fangs is if it interferes with the catching and crushing of prey. From what I have read in the thread the spider has been eating fine and even drinking which means her fangs and mouth are working properly. Even if she were to lose her fangs you could feed her cricket/super worm soup as the mouth is whats important. I don't see the point in removing the exo but you would have to pinch grab her and gently wet and pull the old exo off, which is a lot of work and you could damage her fangs. All I would do is make sure she has water and watch her during her next molt, the old exo may make the molting process tricky but even if she pops her fangs off, she will still live if given proper care.

Thanks Batm...awiec i mean. I'll just wait and see then. And hope like hell it molt's properly next time.

I have a great respect for your opinion. And if you conclude that this indeed is the old exo stuck around the fangs, then that's what it is. But I'm curious about one thing. As I asked further up in the thread, would not the old exo's fangs still be black?