G. actaeon bad molt

[WolfSoon]

My G. actaeon female molted on Friday and looked to be in rough shape afterward. I thought she might be dehydrated so I moved her water dish closer to her and dripped some water on her molting mat. She drank from the substrate and later spent some time drinking from the dish.

The next morning she seemed to be doing some post-molt stretching and looking better, but tonight I found her with some of her legs twisted upward and barely functional. I gently moved her mouth over the water dish in case she needed more water and couldn’t reach it, and she had enough strength to hobble away from the dish.

I’m just wondering if there’s anything else I can do other than keeping water available close by and leaving her alone. She’s one of my favorites, and I was so excited when she was my first T that turned out to be female.

 

[Ungoliant]

I’m just wondering if there’s anything else I can do other than keeping water available close by and leaving her alone.

That's all you can do for her.

It's possible that some of the legs didn't molt correctly. If it's a minor deformity, it may correct itself during the next molt. If the crooked legs are a severe hindrance, she'll self-amputate, and the legs will completely regenerate during the next 2-3 molts.

 

[WolfSoon]

That's all you can do for her.

It's possible that some of the legs didn't molt correctly. If it's a minor deformity, it may correct itself during the next molt. If the crooked legs are a severe hindrance, she'll self-amputate, and the legs will completely regenerate during the next 2-3 molts.

Thank you for the reassurance! I hope it is just the legs that didn’t molt properly. It’s hard to tell if she’s in bad shape overall or just impaired by the legs, but I’ll leave her alone and hope she recovers well.

 

[Vanessa]

She looks like she is fairly large and at those sizes their legs are not functioning as normal for a while, they can't lift their weight on their still soft legs. So, they do strange looking things like scoot around on their bellies and have their legs going off at weird angles.
You won't be able to properly assess any long term issues until she has hardened up. I would leave her alone, with plenty of clean water, and let her stretch out and harden up. You might find that things are a lot different once she is well on her way to being recovered.

 

[Ungoliant]

She looks like she is fairly large and at those sizes their legs are not functioning as normal for a while, they can't lift their weight on their still soft legs. So, they do strange looking things like scoot around on their bellies and have their legs going off at weird angles.

They can definitely look "handicapped" shortly after a normal molt.

Every time one of my spiders molts, my husband asks, "Are you sure she's OK?"

 

[Vanessa]

They can definitely look "handicapped" shortly after a normal molt.
Every time one of my spiders molts, my husband asks, "Are you sure she's OK?"

I remember the first time I saw a big, heavy bodied adult female terrestrial right after moulting. I opened the enclosure to get the exuvia and she was scooting around looking as if she were almost dead with her legs all jelly like and going in all directions. I cried. I thought she was dying and that she had a bad moult. Then, after just watching her for a couple of minutes, it dawned on me that her legs were too soft for her to be able to lift her weight and walk properly on and that they would likely be just fine once they hardened up... and they were.
Even real issues with legs can be rectified to a certain extent if the spider is able to stretch out properly. That is why it is so important that they are given enough room to do so.

 

[WolfSoon]

Thanks @Vanessa, that’s a big relief that it may not have been a bad molt at all! Her exuvia is 3.5” so I’d guess she’s around 4” now.
That must’ve been scary the first time you experienced that with your big girl, but of course you had the wisdom to figure out the situation. I’ve been on high alert since my little female versicolor passed after a bad molt a while back, so I think I just panicked when this girl was more exhausted than with past molts.
I peeked at her today and she’s been moving around a bit and stretching, so fingers crossed!

 

[WolfSoon]

Just wanted to give a quick update - she’s doing fine after a week of recovery! Even her legs seem to be back to normal now. Such a relief.
Thanks for all the helpful replies and easing my worries!

 

[WolfSoon]

I need some help with this girl again. I didn’t update the thread, but she has had issues with her legs since her molt 6 months ago. It seems like they didn’t molt properly after all, causing her to be clumsy when hunting and have some impaired movement. I’ve fed her maimed feeders, and she’s plumped up and seemed to be doing ok. As far as husbandry, I’ve kept her substrate mostly dry with a full water dish and a little overflow.

I’m writing because she’s gotten gradually weaker over the last month or so and even more so in the last few days. Right now she’s curled up and just twitching her legs, looking rough. She also spent all day floating in her water dish, and I moved her onto moist substrate because I wasn’t sure if she could get out of the dish. But I wonder if there’s a chance she was trying to molt in there.

Any thoughts on what I can do to help her? Thanks

 

[Konstantin Konstantinov]

I need some help with this girl again. I didn’t update the thread, but she has had issues with her legs since her molt 6 months ago. It seems like they didn’t molt properly after all, causing her to be clumsy when hunting and have some impaired movement. I’ve fed her maimed feeders, and she’s plumped up and seemed to be doing ok. As far as husbandry, I’ve kept her substrate mostly dry with a full water dish and a little overflow.

I’m writing because she’s gotten gradually weaker over the last month or so and even more so in the last few days. Right now she’s curled up and just twitching her legs, looking rough. She also spent all day floating in her water dish, and I moved her onto moist substrate because I wasn’t sure if she could get out of the dish. But I wonder if there’s a chance she was trying to molt in there.

Any thoughts on what I can do to help her? Thanks
View attachment 339483 View attachment 339484

Hi
did you check if she moulted the sucking stomach successfully.
Its not uncommon for them to drown in their water dishes while desperate to have a drink but unable to do so.Its a rare for a T to not be able to moult the sucking stomach but it happens its slow death sentence that can be corrected only with another successful moult.
Regards Konstantin

 

[Konstantin Konstantinov]

This is what you are looking for

 

[Vanessa]

Make sure that the water dish is flush with the substrate and put her over top of it with her mouth in it. She can't climb into it in that condition.

 

[WolfSoon]

Hi
did you check if she moulted the sucking stomach successfully.
Its not uncommon for them to drown in their water dishes while desperate to have a drink but unable to do so.Its a rare for a T to not be able to moult the sucking stomach but it happens its slow death sentence that can be corrected only with another successful moult.
Regards Konstantin

Hi! Thanks for your reply. I’ve lost track of her exuvia, but I think I checked before and saw that the sucking stomach had molted correctly. She has also been eating regularly since her molt. Thank you for the reminder to check in the future.

Make sure that the water dish is flush with the substrate and put her over top of it with her mouth in it. She can't climb into it in that condition.

Thanks Vanessa. I actually did place her like that yesterday, and she got into the dish again. She can still push herself around slowly.
Edit: placed her mouth over a more appropriately-sized dish.

 

[Vanessa]

Try giving her water manually if she'll let you. Flip her over and apply a drop of water to her mouth with a syringe.

 

[WolfSoon]

Try giving her water manually if she'll let you. Flip her over and apply a drop of water to her mouth with a syringe.

I’ll do that, thanks.

Try giving her water manually if she'll let you. Flip her over and apply a drop of water to her mouth with a syringe.

I flipped her and gave her water for about an hour, and she’s been scrunched into the smaller water dish I gave her. At one point was soaking her abdomen instead of her mouth parts. I checked her anus when she was flipped over but didn’t see any visible signs of impaction.
I’m keeping an eye on her and going to gently give her some more manual water.

 

[WolfSoon]

There’s been some improvement! Last night she uncurled and stretched out in her water dish, and today she’s like this. There’s some kind of brown fluid on one of her leg joints - could it be molting fluid?

I’m leaving her like this for now but let me know if I should do otherwise.