- Joined
- Feb 22, 2013
- Messages
- 3,292
Alright, so here's a story.
I have been excited lately, because my subadult P. striata recently molted. She's sitting at a comfortable 6.5", has a scleritized spermatheca, and is ready to pair with the mature male. They molted within 5 days of each other, and things were just dandy.
And then I come home to this.
Note that her front left leg is not touching anything, or is even close to anything. It was just hanging there. I budged the enclosure to get her to move, and she did so completely ignoring that leg. It was definitely broken - it wasn't like that this morning (two days after the molt), so it wasn't from the molt. She must have fell and broke it.
Stories of spiders molting early to heal a wound and aesthetics tapped at me. She could still pair with this male (after she removes the leg), but I don't need her molting before laying a sac. She held this position for over an hour, and I checked on her several times during that difference. So I check on my spider room one last time before bed, and she's 100% normal. A fresh, beautifully molted P. striata. A slight teasing with a dried grass blade to simulate prey reveals her to be perfectly normal, ready to eat.
I'm beginning to think she was asking for food. I came home from vacation to her having already molted, so she could have gone legs up over a week ago for all I know. By default, I'm assuming that she molted the night before I got back, but it could very well be close to two weeks since her molt. She might just be hungry.
Sarcasm on the last paragraph, in case it wasn't obvious.
I have been excited lately, because my subadult P. striata recently molted. She's sitting at a comfortable 6.5", has a scleritized spermatheca, and is ready to pair with the mature male. They molted within 5 days of each other, and things were just dandy.
And then I come home to this.
Note that her front left leg is not touching anything, or is even close to anything. It was just hanging there. I budged the enclosure to get her to move, and she did so completely ignoring that leg. It was definitely broken - it wasn't like that this morning (two days after the molt), so it wasn't from the molt. She must have fell and broke it.
Stories of spiders molting early to heal a wound and aesthetics tapped at me. She could still pair with this male (after she removes the leg), but I don't need her molting before laying a sac. She held this position for over an hour, and I checked on her several times during that difference. So I check on my spider room one last time before bed, and she's 100% normal. A fresh, beautifully molted P. striata. A slight teasing with a dried grass blade to simulate prey reveals her to be perfectly normal, ready to eat.
I'm beginning to think she was asking for food. I came home from vacation to her having already molted, so she could have gone legs up over a week ago for all I know. By default, I'm assuming that she molted the night before I got back, but it could very well be close to two weeks since her molt. She might just be hungry.
Sarcasm on the last paragraph, in case it wasn't obvious.