Is my sling in premolt?

[BlackCatPasta]

Ive had a 1 inch b. albopilosum for about a week and a half now. I looked back at my pictures of when I first got it and it's abdomen seems to be bigger, shiny, and darker, but it's been accepting food fine. I noticed this three days ago and stopped feeding since. Its been plenty active, and has put webbing in the opening to it's burrow/hide, but only a tiny bit. Here recently it has been hiding in its hide more often. Seeing as though this is my first ever sling, i'm unsure if it's in premolt. I can't get a good picture currently. but I have a picture of when I realized that it could be in premolt. Before anyone criticizes me for handling, it crawled onto my hand when trying to escape from the enclosure and sat there on my palm. I also am putting a picture of when I first got it.

Also, I moved it into a better enclosure, that one was only temporary.

 

[KezyGLA]

Probably. Leave it be with a shallow water dish

 

[Nightstalker47]

It does look like it may be, when I suspect pre molt and I'm not sure I try feeding, if it refuses then you know it's most likely in pre molt. It becomes easier to spot when they grow, but with slings the feeding test is a good way of finding out. See how obvious it becomes with larger NW specimens? This is my female N.chromatus that should be molting very soon.

 

[Ellenantula]

It's getting there -- but I think rump could be darker, shinier and plumper. Mine always looked ready to pop! (That said, it could have moulted while I typed this -- lol)

Also -- slings may eat right up until moult. A refused meal can be a good indicator of premoult (but the reverse isn't necessarily true -- because taking a meal doesn't preclude that moult may still be imminent).

Growing up basically is a series of "moulting - growth - "pre-moult" periods for a sling. So the goal is to always be working towards next moult so sling can grow up. (Hate to say that a sling is 'always' in pre-moult, that will just get debated -- but in some sense... there's a ring of truth to this idea. It's why we mention fast and slower growing slings -- we're really saying which ones get to the next growth stage faster -- i.e.- moulting).

And how often/how much you are feeding and how warm the temps are can often affect the speed of this moulting/developing new exo/pre-moult cycle.

 

[Venom1080]

I'd keep feeding till the stops taking it, or when the abdomen gets too large. Then I'd wait for a molt.

 

[darkness975]

Ive had a 1 inch b. albopilosum for about a week and a half now. I looked back at my pictures of when I first got it and it's abdomen seems to be bigger, shiny, and darker, but it's been accepting food fine. I noticed this three days ago and stopped feeding since. Its been plenty active, and has put webbing in the opening to it's burrow/hide, but only a tiny bit. Here recently it has been hiding in its hide more often. Seeing as though this is my first ever sling, i'm unsure if it's in premolt. I can't get a good picture currently. but I have a picture of when I realized that it could be in premolt. Before anyone criticizes me for handling, it crawled onto my hand when trying to escape from the enclosure and sat there on my palm. I also am putting a picture of when I first got it. View attachment 242714 View attachment 242716

Also, I moved it into a better enclosure, that one was only temporary.

It's getting there.

It isn't a good idea to handle it anymore.

 

[Stormsky]

It looks almost there, but probably just a little bit longer to go. At that size, my B. albo sling stopped eating for about a month and blocked all hide entrances before finally molting, so I'd just offer food til it stops taking it then let it do it's thing until it molts.