Mid Moult N chromatus question

[BrynWilliams]

My AF N chromatus is moulting as we speak, in her inverted position, she's chosen to moult beneath a cork bark overhang.

It appears as she's moulting that her old exuvium legs are catching on the roof of the 'den' as it were resulting a couple legs having a pretty funky angle going on.

SO my question is, do i remove the ceiling, and risk disturbing her mid moult, or do i just wait and see?

She's a big girl, 6-7" legspan, so i don't want there to be issues with this moult as i know the larger the specimen the larger the risks

 

[webbedone]

I'd remove it and rather not risk her being stuck in the molt. Tarantulas tend to know what they are doing when it comes to the space needed to molt and i've seen it first hand when my pulchra sling molted inside the vial. But like you said she is a bigger gal and not a sling anymore so why take the risk of her legs being stuck or deformed. Is the ceiling atatched by any means? And would you have to do some serious work to remove it or can it be removed with the slight of your hand?

 

[BrynWilliams]

so i looked in closely at what she had done with the place and it appears that her moult mat is firmly attached to ceiling piece where sub meets it. I did however see that it would be possible to rather than remove the ceiling, to re-angle it so that her old exuvium had space to move in. The minute it did this she has made significant progress since then.

Excuse my first post for not perhaps properly describing it, it was penned in haste. The issue was that the old exuvium legs stretched out the entrance to her den, and as she was moulting, and thus the old exuvium naturally lifts a little and then rolls away (as it usually does) the outreaching legs were catching on the ceiling. This was creating an issue for the new legs coming out as they were having to double back on themselves.

It was remarkable to see after i realigned the ceiling of her den, the next 'push' of hers liberated two further joints in one go.

As of writing it is just the last joint to go.

 

[webbedone]

Ya when it comes to the question of a T being stuck in a molt or providing some assistance i'd rather help the T out a bit and not risk it being stuck in a death trap. She clearly had a hard time clearing her feet of old exuvia hope everythin goes well for the big girl and she sheds without any problems or deformaties

 

[BrynWilliams]

Much to my delight, she's completed the moult and is now just stretching it out as usual.

The old exuvium measures at a diagonal 6" almost exactly and she appears to have gained nicely.

Here are a few photos i took once she was happier and progressing. In the first photo you can see the moved 'ceiling' of her burrow to a more vertical position which allowed her to free herself

 

[webbedone]

Gorgeous big gal you have there i am glad everything turned out ok for her