Molt stuck on abdomen...

Hamburglar

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
585
Hello... sorry to bother you all with another molt question. My little L. parahybana molted last night and it looks like it got stuck around its abdomen. It appears to be dragging the entire molt around behind. All of the legs made it out ok and it seems to be moving fine. I was wondering what I should do about the molt. Should I try to pull it off? I am guessing whatever is left around the abdomen will be ok if it stays there until the next molt? The little guy is pretty small maybe an inch DLS so I imagine it is pretty fragile. I was a bit worried pulling off the old molt may hurt the spider. The entire shed is behind the spider, however, it has to step over it when it turns around in its vial so I was hoping I could remove it.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.....
 

julesaussies

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 15, 2007
Messages
577
i think you're right about it being very fragile. Hopefully somebody with more experience will reply soon. My concern about leaving the molt is whether or not it would be able to use its spinnerets and poop okay! Is the molt still encased around the abdomen? i know it must be hard to see on a sling.

Maybe somebody can let you know if it would be safe to get the exo & abdomen wet (not sure about their book lungs...) and maybe if you held onto the exo the little guy could pull himself out??? Definitely don't do anything until somebody experienced gives the okay. i'm just trying to brainstorm for you.
 

cheetah13mo

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 10, 2006
Messages
2,151
You can try to put a dab of water on the stuck molt to soften it up. That might help your little parahybana free itself. It should not stay on there too long. Without pics, We don't know but it could cause your T problems well before it's ready to molt again. As far as the book lungs go, if they are covered with a shed skin that has not been cast off, your T will have problems getting air. End of the story is, we need a few pics to see exactly hat it's situation is to help effectively.
 

Hamburglar

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
585
Thanks for the replies... I will try to update this post with some photos this afternoon. From what I can see it looks like the old skin is covering about 2/3 of the abdomen starting from the spinnerettes. So I am guessing that at least one set of the book lungs is clear. But that is just a guess. In the mean time I will put a drop of water on the molt to see if that helps and work on some pics today.

Thanks...
 

Varden

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
May 22, 2005
Messages
704
Dab a bit of water to soften up the molt and then take careful hold of the molt and let the T just walk off it.
 

Hamburglar

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
585
Thanks for your help everyone.... The molt came off and everything looks ok. I was dropping water on the molt with a syringe which wasnt working very well because it would roll off before it could soak in. Anyway, as I was doing this the little guy walked across his molt mat that he laid and the molt stuck to it. So he was able to walk out of it. Thanks again for all of your help....
 
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