Molting Day!

conipto

ArachnoPrincess
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 27, 2002
Messages
1,256
Well, first it was the C. Fimbriatus, and Now, It appears I missed all but the final shove off of my B. smithi's molt. Oh well, Perhaps she's easily embarrassed. Gotta go get some film for this..

Bill
 

JacenBeers

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 1, 2002
Messages
1,264
TOday was molting day at the local exotic pet stores. THeir Red Baboon, Venezuelan Suntiger and Salmon pinks molted today.
 

arachnopunks

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
391
It is funny how they molt in droves like that. We had a day like that about 3 weeks ago with 3 molts in 2 days. And last year, 5 spiders molted on Halloween and the day after.
 

conipto

ArachnoPrincess
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 27, 2002
Messages
1,256
Well, I got some 400 speed film for my underwater camera, which is all I have, btw.. If the girl ever comes out of her cave, I'll get a pic shot. Judging by leg size, it looks like she went from 3 inches to 3.5 inches. The size difference is huge. Colors are also incredibly striking, with what I could see. She's also been grooming herself almost nonstop, but she moved far enough away from the exuvia for me to pull it out without fear of injuring her in any way. I found 99% proof that she is in fact a she, which makes me happy. The lower half of the abdomen had folded in on itself, which at first made me thing she ate the portion where the book lungs were, but when I gently pulled it apart, that telltale inverted epigastric furrow was clear as day, and came out like a childs pop up book. The exuvia is remarkably intact, other a slight shrivelledness of the abdomen, which I've seen in near all photos of exuvia in general. All in all, a fascinating and educational experience.

I'm still hooked :)

My mother, however.. was not so thrilled when I called to tell her Victoria finally molted.. her reply: "I molted?" ;)

Bill
 
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