Molting experiment

[Dorifto]

Well last week after answering a thread about molting problems and knowing that my Ts molted after a big storm and more humid weather (it can be a coincidence too) I decided knowing that a big storm (summer storm) was coming, to "mimic" the effects of that storm on my vivariums.

I moisted the substrate more than usual, and the new xaxim background keeps the humidity high, I know that some don't bother about humidity in the hair because the damp sustrate provides that humidity, but having the right tools I tried to keep it like at levels just like after a big storm. The active ventilation keeps the air moving, I wouldn't do this "experiment" not having a nice ventilation

Before the experiment both of my Ts were showing signs of "premolt", just started to refuse food and were more reclusive. So it'll be nice to see if there is any effect on them.

For now, the only thing I noticed is that the pulchra is rubbing her abdomen more than usual and placing her hairs around her.

A video from yesterday.

View attachment VID_20210719_140732.mp4

External temps are at 24-27°C and 80-85% of himidity.




If anyone had more experiences like this please feel free to write your experience.

 

[Dorifto]

Both Ts outside, looks like the pulchra has some bald patches in her abdomen from rubbing. The geniculata is hunting the porcelios again... Poor little bugs but now they hide inside the fern.


View attachment VID_20210721_212232.mp4

 

[Smotzer]

Curious to see if it did or didn’t trigger a molt

 

[Dorifto]

Curious to see if it did or didn’t trigger a molt

Yeah, I'm curious too!!

Last time the geniculata molted a week after the storm and the pulchra a little bit later. Temperature and humidity levels are almost the same, maybe the temperature a bit lower than the last year, but rainy days temp overall a bit higher. This year climate is pretty extrange.

 

[Smotzer]

Yeah, I'm curious too!!

Last time the geniculata molted a week after the storm and the pulchra a little bit later. Temperature and humidity levels are almost the same, maybe the temperature a bit lower than the last year, but rainy days temp overall a bit higher. This year climate is pretty extrange.

Very Interesting

For me, in any of my tarantula or arachnids I have never noticed any frequency in which molts have coincided with storm systems, I totally get the premise of the hypothesis, but I just in my keeping have never found any credence to that thus far, but I would love to hear and potetially learn otherwise. Unfortunely there are potetially so many other factors at play that is is hard to say what you may have observed. Maybe it is just the barometric pressure and not moisture, or vice versa. Maybe it was something else as well, infrequency/frequency of storms, energetic output, etc idk. Potentially worth a study...!

And yes this year is quite the year to show climate changes. We have been getting far more rain and storms than last year at this time here in my part of Texas, and it has been slightly cooler as well.

 

[Dorifto]

I started to notice "extrange" behaviours with my first vivs, because the first days I always was worried about any subtle changes. Was then when I noticed that they closed their burrows just before the storms came. Maybe because my old house didn't have any kind of real thermic insulation could affect their behaviours, being more like in the nature?

Knowing those events I started to look on those coincidences and I started to become more curious. They didn't molt every time with storms, but yes more frequently. I also noticed that if the day was hot and dry and the enclosure is dry too, they stay at their burrows during the day, and they wandered the enclosure at night. But if the enclosure was moist they stayed outside more often during the day.

 

[Dorifto]

Well looks like the pulchra is ready for a molt! I was expecting that was the geniculata who was going for a molt

I have checked her, and looks like the bald patch is becoming darker. Tomorrow I'll check her with better lights and if she is in the right spot, I don't want to disturb her.

I took a photo, and you can see that the lowest part is becoming darker.





Ps: I'd take the asumption with a pinch of salt, because it could be a coincidence. Now lets see the geniculata

 

[Stardust1986]

It does reinforce my thought on humidity and molting, I think good humidity is important for a tarantula to have good molt

Well last week after answering a thread about molting problems and knowing that my Ts molted after a big storm and more humid weather (it can be a coincidence too) I decided knowing that a big storm (summer storm) was coming, to "mimic" the effects of that storm on my vivariums.

I moisted the substrate more than usual, and the new xaxim background keeps the humidity high, I know that some don't bother about humidity in the hair because the damp sustrate provides that humidity, but having the right tools I tried to keep it like at levels just like after a big storm. The active ventilation keeps the air moving, I wouldn't do this "experiment" not having a nice ventilation

Before the experiment both of my Ts were showing signs of "premolt", just started to refuse food and were more reclusive. So it'll be nice to see if there is any effect on them.

For now, the only thing I noticed is that the pulchra is rubbing her abdomen more than usual and placing her hairs around her.

A video from yesterday.

View attachment 392496

External temps are at 24-27°C and 80-85% of himidity.

View attachment 392498


If anyone had more experiences like this please feel free to write your experience.

 

[Dorifto]

I believe that the best way to keep any animal, is to keep them as close as possible like they were in their own habitats.

If you can't keep them the same way like in their habitat, make it simple, but as close as possible as their habitats

 

[l4nsky]

I believe that the best way to keep any animal, is to keep them as close as possible like they were in their own habitats.

If you can't keep them the same way like in their habitat, make it simple, but as close as possible as their habitats

With a grain of salt and a healthy dose of logic mind you. For example, Phormingochilus sp are rainforest dwellers, but you don't want to keep them at the temp/humidity level of the rain forest (high 80's to mid 90's with 85%+ RH during the day). Even though that's the climate data for their natural habitat, they are never really exposed to that daytime high. Why? Because they are nocturnal and spend their days in a hide. That hide provides insulating qualities, resulting in them being exposed to both lower temperatures and humidity levels than what the data would suggest. Just food for thought.

 

[Dorifto]

That's why I always recommend to learn as much as possible about our ts! And that include day and night climate values.

Chasing exact values could be as detrimental as keeping them out of those values imo, the correct way should be to keep them inside those values, or as close as much. Keeping them close to their habitats would avoid a lot of issues we see here.

I have the luck that my local weather is pretty close to their own ones, so I don't need to chase any specific number. They only thing I'm controlling, and that's because I was bored is the light, that's the only thing that I keep "synchronized" with the seasons.

 

[Dorifto]

Little update:

Pulchra is getting darker, so hope to see her with her new clothes soon

The geniculata's abdomen is getting less vibrant, with more faded colors, the last time she molted happened te same, but I can't confirm that it's going to molt soon, because she didn't kick any single hair, or at least I didn't saw it, and her abdomen is full of hairs.

 

[Dorifto]

I caught the pulchra rubbing her hairs and placing them in her laying mat, molt is closer!!

View attachment 1_VID_20210728_182943_1.mp4

 

[Dorifto]

Who is going to moooolt?

 

[Stardust1986]

So cute, the clue-purple colors really

Who is going to moooolt?

View attachment 393521

Wow, the blue-purple colors really pop : )

 

[Dorifto]

So cute, the clue-purple colors really


Wow, the blue-purple colors really pop : )

That's because the blue led of the lamp!

It's a pulchra!! So it's jet black, I hope...

It's pretty curious how the old exuvia oxidizes! Just before molting starts, it starts to turning brownish.

80 percent of the molting process done! I'll post a timelapse after the molting is completed.

 

[Dorifto]

Molting completed! She looks gorgeous

View attachment molting.MP4

 

[l4nsky]

I think I can add some empirical data to your experiment. So, one of the things I've been experimenting with is breeding, specifically attempting to mimic the seasonal variations a tarantula experiences.
These are my current prototypes. Without going into too much detail, these enclosures allow me to control and modify the temperature and humidity in the tarantulas BURROW/HIDE, not the enclosure itself. This means I can control the environmental parameters that the tarantulas are directly exposed too in order to replicate the environmental parameters they are exposed to in their hides in the wild.

I have 0.2 P. sp Akcaya and 0.1 P. sp Sabah Blue currently in these enclosures. They are all young females and successful eggsacks were very slim odds (as Phormingochilus sp usually don't reproduce until they're max size), but I had the males and the prototypes. For the past two months, these girls have been kept at 80-84 degrees and 60-65% RH in their burrows, with 100% enclosure humidity achieved at night, twice a week. Last Friday, I started transitioning them over to the wet season. For the transition, I kept the temps the same, but I bumped the RH up to 75-80%. We've had a few popup thunderstorms in the area these past two weeks as it's want to do in the Midwestern summer. On Monday, one of the Akcaya's molted out. On Wednesday, the Sabah molted out. As of now, the last Akcaya has webbed up her burrow entrance and it doesn't look like webbing in preparation for an eggsack. Prior to their molts, both the Akcaya and Sabah halved their food intake, but they were still eating as of last Friday (which I've noticed isn't out of the ordinary for Phormingochilus going into a molt). Another interesting observation is that the Sabah's last molt was one month later then the two Akcaya's previous molts, but was in-sync with the Akcaya's molt and the RH change this time. I think the increased RH in their burrows, the high caloric intake over the past two months, and the barometric pressure drops that accompanied the increase in RH definently influenced their molts.

 

[Dorifto]

I'm glad to see that others do the same with their setups! Collecting this kind of data could give us a lot of surprises imo.

I always believed that seasons and climate affects them greatly for this kind of things, as I have observed in the past, and I'm pretty sure that it is the key to be succesful breeding some hard to breed species, and that it is one of the secret that some breeders keep for themselves.

This time were higher temps, increase in RH and the substrate moisture and a drop in the atmospheric pressure due the storm. That's why I used the storm to mimic the pressure drop. In the previous molts, I'm pretty sure that the values were pretty close.

What do you use to increase the RH to 100%? A fogger?

 

[l4nsky]

I'm glad to see that others do the same with their setups! Collecting this kind of data could give us a lot of surprises imo.

I always believed that seasons and climate affects them greatly for this kind of things, as I have observed in the past, and I'm pretty sure that it is the key to be succesful breeding some hard to breed species, and that it is one of the secret that some breeders keep for themselves.

This time were higher temps, increase in RH and the substrate moisture and a drop in the atmospheric pressure due the storm. That's why I used the storm to mimic the pressure drop. In the previous molts, I'm pretty sure that the values were pretty close.

What do you use to increase the RH to 100%? A fogger?

Simpler than that, heavy misting. There's still moisture on the enclosure sides in the morning, meaning the air has been heavily saturated all night (atleast 95%, admittedly I'm not tracking enclosure variables as keenly as I'm tracking burrow variables). I want to let the tarantula escape the humidity into its hide if it wants to, like in the wild. Fog will infiltrate the hide, but the humid air doesn't because of the enclosure's design.