Molting problem?

Le Wasp

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 25, 2007
Messages
243
I just received an A. chalcodes immature male, and he's acting like he's trying to molt. He wasn't entirely upside down, but rather sitting vertically on his abdomen. I helped him turn on his back last evening, and he's still in the same position, lightly pumping his legs like he's still in the early stages of molting. It's possible he was ready to molt when he was shipped, so he didn't have time to set up a molt mat when he got here.

The strange thing is, he looks fresh already, like he molted recently. He doesn't have the tawny, old skin look to him that many Ts get when they're ready to molt. His abdomen is definitely fat enough, but it looks fresh too, without missing hair or darkening.

Any idea what's going on? Think the temperature shifts of shipping confused him and triggered a molt? He's been acting like he's trying to molt for quite a while now, and the carapace hasn't even popped yet.
 

Abby

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 9, 2009
Messages
297
:?
Maybe he was really stressed in the shipping process?
I don't know hun, I'm sure someone with more experience will give you better information.
I would probably mist by him to see if he wants to drink water :(
 

Musicwolf

Arachnoknight
Joined
Jul 2, 2010
Messages
283
I just received an A. chalcodes immature male, and he's acting like he's trying to molt. He wasn't entirely upside down, but rather sitting vertically on his abdomen.
I was thinking "threat pose" when I read this, but if you helped him onto his back and he stayed there then that obviously isn't the case. You may want to add a picture of the current state . . . that usually helps folks analyze what's going on better.
 

Le Wasp

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 25, 2007
Messages
243
I was thinking "threat pose" when I read this, but if you helped him onto his back and he stayed there then that obviously isn't the case. You may want to add a picture of the current state . . . that usually helps folks analyze what's going on better.
Def. not a threat pose, but it looked as if he fell asleep while trying to sit up on his abdomen. His legs were relaxed, but not limp. I guess it's the spider equivalent of the fetal position. Maybe he was trying to turn on his back, but didn't quite make it.

He's in a classic molting posture now (although, I pretty much put him in it), resting on his back, legs relaxed and pointed upward, but not in a death curl. The only movements he's made in the last 17+ hours have been slow, slight movements of his legs. I've seen this kind of motion in molting spiders, and I think it's the process of dislodging the new skin. Hopefully I'll see signs of him actually molting soon.

Since I just got him in the mail, I don't know how he was kept or how he had been behaving, but I'm keeping his area warm and humid.
 

Wachusaynoob

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 3, 2010
Messages
124
How many legs are stuck in the molt?

You could try using tweezers to free the Joints and slide the leg out.
Or- if you let it deal on its own it may lose a leg.
 

Musicwolf

Arachnoknight
Joined
Jul 2, 2010
Messages
283
How many legs are stuck in the molt?

You could try using tweezers to free the Joints and slide the leg out.
Or- if you let it deal on its own it may lose a leg.
I don't believe he said it was stuck at all . . . just hasn't fully started. Nothing to do but wait and see - - sounds to me like it should be fine at this point and hopefully you'll see some progress tonight.
 

Wachusaynoob

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 3, 2010
Messages
124
I don't believe he said it was stuck at all . . . just hasn't fully started. Nothing to do but wait and see - - sounds to me like it should be fine at this point and hopefully you'll see some progress tonight.
oh heyy completely wrong thread haha.
Whoops :8o
 

Great Basin Ben

Arachnosquire
Joined
Oct 2, 2010
Messages
86
This same thing happened with one of the Spiders I received. I later found out, that the day my wife stayed home to meet the Postwoman at the door, she never knocked on the back door, to deliver. Since it didn't require a signature, (my request, and I will never do THAT again), she just decided to literally HURL it over my back patio fence,(a good 10+ yards!), onto my porch...

The spider was QUITE plump, and what we believe happened, is that the jarring impact (regardless of the flawless packaging,) onto the back patio caused some sort of internal rupture. That spider, sadly didn't make it. I hope yours pulls through. Was it walking around as if it looked drunk, prior to it sitting down vertically on it's abdomen???

If it is indeed stuck in molt, you could try some sort of impact free means of helping it out by increasing the humidity. The only way I'd suggest, would be like a fogger, as to not disturb the Tarantula, by moving it or touching it at all. A fogger, however, might just give him the added humidity, he needs, to be able to finish or rather begin the molt.

If you don't see any signs of improvement immediately, don't despair. The general rule of thumb, is: as long as you're not seeing a death curl, and aren't smelly any funny smells, some spiders have gone literally MONTHS, without as much as budging, and may not be dead. Don't throw in the towel too early, and best wishes to you, and your spider.
 

Le Wasp

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 25, 2007
Messages
243
Le Wasp, how is your t?

Has he molted yet?
Sadly, he didn't pull through... He did the slow leg pumping for almost two days, but never even popped his carapace. If he had at least gotten that far, I may have been able to assist the molt a bit, but he didn't seem to even start the molt process successfully. It looked as if he was trying to start molting, but couldn't do it. I was keeping him warm and humid, but nothing really happened.

I'm not sure what happened, since he wasn't in my possession until recently, but my guess is that this was due to shipping him when he was ready to molt. He was upside-down in his container when I got him in the mail, but I assumed that was just from the jostling of shipping. The cold temperatures of shipping, plus the moving around may have been enough to screw up the molt entirely.
 

Le Wasp

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 25, 2007
Messages
243
This same thing happened with one of the Spiders I received. I later found out, that the day my wife stayed home to meet the Postwoman at the door, she never knocked on the back door, to deliver. Since it didn't require a signature, (my request, and I will never do THAT again), she just decided to literally HURL it over my back patio fence,(a good 10+ yards!), onto my porch...

The spider was QUITE plump, and what we believe happened, is that the jarring impact (regardless of the flawless packaging,) onto the back patio caused some sort of internal rupture. That spider, sadly didn't make it. I hope yours pulls through. Was it walking around as if it looked drunk, prior to it sitting down vertically on it's abdomen???

If it is indeed stuck in molt, you could try some sort of impact free means of helping it out by increasing the humidity. The only way I'd suggest, would be like a fogger, as to not disturb the Tarantula, by moving it or touching it at all. A fogger, however, might just give him the added humidity, he needs, to be able to finish or rather begin the molt.

If you don't see any signs of improvement immediately, don't despair. The general rule of thumb, is: as long as you're not seeing a death curl, and aren't smelly any funny smells, some spiders have gone literally MONTHS, without as much as budging, and may not be dead. Don't throw in the towel too early, and best wishes to you, and your spider.
Yikes! Sometimes I think post office workers must translate the word "fragile" to mean, "please throw this box at stuff."

Shipping damage might have done my spider in too. He was very very fat, so easily damageable. He was moving pretty slowly when I first got him into his enclosure, but I chalked that up to be from the cold temperatures of shipping. He may have just been damaged and couldn't walk very well.

I think the moral of this story is: don't ship obese spiders. They're either ready to molt or are overfed and fragile. Either way, shipping can do some serious harm in their condition.
 

pok2010

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 12, 2010
Messages
30
This same thing happened with one of the Spiders I received. I later found out, that the day my wife stayed home to meet the Postwoman at the door, she never knocked on the back door, to deliver. Since it didn't require a signature, (my request, and I will never do THAT again), she just decided to literally HURL it over my back patio fence,(a good 10+ yards!), onto my porch...

The spider was QUITE plump, and what we believe happened, is that the jarring impact (regardless of the flawless packaging,) onto the back patio caused some sort of internal rupture. That spider, sadly didn't make it. I hope yours pulls through. Was it walking around as if it looked drunk, prior to it sitting down vertically on it's abdomen???

If it is indeed stuck in molt, you could try some sort of impact free means of helping it out by increasing the humidity. The only way I'd suggest, would be like a fogger, as to not disturb the Tarantula, by moving it or touching it at all. A fogger, however, might just give him the added humidity, he needs, to be able to finish or rather begin the molt.

If you don't see any signs of improvement immediately, don't despair. The general rule of thumb, is: as long as you're not seeing a death curl, and aren't smelly any funny smells, some spiders have gone literally MONTHS, without as much as budging, and may not be dead. Don't throw in the towel too early, and best wishes to you, and your spider.
Please, if you no the person, or no off the person who ddid this, id like to take the time, to put this person in a box, then sling her 100yrds in the air, just to show her/him how it feels :mad: hope this person falls into a sewage pipe...

Sadly, he didn't pull through... He did the slow leg pumping for almost two days, but never even popped his carapace. If he had at least gotten that far, I may have been able to assist the molt a bit, but he didn't seem to even start the molt process successfully. It looked as if he was trying to start molting, but couldn't do it. I was keeping him warm and humid, but nothing really happened.

I'm not sure what happened, since he wasn't in my possession until recently, but my guess is that this was due to shipping him when he was ready to molt. He was upside-down in his container when I got him in the mail, but I assumed that was just from the jostling of shipping. The cold temperatures of shipping, plus the moving around may have been enough to screw up the molt entirely.
this sucks mate :(, hope you have better sucess in the near and far future my friend :)
 

Great Basin Ben

Arachnosquire
Joined
Oct 2, 2010
Messages
86
sorry about your loss. It sounds like you've definitely tried to take something positive away from this experience. I wish you the best of luck with your future T's.

To remedy the problem I had with my neglegent Post lady, I just started having everything sent to my work. It's a large Distribution Center , and USPS mail is delivered so much more effectively, safely, and quickly, that it should limit any future losses due to MY mail lady's rough handling...

All the best,
Ben.
 

phoenixxavierre

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 9, 2002
Messages
1,293
Sadly, he didn't pull through... He did the slow leg pumping for almost two days, but never even popped his carapace. If he had at least gotten that far, I may have been able to assist the molt a bit, but he didn't seem to even start the molt process successfully. It looked as if he was trying to start molting, but couldn't do it. I was keeping him warm and humid, but nothing really happened.

I'm not sure what happened, since he wasn't in my possession until recently, but my guess is that this was due to shipping him when he was ready to molt. He was upside-down in his container when I got him in the mail, but I assumed that was just from the jostling of shipping. The cold temperatures of shipping, plus the moving around may have been enough to screw up the molt entirely.
I'm very sorry to hear that. I've had similar experiences with t's in the past. Sometimes this happens even without rough mail carriers. Hard to know what caused the death. Yes, always better warm than freezing and well-packed than loosely packed (a tarantula with a fat abdomen can most definitely be injured easier than those who are skinnier). I've seen, incredibly, tarantulas with fat abdomens packed loosely make it through just fine. While others that were packed well didn't. So it's always a little bit of a crap-shoot. Again, sorry about your loss.
 
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