Need Molting Advise Asap!!!

raiderbaby17

Arachnopeon
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Oct 10, 2006
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14
I have a B. Boehmei that I've had since October. I'm fairly certain that it's female and about 10 years old due to her size. She's just finished molting for the first time since I've had her. Here's my delima....she is having trouble turning over by herself...should I help her?
 

guitarlust

Arachnosquire
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Dec 14, 2005
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112
no, give her some time and allow her to turn herself over. personally, if its been a several hours after molting i would think about helping her, but as of now i would just keep an eye on her and try not to disturb her at all. hope this helps.
 

raiderbaby17

Arachnopeon
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Oct 10, 2006
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Thanks! It's only been about half an hour since she came all the way out. I'll wait a bit.
 

guitarlust

Arachnosquire
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Dec 14, 2005
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yeah, half hour i'd definitely wait. my g. aureo took about an hour before it finally flipped back over. my g. rosea is beginning to molt at this moment and who knows how long it'll take for her to flip back over. not disturbing it is the key.
 

raiderbaby17

Arachnopeon
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Oct 10, 2006
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She had finally turned over on her own and she is absolutely beautiful. Thanks for your help!!
 

Cirith Ungol

Ministry of Fluffy Bunnies
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You should never touch a newly moulted T. If they freak out anything can happen and at that stage they're extremely easily injured. You never need to think about turning a T over ever, neither pre- nor post-moult they can do that by themselves and when they think the time has come. And sometimes they don't even flip to their backs when they wanna moult, doesn't matter though, even then they should do fine.

Congrats on the moult I hope you could observe it ;)
 

Mina

Arachnoking
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Oct 4, 2005
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Good, I'm gald she is okay. She was probably just tired and resting. Moulting takes a lot of energy, and they don't always flip right over agian. Sometimes, some of my bigger ones just lay there and rest and stretch their legs.
 

raiderbaby17

Arachnopeon
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Oct 10, 2006
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Because she's so big, I was worried she would suffocate or something. How long should I wait before removing the molt?
 

green_bottle_04

Arachnobaron
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Dec 4, 2006
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id wait at least 3-4 days. some might say that over kill but better safe than sorry. give her enough time to totally harden up and bring her stress level down a bit.
 

bonesmama

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Sep 28, 2004
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Because she's so big, I was worried she would suffocate or something. How long should I wait before removing the molt?
The book lungs are located on the underside of the abdomen- so there's no way she could suffocate. As for removing the molt- some T's like to "hug" their old exo's after they molt.... I always wait until the T has moved away from the molt (don't forget how fragile they are at this time)
 

spid142

Arachnobaron
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Apr 9, 2006
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492
waiting time

A larger T than a sling or juvie can take up to a couple hours to right themselves after a molt. Unless its been an excessively long time, they'll come out of it by themselves. And remmeber they are fragile for up to a week after.
 

guitarlust

Arachnosquire
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Dec 14, 2005
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You should never touch a newly moulted T. If they freak out anything can happen and at that stage they're extremely easily injured. You never need to think about turning a T over ever, neither pre- nor post-moult they can do that by themselves and when they think the time has come.
not going to explain myself for why i said what i did, but if someone takes action when i mentioned the word "personally" needs to evaluate what i said. i take no responsibility for any action taken by someone when i say what i would do personally. they take the action at their own risk.
 

Cirith Ungol

Ministry of Fluffy Bunnies
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not going to explain myself for why i said what i did, but if someone takes action when i mentioned the word "personally" needs to evaluate what i said. i take no responsibility for any action taken by someone when i say what i would do personally. they take the action at their own risk.
Indeed, and I'm not waiting for an explanation. ;)
Just to take it a step further in regard to explaining it myself though - If a T is unable to right itself after a moult, lets say even days after, it's proberbly half dead already and will die later and no turning will be of any help anyway. That's the good and the bad thing with T's: They're tough enough to live their own lives undisturbed as long as we provide the living conditions, but if they're not able to live we can hardly do anything about it.
 

guitarlust

Arachnosquire
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Just to take it a step further in regard to explaining it myself though - If a T is unable to right itself after a moult, lets say even days after, it's proberbly half dead already and will die later and no turning will be of any help anyway. That's the good and the bad thing with T's: They're tough enough to live their own lives undisturbed as long as we provide the living conditions, but if they're not able to live we can hardly do anything about it.
i agree with you completely about the hardiness of Ts.
 

funnylori

Arachnobaron
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Apr 27, 2006
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Congrats on the successful molt!

I learned the hard way with my first two tarantulas that a lot of things are bad, and touching after molting was one of them. My roomate didn't like seeing the tarantula on my desk and so she moved her to the floor... The poor girl didn't last a month after that.

My adult female rose hair took more than 6 hours after completing her last molt before she flipped herself over. Now she is fat with eggs and due to lay any day now. I allways remind myself just give them time.

As for grabbing the exuvia, for me it depends on where it is located in the enclosure in relation to the tarantula. If it is in a hidey-hole, the webbed nest, or burrow where the tarantula is at, I wont risk the disturbance. Nor will I disturb the tarantula if it is still white, in a cage that makes noise or requires more than two hands to open with out moving or has snapping lids. But, if the exuvia is out in the open, in a easy to remove place and the lid glides off the tank, AND is no where near the tarantula; I will attempt to pull it out. (This is a very rare occasion) However, if the exuvia or myself could possibly disturb or touch the tarantula in any way during the attempt I will abort the mission and wait a few days. It doesn't matter if the exuvia survives if the tarantula gets hurt.

I totaly believe that the less intervention on my part the better off my tarantulas are. They get food, water, and warmth from me; they do the rest themselves, and they do it well. :)
 

guitarlust

Arachnosquire
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Dec 14, 2005
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with all this talk of not disturbing a tarantula after molting i got to thinking about the tarantula out in the wild. given the fact that the T is out in the wild the chances of it being disturbed are pretty good. i can understand about helping the T flip over as being out of the question, but as to going so far and not even making the slightest movement is a little extreme. since when did disturbing a T affect its life? my T sits on my dresser and it is not in an area that is disturbance-free. i'm always opening the drawers, etc. what outcome could this have on the T? it molted successfully and all that jazz.
 

Cirith Ungol

Ministry of Fluffy Bunnies
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Dec 22, 2004
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Well, the thing is that the T in question isn't in nature. It's in your home in a tank, you payed for it, you're attached to it and you're at least trying to take care of it. Poking about arround a newly moulted, ***domesticated*** T isn't very responsible, isn't cheap, isn't very considerate when considering the circumstances.

In nature one can expect one of 2000 to make it to adulthood (just using a wild number, not statistics). If you'd have the same sucess rate as a keeper you should be put to prison or be seriously educated regarding T keeping.

Nothing above is directed at you or anyone in particular.
 
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