MySpiderJake
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2016
- Messages
- 5
Im starting off with as much detailed background as possible but i listed my questions at the end if it is easier to skip ahead. So... I am fairly new to keeping T's and from the start everything has gone swimmingly until yesterday i feel awful and am willing to do anything to fix the situation if its possible. I was doing my daily check-up on my slings and I found that my ~half inch E. species red had a bad molt sometime during the past 72 hours (he likes to burrow so I don't get to see him every day).
His chelicerae and pedipalps are still stuck in his molt. Since he was up and walking around dragging the molt it was obvious he felt finished with the molt. Using the moistened tip of a paintbrush I tried to see if it would slide off easily or if I could moisten it enough for him to slide it off. No such luck. I tried raising the humidity by dampening the soil as much as possible without making it too damp and warming his cup a bit. Well it's been roughly a day and a half since I did this and there's no improvement. It seems stuck tight like a rubber band. He managed to pull away the rest of the molt aside from what is stuck. I can't tell if this was a freak accident or the most common cause low humidity. His soil seemed a bit (not completely) dry but I didn't want to flood him when he was underground in his tiny cup. And also there were plenty of condensation drops on the lid so I figured the humidity was fine (I obviously may have been wrong). I've tried my best to find answers to these questions so I'm sorry if they're repetitive but these are my questions:
1: Should I be attempting to remove the remaining molt at this point? He is so small I don't want to hurt him. I know they can regrow pedipalps and chelicerae but I don't think it would be helpful to accidentally damage them further or accidentally pull them off.
2. I'm pretty certain it is impossible for him to eat normally on his own in this condition. Should I try giving him a tiny food item and seeing if he can manage or go straight to liquifying food to get him through?
3. Upon next molt assuming he gets there, if I don't remove the current stuck molt, will it be even harder for him to have a successful molt because it seems so tight or could it still slide out normally?
4. My current plan is to not continue attempting to remove the molt as I don't want to pull off his pedipalps/chelicerae. Keep him warm and the humidity high. Offer him liquified crickets/dubias/red runners every few days. Does this seem viable?
Any and all advice is welcome! I care a great deal about my tarantulas and am horrified that this happened
His chelicerae and pedipalps are still stuck in his molt. Since he was up and walking around dragging the molt it was obvious he felt finished with the molt. Using the moistened tip of a paintbrush I tried to see if it would slide off easily or if I could moisten it enough for him to slide it off. No such luck. I tried raising the humidity by dampening the soil as much as possible without making it too damp and warming his cup a bit. Well it's been roughly a day and a half since I did this and there's no improvement. It seems stuck tight like a rubber band. He managed to pull away the rest of the molt aside from what is stuck. I can't tell if this was a freak accident or the most common cause low humidity. His soil seemed a bit (not completely) dry but I didn't want to flood him when he was underground in his tiny cup. And also there were plenty of condensation drops on the lid so I figured the humidity was fine (I obviously may have been wrong). I've tried my best to find answers to these questions so I'm sorry if they're repetitive but these are my questions:
1: Should I be attempting to remove the remaining molt at this point? He is so small I don't want to hurt him. I know they can regrow pedipalps and chelicerae but I don't think it would be helpful to accidentally damage them further or accidentally pull them off.
2. I'm pretty certain it is impossible for him to eat normally on his own in this condition. Should I try giving him a tiny food item and seeing if he can manage or go straight to liquifying food to get him through?
3. Upon next molt assuming he gets there, if I don't remove the current stuck molt, will it be even harder for him to have a successful molt because it seems so tight or could it still slide out normally?
4. My current plan is to not continue attempting to remove the molt as I don't want to pull off his pedipalps/chelicerae. Keep him warm and the humidity high. Offer him liquified crickets/dubias/red runners every few days. Does this seem viable?
Any and all advice is welcome! I care a great deal about my tarantulas and am horrified that this happened