newbie question on molts.

[trapieter]

hiya,
I'm jojo and my hubby has recently got two new T'S a salmon pink L.PARAHYBANA? lol we call him boris da bana h's about 3" and a sling p.murinus usambara red baboon not an inch yet.

my question are mostly about boris da bana coz we were told he is about to shed soon and although we have seen some footage of sheds and read a bit .. we don't know much about the signs to look out for .. I mean am I just gona wake up one mornining with him on his back or even upright looking dead? how do I know it's going well?

also haven't found a good caresheet for this species, if their is one on this site can you pste the link in.. I haven't worked my way around it yet or advice would be good. he has a little plant pot hide and some bark too about 2 inch of substrate and we've been misting to keep it humid we are gonna block up some of the vents to help with that too. lol our p.murinus has the oposite prob with humidity :?

anyway all help appreciated just like to be prepared.

jojo xx

 

[bluetubegroove]

hiya,
I'm jojo and my hubby has recently got two new T'S a salmon pink L.PARAHYBANA? lol we call him boris da bana h's about 3" and a sling p.murinus usambara red baboon not an inch yet.

my question are mostly about boris da bana coz we were told he is about to shed soon and although we have seen some footage of sheds and read a bit .. we don't know much about the signs to look out for .. I mean am I just gona wake up one mornining with him on his back or even upright looking dead? how do I know it's going well?

also haven't found a good caresheet for this species, if their is one on this site can you pste the link in.. I haven't worked my way around it yet or advice would be good. he has a little plant pot hide and some bark too about 2 inch of substrate and we've been misting to keep it humid we are gonna block up some of the vents to help with that too. lol our p.murinus has the oposite prob with humidity :?

anyway all help appreciated just like to be prepared.

jojo xx

I'm sort of the noob but i'll try me hardest. They'll stop eating for a while and might show more defensive traits than usuall. They'll get on their back ( Some I beleive will spin " Beds to molt on. ) or side, And look as if their severly intoxicated ( little humor. ) The molt will last from a few to several hours, depending on the size and maturity of the spider? Hope it helps man, And I salute you for taking on a baboon before you know much. :worship:

 

[Derek W.]

First of all, welcome to the boards, and it's good that you are asking this question now instead of posting some horrific molt accident question later lol.

The signs of an impending molt in a new world species like your Lasiodora parahybana are a black looking abdomen(which can only be seen if there is a bald spot where urticating hairs used to be), and refusal of food for an extended period of time (wont be very long though if it is a sling), and the building of a small web molting mat. It may molt upright or on its back and either way is fine. Afterwards it's gonna curl up and rest, IT IS NOT DEAD, just exhausted and resting. Dont feed it for about a week afterwards, because it needs time to let it's new exoskeleton to harden. A good way to check if it is hardened is to try and see if the fangs have turned black.

If all goes well you should never have to intervene with a molt. The best thing you can do is keep lots of water available before the molt because hydration is very important.

As for the care of Lasiodora parahybana. Keep them like you would keep pretty much any terrestrial T. I personally give them a little more room than i would other terrestrials because if they have room to run away from me while i am trying to do something with the cage it avoids confrontation. While they are tiny slings they get most of their water from food and i just mist the sides of the tank occasional so they can drink from droplets and to keep the humidity up a bit. Give them something deep enough with enough substrate to build a small burrow because some of them will do that.

Also when you have a question like this, try using the search thing, since you can probably find tons of other good threads on molting and L. parahybanas.

and i just realized you said your L.parahybana is 3 inches, so i would give it more than 2 inches of substrate, the wood isnt really necessary if you think it could potentially have a fall from it, the hide is good

 

[trapieter]

thank you both for your replies I fee l alot better now he is still eating but has a bold abdomen but it is not yet black so still got some time by the sounds of it.

bluetube said "They'll get on their back ( Some I beleive will spin " Beds to molt on. ) " when I first read this I seen the quote mark and saw it as an end of sentance... I started to imagine my boris da bana spinning on his back like a ninja turtle lmao got ya now though lol
and thanks for the salute but I just think my hubby is crazy lol ;P I would of prefered an a. versicolor

the piece of wood is not large its bark really just placed in the corner like a hiding place.

ps. do any of you guys really pick your T's up to sex them?? I know some are ok to handle but with our fellows? I'd like to know but lol .. think you know where I'm going with this...

cheers

jojo xx

 

[julesaussies]

ps. do any of you guys really pick your T's up to sex them?? I know some are ok to handle but with our fellows? I'd like to know but lol .. think you know where I'm going with this...

cheers

jojo xx

i have 5 OBT's (P. murinus) and wouldn't dare pick them up in an attempt to sex them or any other reason. i recently sexed two as female from their exo's. i would recomend waiting until a molt which won't be a while for your OBT as it's too tiny right now but they do grow fast. As far as your L. parahybana, i am not very familiar with this species as far as ventral sexing is concerned. i know with some of my larger T's i can usually get a good look at them once in a while if they stand on the side of their enclosure. i guess that is just luck with timing since it doesn't happen real often but i always have a flashlight near by for a good look.

 

[AubZ]

Para Molt

Hi there, Your Boris sounds about the same size as mine. When I first got mine, the abdomen was a very smooth black. There were still hairs all over though. But All I can say is that when you see it you know it. Mine had a very shiny abdomen. The first pic here is not that visible (shiny). Just hought I would show you a b4 and after. Njoy.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

hiya, we've been misting to keep it humid we are gonna block up some of the vents to help with that too.

DO NOT DO THIS. Poor ventilation and high humidity is a surefire way to get a mold outbreak in the cage. L. parahybana is perfectly fine being kept dry, so long as they have a nice big water dish to drink from. You might want to pour some water into the substrate (wet dirt, not mud) and see if the tarantula shows any preference for sitting where the dirt is wet. But even if you do this regularly, you absolutely have to let the dirt dry out between waterings, or again, mold.

You don't need a caresheet, most caresheets are nonsense. Keep between 65-85F (I don't know what that is in C, but generally, "if you're comfortable so is the spider"), water it like I said in the last paragraph, feed it 2-4 crickets or whatever a week, and you're fine.

Whatever you do, do not touch, mess with, or otherwise let it be bothered if it's molting. Don't let there be any crickets in there, either--anything not eaten in 24 hours needs to be removed, or it'll chew on the spider during the molt. (And with this species, anything not eaten on sight is a pretty good indicator of premolt. ) It's pretty obvious, yeah, what with spinning their little web mat and then flipping over on it. I'd wait at least a week, maybe two after a molt for a spider that size before offering food again. Just make VERY sure it has plenty of water.

EDIT: Sometimes a tarantula will molt sideways or upright or in some other weird position, but please don't be "that noob" that reached in to try and reposition the tarantula "properly." The tarantula knows what it needs to be doing 99.99% of the time, and humans don't.

...and isn't P. murinus another dry species? :?

 

[trapieter]

:clap: very good idea, next time boris goes on the glass to show us the remains of his meal lol I'll have a look to see if I can sex him or her... now we've given a male name you know it will be a girl lol. But yea we don't wanrt to be picking these up

the pics .. he looks bigger than ours. is that a L.bana aswell? ours is a different colour I'll try put a pick of ours on soon. But thanks for the visual. The abdomen is smooth and bold at the moment so we know he she be going for it soonish.

we were misting the terranium but it dried up real quick(within hours) which is why we blocked up some of the vents... the whole lid is vented. it still has good ventilation but just not all over. I'll see how the humidity holds, if it's too high we'll open some more up again. I'll also be checking for mold, I know how dangerous this can be by keeping live feeders so try to prevent it.

We were told to keep the p.murinus moist? also as it's a sling it's too small for a water dish so it takes water off the sides right? if it is meant to be dryer again I'll see what we can do although we have noticed that the side he is burrowing and webbing on is the dryer end of the set up. any ideas on drying it up a little? we did put more ventilation holes in and tried putting the heat up but still high humidity. I don't want to rehome him again but I think we may have to put him in a higher container. he's eating well.

thanks again

jojo xx

 

[AubZ]

Yes that is L Parahybana. The 1st pic a coupledays b4 molt, the 2nd about a week after. I would roughly estimate mine at about 3-4 in. Pics can be deceiving if no ruler is provided for meaurement. With my setup, the lid has holes all over. I spray the subs twice a week and all is well. I would rather have the ventilation than not. Just keep a full water dish.
As for your P murinus, sorry but I have no experience with them. But yes it will drink from the sides. Maybe just lighty mist twice a week.

 

[trapieter]

yea I was looking at yours and noticed how black it was compared to mine but I saw some pics on here in the gallerry and I think he will prob blacken on the next molt yea I will probably re open the ventilation later on today when hubby gets home lol he's a bit of a nippy bugger up the sides