P. metallica ... went from molt every 1-2 months to nothing after 8.

[MJInsoCal]

Of my 11 tarantulas, this one is an odd ball. Wanted people's thoughts.

A P. metallica I purchased as a sling 1 1/5 years ago. Molt log is below... now 8 months.. no molt. Seems odd? Doesn't seem large enough to be an adult male. DLS maybe 4.5". I haven't seen it eaten in almost as long. I've put food items in there, varied them up, Mostly end up taking them out a few days later. Crickets, superworms, dubias, Abdomen looks fine, not shrunken. I'm not seeing emboli on pedipalps, but I'd be comparing to online pics, hardly experienced at that.



Day
1 7/12/2020 purchased Days Since Molt
43 8/23/2020 Molt 42
62 9/11/2020 Molt 19
107 10/26/2020 Molt 45
163 12/18/2020 Molt 56
204 1/28/2021 Molt 41
239 3/4/2021 Molt 35
317 5/21/2021 Molt 78

Now 242... days 8 months later.. no molt.


I'm wondering If someone is on a hunger strike here or ??

 

[viper69]

I'm wondering If someone is on a hunger strike here or ?

No hunger strikes for Ts


You don’t know if its eaten??

size looks fine from what I see, but any T can drop dead too.

They are a small species. Many species slow down as they reach full size.

One of my metallica has been “waiting” to molt for about 9 months, only 3 were winter months.

 

[AmbushArachnids]

Seems normal for that size. Females max out 5.5”-6” and 6” is a bit of a lie IME.

 

[jrh3]

I am starting to see more and more people post sac mate pictures where some of the slings are still at 2” leg span while the others have matured out all Poecilotheria species.

could be something with genetics to keep them from being to interbred because they all will mature at different ages forcing them to find other partners. Would be an interesting study.

 

[Crazyarachnoguy]

She looks fat to me, perhaps a molt in near.

 

[Smotzer]

It will molt when it’s ready, likely not before that

There’s no reason to worry about when it will be molting.

 

[viper69]

It will molt when it’s ready, likely not before that

There’s no reason to worry about when it will be molting.

Of there is need to worry, this is indicated by all the questions we get asked about this. In fact it's more important than if they breathe air or not. It's a serious issue that every T owner needs to CONSTANTLY ask, CONSTANTLY worry, and CONSTANTLY monitor 24/7 365. If they don't their T will die!!!

 

[Smotzer]

Of there is need to worry, this is indicated by all the questions we get asked about this. In fact it's more important than if they breathe air or not. It's a serious issue that every T owner needs to CONSTANTLY ask, CONSTANTLY worry, and CONSTANTLY monitor 24/7 365. If they don't their T will die!!!

Why you know, you are right? I am suddenly very very worried I think I need to check on them every hour on the hour from now on

 

[MJInsoCal]

I'm not worried.. as much as trying to learn more about the biology of these things and what determines molt timings, etc..

 

[l4nsky]

Hmmmm..... Can you confirm it's defecating? That's a pretty clean Pokie enclosure lol. Impaction is exceedingly rare and there's really nothing you can do to help, but it is an option.

If I had to guess, I'd say it's getting ready to molt into a mature male. Both of mine had a really long premolt period before their ultimate molt whereas my female had a more gradual buildup of time between molts. This makes sense to me as males are essentially creating entirely new body parts as opposed to just copying what they had before. Keep in mind this is just a guess based on personal experience and a small sample size though.