Possible length of premoult period.

[Ross Nation]

Hi all, me again.

Having now sorted a good and suitable for my B. Bohemi thanks to the help of many people on this forum site. Many have pointed out my T looks to be in premolt.

My question of course is roughly how long does the premolt period last? Understanding of course it’ll vary between species and subspecies.

I’m only concerned as it hasn’t eaten for a nearly 3 weeks, it has had a full water dish the entire time which I’ve seen it drinking from every now and again, I am also aware this could just be a tarantula doing it’s tarantula thing and still acclimating to its new surroundings as between now and when I received it 3 weeks ago it has had 2 enclosures.

Signs so far of possible molt are;

1) abdomen has gone very bold with signs of darkening (beige in colour)

2) not eating and either flicking hairs or backing away from any attempt at feeding

3) the orange on the legs has really gone white and looks almost like plastic straws and the carapace has black spots instead of full orange.

4) abdomen looks to be on the larger side.


Attached are a couple of pictures between arrival and now.

Cheers, Ross.

 

[ghostly]

Especially with very slow growing species like B. boehmei, I feel like it's almost impossible to make a prediction. There's so many factors this depends on, such as temperature (higher temperatures tend to speed all metabolic processes up), and there are also individual differences. Some Ts will stop eating days before a molt, others will fast for months.
I think there's a good chance your T is actually in premolt (although, yes, probably just tarantula doing tarantula stuff), but if the abdomen is not black and shiny and looking like a tick yet, a molt most probably won't happen within the next few days. I'd probably give it a few more weeks. Watch out for changes in behavior (getting lethargic, possibly hiding more, making a little "web carpet" for itself to lie on,...).

 

[The Grym Reaper]

My question of course is roughly how long does the premolt period last?

No-one can tell you this, it could be weeks or months.

Signs so far of possible molt are;

1) abdomen has gone very bold

Balding is not a sign of pre-moult, it just makes it easier to see when the tarantula is in heavy pre-moult, when your tarantula's abdomen resembles the 3rd pic in the image below it will be close to moulting.

 

[Ross Nation]

Cheers guys, I’ll keep an eye on it over the coming weeks and see what happens. Ross.

 

[Vanisher]

Yes, immpossible as stated. It depends on speicies, gender (this is debateble) size of the tarantula and how much it is fed during moultcycle. A heavily fed tarantula tend to stay in premoult for longer period than a less fed tarantula! And also there are individual diffrences.

 

[Ross Nation]

Hi all,

I kept an eye on the T with no change in behaviour or colouration and as I’m worried as I have had the T nearly a month with no food, I pre killed a roach and left in the enclosure whilst at work and came home to two boluses in the enclosure. I would presume that roach became lunch so I gave it another pre killed roach tonight and found it enjoying its dinner.

I am aware tarantulas are hunters and need live prey but as this current moment whilst observing its behaviours I want to keep the feeding stress down for the time being should the T eat normally I plan to move to living food in a couple of weeks.

Please note that after the roaches are killed they’re immediately put in with the tarantula so they’re as fresh as possible and the prey item twitches allowing the T to sense movement and then eat on its own premonition.

Cheers for all the advise, happy tarantula keeping to all.

Cheers, Ross.

 

[Tuisto]

Hi all,

I kept an eye on the T with no change in behaviour or colouration and as I’m worried as I have had the T nearly a month with no food, I pre killed a roach and left in the enclosure whilst at work and came home to two boluses in the enclosure. I would presume that roach became lunch so I gave it another pre killed roach tonight and found it enjoying its dinner.

I am aware tarantulas are hunters and need live prey but as this current moment whilst observing its behaviours I want to keep the feeding stress down for the time being should the T eat normally I plan to move to living food in a couple of weeks.

Please note that after the roaches are killed they’re immediately put in with the tarantula so they’re as fresh as possible and the prey item twitches allowing the T to sense movement and then eat on its own premonition.

Cheers for all the advise, happy tarantula keeping to all.

Cheers, Ross.

Some Ts have no qualms taking dead prey, you're not doing anything wrong by that one.
For tiny slings its pretty much essential unless you have nymphs or nutrition-lacking wingless fruit flies on hand.