Pre-Molt?

codenamekitsune

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 4, 2021
Messages
16
I work at [PET STORE] part time. A couple days ago my co-workers asked me about the T. albo that we had in. Based on the abdomen, I suspected this little one might be in pre-molt, and advised them of as much. Today I decided to take them home so I could better monitor them (excuse to get another T, honestly). My question is, do you agree that this is pre-molt, or has this T just been so stressed that they've kicked this many hairs off their abdomen? I'm only about a year into the hobby, so I'd like to check my bases where possible.

TIA!


t albo.jpg
 

Smotzer

ArachnoGod
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Jan 17, 2020
Messages
5,275
House it properly regardless and time will be the great revealer. Plump enough that it doesn’t need to eat regardless.

it will molt when it’s ready to, likely not before that, until then wait.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
Can’t tell- certainly big enough could last days or months or more
 

Tarantuland

Arachnoprince
Joined
Mar 19, 2020
Messages
1,354
Premolt- looks like a dark bald spot. If it was just kicking hair and not getting closer to a molt, the area would be tan
 

NMTs

Spider Wrangler
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Jan 22, 2022
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1,331
Will molt soon. Keep it in a warm, quiet place with a portion of the substrate moist and water available to drink and I'll bet it molts within 10 days. I'm no Carnac the Magnificent, though...
 

Dorifto

He who moists xD
Joined
Aug 10, 2017
Messages
2,681
Looks like it's darkening, so keep it in a proper setup with a bit of moist substrate in one corner and leave it undisturbed.
 

codenamekitsune

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 4, 2021
Messages
16
Thanks for the input here everyone! Looks like the consensus is pre-molt. I'm keeping the enclosure nice and moist (well, part of it) and keeping the water dish full. Will keep an eye on this little one to see when the molt happens. Glad to have got it out of [PET STORE]. We generally do really well with the animals we have (I was pleasantly surprised upon starting there), but it seems like everyone is a bit spooked by the Ts so things get a little iffy with their husbandry. Thankfully, my co-workers are great and have listened to my tips.
 

codenamekitsune

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 4, 2021
Messages
16
Just wanted to update everyone to include the information that this little T. albo successfully molted a few days ago and is doing great! Still pretty small so I'm not going to try to sex, just into the exuviae jar it goes!
 
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