PDX_Tarantulas
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2007
- Messages
- 44
I have 4 B emilia young'ns. One of them had a problem moulting at about 1 1/2", one of the hind legs didn't come all the way out of the old skin so he lost that leg. He has moulted twice since then and the missing leg is coming back very nicely with no other problems moulting.
I dismissed this as a fluke until a different B emilia had the same problem, with 2 legs not coming out of the old skin. This time, he lost one leg (right side 2nd from the front) but another (right side front) was still attached to the old skin. By the time I saw what was happening, the new skin had already hardened and the leg with the skin on it appeared to be a pretty useless 'pegleg' from dragging the skin around and was sticking straight out and towards the back of the spider. I 'helped' the spider detach the leg from the old skin and it has loosened up a little since that happened and the spider seems to have some use of it and is eating crickets just fine. I don't think there is going to be any lasting problem with it, but is it normal for this to happen with such frequency? Seems the moulting should be really smooth but I've had 2 of my 4 B emilia's have this problem in a couple months. Am I doing something wrong? I have 4 B Emilias and 1 B Smithi and each has moulted 3 times for a total of 15 moults since I've had them with two of the moults occurring with the problems described.
Thanks! CDB
I dismissed this as a fluke until a different B emilia had the same problem, with 2 legs not coming out of the old skin. This time, he lost one leg (right side 2nd from the front) but another (right side front) was still attached to the old skin. By the time I saw what was happening, the new skin had already hardened and the leg with the skin on it appeared to be a pretty useless 'pegleg' from dragging the skin around and was sticking straight out and towards the back of the spider. I 'helped' the spider detach the leg from the old skin and it has loosened up a little since that happened and the spider seems to have some use of it and is eating crickets just fine. I don't think there is going to be any lasting problem with it, but is it normal for this to happen with such frequency? Seems the moulting should be really smooth but I've had 2 of my 4 B emilia's have this problem in a couple months. Am I doing something wrong? I have 4 B Emilias and 1 B Smithi and each has moulted 3 times for a total of 15 moults since I've had them with two of the moults occurring with the problems described.
Thanks! CDB