question about book lungs

[damien00016]

i have a brachy that just molted this past friday. shes a big mature female. not sure how old she is because i acquired her early this year but with this past molt she is easily 5 inches plus. yesterday i noticed that a small portion of her exoskeleton was still attached to the underside of her abdomen. this portion encompassed one of her book lungs. all other portions of her body appeared to have molted out successfully. a few minutes ago i carefully coaxed her onto a 6x6 inch piece of eggcrate then placed a shallow plastic dish lined with paper towels over her body. this allowed me to remove her from the enclosure, flip her on her back without risk of injury and examine her book lungs. i was able to remove all visible portions of exoskeleton and was relieved to see that no other portion of her underside appears effected by the bad molt. i placed her back in her enclosure and she moved back into her burrow with very minimal coaxing on my part. overall she appears fine.
that being said, i know that there must be a portion of exoskeleton located in the recessed area of the book lung that i was unable to remove as doing so would undoubtedly been far too stressful to the tarantula. my question is do tarantulas need both book lungs or is it possible for them to survive with one blocked by exoskeleton? secondly, i've read on several sites that a leg that fails to molt out should be amputated so that the next molt is not also impaired and the effected leg will start to grow back. since this option is certainly not feasible in this case, what can be done to ensure that her next molt will not be impaired by the portion of exoskeleton still attached in the recessed area of the book lung? i have a feeling that this is one of those let nature take its course instances but if anyone has had a similar case i would really appreciate your experience and advice.

 

[jayefbe]

Does the outside of the book lung look normal? Did you get the white portion of the molt (corresponding with the book lung) off when you removed the part that was stuck? If you're unsure, you can always post pictures.

This site has good images for reference:
http://milehighbugclub.com/Methods for Sexing Tarantulas.htm

My guess is that the tarantula is completely fine. If it looks ok, I'd bet that it is. Sometimes part of a molt will remain attached to the abdomen, but it usually comes off very easily and I've never heard of it being a problem.

 

[damien00016]

i couldn't say for sure if i got the white part off of the covered book lung as i was only able to pluck off the exoskeleton in small brittle pieces. i know that the white portion of the unaffected book lung came away with molt that was not stuck to her.

just out of curiosity, does anyone know if tarantulas need both book lungs or can they survive with only one? four years ago i had chest pains that lasted 6 months off and on that turned out to be a collapsed lung. unfortunately it's just something that happens to tall lanky people sometimes. it's not a direct analogy because mammalian anatomy is vastly different from arachnid but i know that i sure wasnt feeling my best for those 6 months only working with one lung at full capacity.

 

[Anansis]

Tarantulas have 4 booklungs so even if one was blocked til the next molt, her capacity would only be reduced by 25%. Given the sedentary lifestyle of most tarantulas, I wouldn't worry.

 

[Fins]

Agreed. I wouldn't worry. My P. parvula had a terrible molt right after I got her. The exuvium still covered her abdomen. I wasn't able to completely clear all of it from her book lungs. That was several months ago and she is eating like a pig and very active, for a tarantula.