Ralph The Mexican Redknee

[mohwa07]

Hello everyone . Okie so this is the official thread dedicated to my approximately five-month-old Brachypelma smithi, Ralph(of course, appropriate posts to Tarantula Questions and Discussions and maybe some pix too hehe).

Ralph successfully molted into a much huger Ralph on the morning of Sunday, March 25 2007 and this is his third molt. My problem is that his carapace and abdomen are very low to the ground, as if his legs can't support it. I'm wondering if they endured some sort of injury while molting? The shed skin itself is in a rather peculiar shape, with the legs kind of bunched together upwards, toes pointing skyward, knees bent. I can't imagine that was comfortable.

I tried attaching pix of the molts, but it's not working.. Hmm okies . So any suggestions..?
Thanks!

 

[Talkenlate04]

Very normal. It cant stand like normal for a while cause the bigger they get the more time they need to let their new body harden up. Dont be suprised if you see him stretching out like a Pokie all flat and 4 legs forward 4 legs back flush with the ground. He should be fine though. Just dont handle or feed for a few weeks and make sure he has water if he wants it. Id say offer something to eat in like 10 days or so, if he eats good if not remove the prey and try again in three days or so.

 

[kristal_kaos]

Hi, my redknee molted the sunday b4 urs did, lol...I just fed him a cricket today and he ate it up really fast. I noticed he did the stretching too and got into a lot of weird positions as he hardened up...u will prolly notice that his teeth are pink/red too, thats ok! I freaked out n then realized that they get black when they harden up and that was a sign that it is ready to eat i think.,

 

[Thoth]

How big is he? Third molt is not really telling us anything in terms of size. As ts get bigger it takes them longer to recover post molt. My largers ts (5+ inches legspan) might take several weeks before they are completely back to normal. Its nothing to worry about, just make sure it has water dish available.

 

[mohwa07]

On the wall??

Why is my tarantula on to the wall of his enclosure? And it's not just one wall, it's equal-opportunity scaling here, he alternates between walls. Sometimes he's on his peat moss bedding in the normal tarantuloid position, and then I come back and he's on the wall!! (for example. before school he's looking very innocent, sitting on the ground and I come home and there he is on the wall like, "Say something :|.")

The reason Im worried about this is that he only did it like once when he was uber little and now he's like 2 inches and he's been doing this about a week. I am concerned that he may fall, and hurt himself. And also, is it an indication of something being wrong..? Is this his way of asking for a bigger cage or new bedding or a little punk rock CD or something?

thanks!!

 

[Talkenlate04]

Is the substrate you have in there wet?
If thats not it are there mites?
If thats not it is it to hot?
If thats not it, congradulations you have a tarantula. Just make sure the substrate is high enough so if he falls its not a long fall. Ya dont want him to get hurt.

 

[kyrga]

I love the name!

 

[Amanda]

I've found that all my terrestrial Ts spend a bit of time on the walls after a molt. It always just looks like extra stretching to me.

Edit: I had a goldfish named Ralph. He shared a tank with Ed and Roxanne. Coincidentally, I stole the name 'Roxanne' from the deceased goldfish to crown my first B. smithi. It seemed an appropriate name.

 

[Mustacherose]

Hi, my redknee molted the sunday b4 urs did, lol...I just fed him a cricket today and he ate it up really fast. I noticed he did the stretching too and got into a lot of weird positions as he hardened up...u will prolly notice that his teeth are pink/red too, thats ok! I freaked out n then realized that they get black when they harden up and that was a sign that it is ready to eat i think.,

Not necessarily, if I remember, tarantulas shed a part of their digestive system (or something on the inside, i forget what) and just because their fangs are hardened doesn't mean they're ready to accept food