So... Pre molt again?

[Veribug]

Hi guys

Hopefully this should be a quick question. I have a B albopilosum sold to me as a juvenile. She molted once in my care and emerged from that on May 14th I believe.

Been feeding her once a week with a nice big cricket and she's been readily taking them. Fast forward to just a few days ago (around the 23rd Aug) and she's sealed her burrow off again.

Now this isn't a worrisome question of "oh no! what's my T doing?" this is just me trying to learn more about frequency of molts. Is it possible she could be in pre molt again? I would estimate it's been about 3.5months since the last molt, maybe 3 months 3 weeks. It's always hard to track down frequency of molts in particular species especially with so many variants with regard to temp and feeding so I'm really asking people to draw from their own experiences with curly hairs.

She didn't exhibit a black shiny abdomen the last time she molted and she's not showing one this time either.

Just curious, basically. Thanks!

P.S. No idea on what the DLS is really, I'd estimate 3 inches and I don't know how big these ones grow!

 

[Venom1080]

probably.

 

[Veribug]

probably.

Pretty much the answer I was expecting haha. Thanks

 

[viper69]

Pretty much the answer I was expecting haha. Thanks

Juvi doesn't tell us size at all. What size is it? If it's 4" DLS, then no. If it's 2" DLS could be hah.

 

[Vanessa]

Three months is definitely reasonable. My G. pulchripes female, who went into her hide about 3-3.5" and hasn't come out yet, has just moulted. Her last moult was around three months ago and I feed her one or two medium/large crickets twice a week.

 

[Veribug]

Juvi doesn't tell us size at all. What size is it? If it's 4" DLS, then no. If it's 2" DLS could be hah.

P.S. No idea on what the DLS is really, I'd estimate 3 inches and I don't know how big these ones grow!

(I wouldn't say it's 4 inches at all, my estimation is pretty close, 2.5-3" would be the best range)

 

[DeanK]

When I got my albo it was around 2" it molted about a week after I got it and then molted again almost a month later. So it's definitely possible that it's in premolt imo

 

[Veribug]

Three months is definitely reasonable. My G. pulchripes female, who went into her hid about 3-3.5" and hasn't come out yet, has just moulted. Her last moult was around three months ago and I feed her one or two medium/large crickets twice a week.

When I got my albo it was around 2" it molted about a week after I got it and then molted again almost a month later. So it's definitely possible that it's in premolt imo

Thank you both!

 

[Ziad ElGuneid]

It depends How large her abdomen is. when i first got my T stirmi that was just over 6 inches i was fascinated by her feeding response and i unfortunately over fed her. she was very skinny when i got her and seemed to be recently molted and after a good few roaches in a short perioud of time, maybe 5 weeks she stopped eating for 4 months without being in premolt, her abdomen was very light in colour, she then entered premolt and turned into a giant grape and molted not too long after. So your tarantula might not be in premolt but she has had enough food to see her through the next molt and is probably avoiding unneccesary risk by hiding out till she's ready to molt.

 

[Veribug]

It depends How large her abdomen is. when i first got my T stirmi that was just over 6 inches i was fascinated by her feeding response and i unfortunately over fed her. she was very skinny when i got her and seemed to be recently molted and after a good few roaches in a short perioud of time, maybe 5 weeks she stopped eating for 4 months without being in premolt, her abdomen was very light in colour, she then entered premolt and turned into a giant grape and molted not too long after. So your tarantula might not be in premolt but she has had enough food to see her through the next molt and is probably avoiding unneccesary risk by hiding out till she's ready to molt.

Good point. She threw me off last time because she had absolutely no appearance of pre molt before holing herself up for a month and coming out very clearly molted. She does poke herself out occasionally (she has two burrow entrances, don't ask me why, she pokes herself out of the unblocked one) and she did eat a cricket but I'm still uncertain. She was pretty aggressive with crickets before she holed herself up last time, so who knows?
I'm pretty consistent with her feeding schedule but wouldn't say she was particularly overfed... however considering she's not that large (at the one time she's showed herself I'd say she's actually 2-2.5inches DLS) it's hard to tell proportionally how chubby she is. But I'm pretty sure I've seen chubbier.
She has blocked the other entrance up even more since the last time I saw her. I'm really not sure what she's up to :') she seems happy enough making a mess, though.

 

[REEFSPIDER]

My brachypelma vagans will exhibit this behavior when it has had enough food, prior to its most recent molt I hadn't seen it in about 3 months. It had a tiny bald spot and it was very light colored when he burrowed down, and he didn't feed again until after he molted.