Spot on G.Rosea (F) Abdomen

[SouthernStyle]

My Fiance' pointed this out to me and I thought I would gather a bit of info on it rather than jumping to too many conclusions. My Female G.Rosea (she's about 5" or so) has a Very strangely colored spot on her abdomen, and I was curious to find out what ya'll thought it could be, it looks almost like the hair has come off at some point, and its much darker than the rest of her abdomen...SO here's a couple pix of it (4 to be exact)....Lemme know whatcha think!

 

[cheetah13mo]

The dark spot is actually her skin and it looks like she's not far away from molt. the brown color around the dark spot is a the urticating hair that she has not needed to rub off. After a while, it does flake off because movement loosens it up.

 

[SouthernStyle]

The dark spot is actually her skin and it looks like she's not far away from molt. the brown color around the dark spot is a the urticating hair that she has not needed to rub off. After a while, it does flake off because movement loosens it up.

So I'm looking at her potentially molting here in the next few weeks then basically?

 

[cheetah13mo]

An adult rosea can be in premolt for a few months easy. When was the last time she ate?

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Mine's about that size and was just in premolt for about six months from the first time it refused to eat.

That spot is urticating hairs/mirror patch. They're the itchy hairs that get kicked off when a T's feeling cranky, though sometimes they do shed a little or line their webs/dirt with it. You can tell a molt is coming up when their skin darkens. Having a bald spot isn't a sign of upcoming molt, just hair-kicking, but it makes it easier to see the skin and if it's dark or not.

 

[xgrafcorex]

Mine's about that size and was just in premolt for about six months from the first time it refused to eat.

That spot is urticating hairs/mirror patch. They're the itchy hairs that get kicked off when a T's feeling cranky, though sometimes they do shed a little or line their webs/dirt with it. You can tell a molt is coming up when their skin darkens. Having a bald spot isn't a sign of upcoming molt, just hair-kicking, but it makes it easier to see the skin and if it's dark or not.

yea, all the Grammostola species have this "mirror patch" as far as i know. one of the tell tale signs of the genus. i have a female that had a noticeably darker area just ahead (towards the mouth) of the mirror patch. she molted relatively not to much longer after that, but she was looking fairly rough since i just acquired her from unexperienced keepers, so i can't compare to now since she still looks like she had a molt not too long ago. heh also she's always in her cave, so i haven't seen her in a bit...i hope shes sitting on an egg sac! i gotta check up on her.

edit..this is the best picture i could find of the same thing on one of my females.

she is on the right. you can see the darker area on the abdomen. she molted months before that picture, but is nowhere near molting again, so that darkness there is not necessarily an indication of an impending molt.

 

[SouthernStyle]

An adult rosea can be in premolt for a few months easy. When was the last time she ate?

This morning! ::grins:: a medium sized B.Dubai roach :onders::

 

[Mina]

Don't worry. That spot is the mirror patch and with my biggest female it looked like a peeling scab before she finally moulted. If your girl is still eating it will be a while yet before she moults, rosehairs don't do ANYTHING quickly. She will moult when she is ready, but if she is still eating, you probably have at least a couple of months to wait.