Strange leg after molt

[Sgt7212]

My 3" C. cyaneopubescens molted in it's web tunnel on Sunday, March 29th. Everything seemed to be good. It took a few drops of water off the web the following day, but mostly stayed in its web tunnel until today when it took its first meal.

It has moved around the enclosure and seems to be getting around fine, but the left front leg seems odd. The last segment (toes) are almost at a 90 degree angle to the rest of the leg, and that leg in particular does move, but does not articulate like the others. It stays curved and close to the body and the toes seem always splayed apart. (see photo below)

Is this most likely just a case of that leg molting funny and could clear up after the next molt, or could there be something more serious going on?

 

[RoachCoach]

Do you still have the molt? It could be a weird molt, injury from a fall, or maybe just genetic. Do you have a fairly tall enclosure?

 

[Sgt7212]

By the time I could get to the molt, it was in pieces and I couldn't get all of it.

The enclosure is only 6 inches height (outside dimensions), with an internal height of 5.25" roughly. It is a Herpcult acrylic enclosure. I did not put as much substrate as I normally would for a terrestrial, since GBB's are normally heavy webbers and I wanted to allow room for that above the substrate. There is about 1" of substrate (which brings the space between the substrate and the floor to 4.25", but then I have a piece of cork bark and fake foliage (ivy vines, etc...) that covers about 75% of the enclosure for anchor points and reaches from 1.5 - 2.5 inches above the substrate.

I'm not saying a fall is out of the question because I did not have eyes on it 24/7, but there's nowhere that is more than about 1.5 times the DLS.

I will say it was in premolt when I got it. Not very active, did not show any interest in food for the 2.5 weeks I had it prior to it molting. It webbed a little bit and then spent its time in the web tunnel it made until it molted on March 29th. Then it remained there until today when it came out and ate a superworm. That's then I noticed the leg, which was not like that prior to molt.

2 photos below are the enclosure right after she was re-housed and another photo of her prior to molting that shows the leg then.

 

[spideyspinneret78]

It probably just molted out that way. Sometimes things get stuck/ deformed in bad molts, but this looks pretty minor and your tarantula will be fine. It wouldn't surprise me if it looked normal again after the tarantula's next molt.

 

[Sgt7212]

Yeah, it seems to be moving around ok. It has drank water and eaten since the molt and it's been out in the open most of the time since early this afternoon. Hoping the next molt it's back to normal. The web tunnel it made and chose to molt in looked extremely cramped, so maybe that had something to do with it and it couldn't stretch out properly after molting, so that part of the leg didn't harden up correctly.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

If it's a problem then it'll drop the leg and grow a replacement over the next couple of moults.

 

[Sgt7212]

If it's a problem then it'll drop the leg and grow a replacement over the next couple of moults.

Thanks! It does not seem to affect her mobility, for the most part. She has been pretty active this morning, out and webbing. The only time I've seen it impede her at all is when she goes into her web tunnel. That toe sticking out keeps catching on the edge of the web opening and takes her a couple attempts to get it in. If she does drop the leg, would she drop the whole leg or just that last segment if that's the only place there is an issue. I don't know if they have that option or if it's an all or nothing type deal when it comes to them dropping a leg.

 

[Vanisher]

If it's a problem then it'll drop the leg and grow a replacement over the next couple of moults.

Yes they often bites off legs if it doesnt work properly. I have had some case of tarantula with similair tarsus as OP. It behaved like normal and the nextmoultthe leg was fine again

 

[The Grym Reaper]

f she does drop the leg, would she drop the whole leg or just that last segment if that's the only place there is an issue. I don't know if they have that option or if it's an all or nothing type deal when it comes to them dropping a leg.

They ditch the whole leg, it's designed to come off at the coxa where there's basically a valve that will close to prevent the loss of haemolymph.

 

[ColeopteraC]

It looks like the T either responded to or believed that the limb was damaged (perhaps a small cut or bruise) and confused the regenerative capabilities of the tarantula. Triggering them to produce a small portion of a new limb with intentions to replace the ‘missing limb’... This new toe is the result of that.

As previously stated if it proves a nuisance it’ll be corrected in future molts.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

It looks like the T either responded to or believed that the limb was damaged (perhaps a small cut or bruise) and confused the regenerative capabilities of the tarantula. Triggering them to produce a small portion of a new limb with intentions to replace the ‘missing limb’... This new toe is the result of that.

Na, it's a normal foot, it's just bent out of shape.