Urticans Molt

alidpayne

Arachnoknight
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Apr 12, 2003
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152
Well, Richard finally molted! We have had this tiny Avic. urticans sling for two months, and have been patiently waiting for him to molt. Last night when it was time to check on all the babies I found him hanging from his web half in and half out of his molt.

He was having a hard time. It was pretty obvious he needed some help. So, I soaked a couple of paper towels in hot water and put them in the bottom of his enclosure. You could instantly tell that the humidity shot up through the roof. (the sides fogged up) and in a few seconds he slid on out of his molt. We moved him to an ICU cup, because he started curling. I was SO scared.

He is doing great today, the ICU did the trick, and he is climbing around like crazy in his ICU cup today which is a great relief after seeing the curling last night.

Just thought I would share a couple of pics. He looks like a different spider now! Different coloring and everything!

Ali
 

alidpayne

Arachnoknight
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That first picture is his molt, this one is the new him!
 

AudreyElizabeth

Arachnodemon
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Feb 10, 2003
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Congrats Ali! He grew a little didn't he? :) I dont have enough courage to raise slings yet, I just got my first T a couple of months ago. I'm curious, where do you get your T's? I ordered my first one from Reptile Depot.
 

alidpayne

Arachnoknight
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Apr 12, 2003
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We usually order ours. Kelly Swift and Chris Young are both great to deal with when doing mail order. Hey, you know what we should do? We order pretty often anyway, but we should order togeather when we want something. Then we could split the shipping and get them cheaper. Hmmm Ideas!

We have bought a couple of our T's from E&L Pets, but they have no selection. They think we are the "crazy spider people". Everytime I walk in the door they say "we don't have any new spiders". It is so funny.

Ali
 

AudreyElizabeth

Arachnodemon
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I know what you are talking about about with E&l..... When I bought my rose hair I said " I want to look at some tarantula's" And the older lady looked at me like I was insane!! *LOL* I'll tell you what, I've been wanting to get an A. geniculata really bad, next time you place an order, if I have the funds, I'll go for it!!! That would make shipping a lot cheaper. Maybe I could handle caring for sling? But really want to make sure it is female.
 

alidpayne

Arachnoknight
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Originally posted by HerpInvertGirl
I know what you are talking about about with E&l..... When I bought my rose hair I said " I want to look at some tarantula's" And the older lady looked at me like I was insane!! *LOL* I'll tell you what, I've been wanting to get an A. geniculata really bad, next time you place an order, if I have the funds, I'll go for it!!! That would make shipping a lot cheaper. Maybe I could handle caring for sling? But really want to make sure it is female.
The lady with the long grey hair? LOL That is Pat. She is ok, she actually wants to learn about the animals. I print her out care sheets and stuff and take them up there to her.

Slings are just a 50/50 chance. Of course we all want females (unless we are breeding) I know that one of these days I'm gonna have to face reality when one of my slings ends up being male, but for now I will just happily burry my head in the sand. We have starting breading our rose hairs, so hopefully we will get an eggsac. If we do, I will donate a sling to you.

Slings aren't some horrible scarey thing, and if you get one, you can always come to us if you have a question or something. A lot of our T's are slings. We currently have 9 adults and 11 slings. Of our adults only one is male (a rose hair) and we wanted a male for breeding. So, just know that if you do get a sling you have someone close enough that you can bring it to us if you need help. We would always be glad to.

I have been wanting a genic too. I almost bought one with my last order from Kelly Swift. He has 1/4" slings for $18. I didn't though, and now I regret it. Oh well, next time I guess.

Ali
 

AudreyElizabeth

Arachnodemon
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I'm just afraid I would be able to take care of a sling, they dont look very scary.....*L* where do you buy your pinheads?
 

alidpayne

Arachnoknight
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Apr 12, 2003
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I ordered 250 from Fluker Farms this last time, but usually I get them at E&L. Most of our slings can eat crickets a little bigger than pin heads. E&L almost NEVER has any pin heads.. then again, they almost never have any LARGE crickets either. Just small and medium.

I didn't mean scary like you would be afraid of the spider, I meant scary like "oh no I might kill it".

Ali
 

AudreyElizabeth

Arachnodemon
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Yeah, that is what Im talking about..... Small and helpless, easy to kill.......*L* I wanted to order the 3.5 to 4 inch A. geniculata, but that would be around 105.00 dollars...... I would have to save up for that. But maybe I should wait around for a sling....... Maybe I'll get lucky and get a female. They are such beautiful big Ts....
You said you were breeding rosehairs? Do the males have the spurs? My boyfriend has a rosehair, and I really cant tell the difference between mine and his, since his isn't mature yet..... It has about a 2.5 inch or more legspan. Since mine has really stocky legs and a big abdoman I'm assuming it is female, but until it molts I wont know for sure.
 

alidpayne

Arachnoknight
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Yep, He has some pretty obvious spurs. I'll take a quick pic.


Well, this picture is a little blurry, he wouldn't stand still. But you can see a spur pretty clearly. My female is stocky with a big butt (not too big :D ) Our male is all legs with a way smaller abdomen.

You can see some good pictures of both my rosies on this post: http://arachnopets.com/arachnoboards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8347&highlight=porn

Ali


Here's the spur pic.
 

partsman

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 23, 2003
Messages
24
yeah baby! humidity is the key +warmth . my 1st pink i got in oct. molted 6 times on or within the same day of the month
 

skadiwolf

Arachnolord
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May 6, 2003
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645
um, as far as cricket ordering, i do LOTS for my bearded dragon and 2 leos, 1 crested geckos.

i use armstrong crickets farm and have been amaaaazingly impressed with their quality.

www.armstrongcrickets.com
 

skadiwolf

Arachnolord
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May 6, 2003
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at what age do Ts develop those spurs, and where are those located? on the front pair of legs or on the pedipalps? (please forgive my ignorance)
 

alidpayne

Arachnoknight
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Originally posted by skadiwolf
at what age do Ts develop those spurs, and where are those located? on the front pair of legs or on the pedipalps? (please forgive my ignorance)

They are on the front pair of legs, not the palps. And as for age, a T will get those spurs on its mature molt. But, not all species have spurs. It is a pretty good method of sexing, but not the end all, and there are plenty of discussions on here about the other ways.

Ali
 

ArachnoJoost

Arachnobaron
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Aug 6, 2002
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Hey,
Looks like Richard is missing a leg, and I didn't see that leg on the cast skin, too. Do you know when this happened? I would expect it to regenerate (although not completely in the first molt after the loss of the limb, then the regenerated leg is usually smaller than the other legs).
greetz,
Joost
 

alidpayne

Arachnoknight
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Apr 12, 2003
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Very perceptive! Yep, Richard is my little 7 legger. When we ordered him, he arrived with only 7 legs and no sign of injury. We fully expected him to come out of his first molt with an 8th leg, or at least part of one, but he surprized us by doing neither.

We inspected him and don't see any sign of even the smallest nub. Perhaps he was born without it in the first place?? We have no idea. I guess we will have to wait till he molts again to see what happens.

It doesn't affect his mobility at all though, so we aren't concerned.

Ali
 

SpiderTwin

Arachnoangel
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Mar 17, 2003
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910
That's strange, I would have thought it would have at least a start to a new leg when it molted:? Give it time, it should start regenerating that leg.

Good idea with the hot paper towels, sounds like you saved the T from a bad molt.
 

Lostkat

Arachnobaron
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Feb 18, 2003
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341
Originally posted by alidpayne
Very perceptive! Yep, Richard is my little 7 legger. When we ordered him, he arrived with only 7 legs and no sign of injury. We fully expected him to come out of his first molt with an 8th leg, or at least part of one, but he surprized us by doing neither.

We inspected him and don't see any sign of even the smallest nub. Perhaps he was born without it in the first place?? We have no idea. I guess we will have to wait till he molts again to see what happens.

It doesn't affect his mobility at all though, so we aren't concerned.

Ali
Perhaps he lost his leg right before you got him. It wouldn't give him time to grow a new leg before his next moult. It'll probably be back after his next moult, I wouldn't worry.
 
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