What The Heck?? HELP!!! (g. rosea)

[XzotticAnimal420]

So one of my MM g. roseas (post ultimate molt) is trying to molt again...only he never flipped upside down..

I noticed last night that he was getting sluggish, not moving very much and letting me touch him and move him more than normal. Being a MM that is about 5 months post ultimate molt, I knew his time was getting close..and I figured this is what was happening. *for the record, Im POSITIVE he is a MM, he has hooks, and Ive attempted to breed him successfully once before.

This morning I woke up to something Ive never seen before..

He was sitting normally, legs sprawled (not in the curl), and his abdomen had molted..he had a perfect molt of just his abdominal "sac" (well thats what it looked like) hanging off of his abdomen..which is fully covered in fresh new U hairs..and his fangs were white again with small amounts of Hemolymph around them..but the rest of his body had not molted at all. His carapace looked slightly as if he may have been trying to get out of it..but he never flipped upside down..or even attempted it before molting..

Currently, his is moving only his spinnerets but he is moving them quickly. He also started moving his legs as if he were trying to get out of them, and has a few legs partially out...his carapace is still stuck to his back, and he is still not upsidedown..

Ive attached a picture..the quality is poor, but it may help.. I also took this picture before he started pulling his legs out...

but my question is

"What the heck?? Ive never had a T only molt half way..let alone while sitting right side up..so what is happening?"

You can see the flap of abdomen that he molted, laying next to him..its a perfect molt of just his abdomen, way better than what it looks like when they molt the right way..




He is definitely molting again..but WHY??? And what should I do to help him?

Should I mist him to provide humidity?

Should I put him on his back?

Should I try to remove his carapace? If so, how?

HELP!!

 

[Chris_Skeleton]

What do you mean his fangs are white again? If he hasn't popped the carapace, how can you see them?

Do not flip him over, do not try and remove the carapace, all you can do is up the humidity and hope for the best.

Good luck.

 

[forrestpengra]

Unless you are able to do 'surgery' to extract him from his stuck molt... which likely wouldn't be a great thing to try, given that was already ultimate male.
I would euthanize him. He's not going to come out of this and he could be stuck like that for some time before eventually dying from dehydration of potential hemolymph loss.

 

[XzotticAnimal420]

What do you mean his fangs are white again? If he hasn't popped the carapace, how can you see them?

Do not flip him over, do not try and remove the carapace, all you can do is up the humidity and hope for the best.

Good luck.

I could see his fangs from above..they are white like when they are freshly molted..and there is a very small amount of hemolymph around them.

 

[Chris_Skeleton]

I could see his fangs from above..they are white like when they are freshly molted..and there is a very small amount of hemolymph around them.

I'm not understanding what you are saying. So the fangs are out of the molt, but the carapace is still stuck?

 

[XzotticAnimal420]

I'm not understanding what you are saying. So the fangs are out of the molt, but the carapace is still stuck?

I dont see any old molt from around his fangs, but they LOOK like they are freshly molted..just his fangs and his abdomen. NOW, he has a few legs out..but his carapace is still very much stuck to his back..

 

[XzotticAnimal420]

Why is he molting again, post ultimate molt??

 

[Travis K]

Don't touch it or move it. The only thing you can do is wait and see what happens. MMs don't live forever. Like stated previously add a little moisture but not too much and maybe cover with cellophane to hold in humidity.

No need to freak out this eventually happens to ever MM T. Well not really most just die or get munched by females so consider him lucky.

Cheers,

 

[Chris_Skeleton]

Why is he molting again, post ultimate molt??

Are you sure the carapace is stuck? Have you tried to gently nudge it away?

Some Ts will do a post ultimate molt and some will make it. This is a strange situation though. Can you post more pics?

 

[XzotticAnimal420]

Now the carapace has just popped off..but all of his legs are still only a 1/4 of the way out..he is still not upside down..but he seems to be doing a little better than before..this is just really strange..Ive never had a T molt without flipping over..and Ive never had a MM molt again after an ultimate molt.

 

[forrestpengra]

in all likelyhood his hooks will still be stuck, so IF he gets the rest of the legs out those will still be stuck. If you get to that point you will have to sedate him (probably with CO2, or freezing), then using micro-scissors you will need to clip away the stuck bits.

 

[XzotticAnimal420]

More pics..but again, I took them with my phone so the quality is poor.

UPDATE: I misted the enclosure and used plastic wrap along the top to hold moisture in...I cant see in through the glass anymore..

now we will just wait and see.

 

[Poxicator]

Recently this issue raised its head on an UK forum although the moult wasnt soon after a previous moult. Stan Schultz reared a MM further than its ultimate moult and through to a subsequent moult but I don't believe he found it a satisfying situation.
The carapace or abdomen remaining on a moulted tarantula isnt much of an issue, some tepid water and perhaps a little washing up liquid will help ease this off, or it will eventually remove itself - Ive had a G. rosea do exactly that over a period of months.
Tarantula will usually moult again after a recent moult if there was something wrong in the moult eg. a wet moult or loss of leg. They are also known to moult standing up.
Your issue will be the pedipalps as this is where the emboli are. These are larger than the rings of the exoskeleton and therefore they will not simply pull through.
You have 2 options open to you, cut through the rings or cut off the part of the pedipalps behind the emboli. Neither option will be easy but as your male isnt likely to survive for long after this moult (according to Schultz a few months) you may consider putting him to sleep. If you do decide to cut the pedipalps some flour will help stem the flow of hemolymph.

 

[XzotticAnimal420]

Update

So after 15 hours, he was for sure, stuck...we decided to do surgery. We were successful at getting all of his legs out using our tongs..but we couldnt get his pedipalps because we dont have any small scissors to cut away at the old exoskeleton. His pedipalps are the only part left that he has to get out of. Now, after surgery, we laid him on his back, legs sprawled and decided to let him flip back over on his own..since some of his legs had already hardened funky, I didnt want to lay him on the rest and leave them bent funny. Its been a few hours now and he is moving all of his legs one at a time and has tried once to flip over..

Should I flip him right side up? Or let him keep trying?

Its obvious he doesnt have too much longer..but since we managed to get him out of the molt we wanted to give him a chance.

Is it going to be bad if I dont get his pedipalps out? Or will that small bit of exoskelton eventually break away?