Worried, A.seemanni takes too long to molt.

[BrockiePelma]

So im kinda anxious about my 3-3.5” sized A.seemanni for a couple of weeks now. its been 216 days(thanks tarantula app!!) since it last molted. Its last cycle took 89 days, its already day 216 and there is not even a show of pre-molt stages. Given that i constantly feed her and the rest of my collection for a constant rate of one adult B.lateralis a week, im kinda getting worried because there is such a huge gap between the cycles. Should i really be worried?im not even sure what actions to take at this point.

I would feed her even more just to ‘force’ her to molt as she is still aggressively and willingly eats her meal but her abdomen is already too big(around 1.5x the size of the carapace).and having it even more bigger is not a good thing.

Whats even more worrysome is that 2 other sp. of mine(T.ockerti and B.vagans) also had the same case, which was its taking them too long to molt based on observation and then one day just curls for no warning whatsoever.

 

[Thekla]

Are you saying your T. ockerti und B. vagans just died without visible reason? Just by 'not moulting'? That is indeed worrisome, I think.

Could you please post some pics of your T and their enclosure?

 

[PidderPeets]

Has there been any changes in temperature? If it's gotten cooler out, their metabolism would slow down and would result in taking longer to molt. The time between molts also increases as they get bigger

 

[Venom1080]

I wouldn't really worry.

1.5x isn't really that big. You could do double that. But I wouldn't go much more. I like my spiders to look like spiders, not tennis balls.

 

[ShyDragoness]

wait wait, what tarantula app?

 

[Venom1080]

wait wait, what tarantula app?

It's for Android. I don't like it, but alot of people do.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Feeding it more won't force it to moult quicker, it just means that once it's had enough to see it through to the end of its current cycle it'll fast longer before it eventually does moult.

My 4" B. albopilosum hasn't moulted in over 10 months, her previous moult cycle was less than half of that, I'm not worried, she'll moult when she moults.

1.5x-2x carapace size isn't even bad, that's what I normally aim for with juvies/adults. I see people on FB who claim they don't let their tarantula's abdomen get bigger than the carapace

 

[BrockiePelma]

Are you saying your T. ockerti und B. vagans just died without visible reason? Just by 'not moulting'? That is indeed worrisome, I think.

Could you please post some pics of your T and their enclosure?

Indeed, i cant even think of any reason for their deaths. They have healthy abdomens, no sign of bad molt,even pre-molt in that matter. the only thing abnormal about them(compared to my other 30+ sp. is that they both took too long to molt compared to their previous cycles.

Ill post some picts when i get back fron work.

 

[BrockiePelma]

Has there been any changes in temperature? If it's gotten cooler out, their metabolism would slow down and would result in taking longer to molt. The time between molts also increases as they get bigger

They’re kept in a normal room temperature,so winter’s cool temp mightve affected her but i wouldnt call it a big change since im located in SEA(Ph)

 

[Ellenantula]

The T deaths are concerning.
My A seemanni has been known to take her own sweet time moulting. She's the T and knows better than I do when she's ready to moult and when she's not.
I try not to micromanage my Ts. They are a joyous hobby -- not some burden to tolerate. I do my part and let them do theirs.
That said.... those deaths should (seemingly) have some cause so you can avoid such in the future.

Good luck.

 

[BrockiePelma]

The T deaths are concerning.
That said.... those deaths should (seemingly) have some cause so you can avoid such in the future.

Exactly. thats what worries me, there seems to be a pattern in the unfortunate deaths of my Ts but I dont know the cause. let alone any symptoms, All i can say is both of them(the dead Ts) had too big of a gap between their molt cycles. Which is what i currently observe with my A.seemanni.

 

[BrockiePelma]

The pict if my ~2” B.vagans about an hour after ive discovered its fate. As you can see there were no hint of pre-molting despite being 270+ days since its last molt.

A.seemanni picts arent gonna happen folks. She’s dug in deep. I could snap a few photos on the side of her enclosure where shes seen but too many scratches present that the photo might be cr@ppy.