My first molt!

I'm on my way to Nathan's right now, he told me humbug has molted!! I'm so excited, I can't wait to take pictures. He told me that humbug's colors are ridiculously vibrant right now. Stay tuned for pictures!



I sort of can't believe I'm so lucky that I experienced my first molt so EARLY in tarantula keeping--especially for having an A. hentzi which I now know grow very, very slowly!

I'm just glad everything went well. I was so nervous that maybe the tarantula had been dehydrated before I came along or maybe it was going to just struggle and try to molt in a bad place and get stuck, ahh! So frightening. But humbug molted like a pro!!

Nathan's too spooked of spiders to go down and reach for the molt for me, even though we have tongs. So I'm going to go and see if hopefully the abdomen is intact and I can sex this guy! (or girl!)

Awesome. I've had my T for months with no signs yet. Looking forward to the day.

Yay! Can't wait to see pictures :D

Congrats! Sling molting is scary business. It's one of the risks with slings. Getting through them is a big deal for sure.

Regards,

B

I'm sure this is normal for all you people who have been keeping Ts for a while but WOW! I have never seen such a COOL change! I came back to a BRAND NEW SPIDER! Or so it looked like! Red hairs!? Different body shape!? What a cool cool new look, and how awesome that I got to see it so early in T keeping! Molting is kind of insane!

And the little one was a turd and so of course the mold was ridiculously torn and mangled RIGHT where I'm supposed to look to sex the thing.. I don't know..included molt pictures to see if any of you can make anything out of the mess! lol! My prediction is that all of you will say, yeah no way to tell from these pictures! Oh well. Not that it matters as much with such a long lived species.

Speaking of species, considering the tarantula's recent change and the lack of info from the place I rescued him from--any clues as to what specifically it is? We guessed Hentzi, but I have no eye for this sort of thing.


First, a few pics from before the molt:

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...24427202_n.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...RANTULAAAA.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...g?t=1325407842

Now... after the molt!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/IMG_1227.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/IMG_1225.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/IMG_1213.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/IMG_1211.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/IMG_1206.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...muffin/img.jpg



And the photos of the silly molt~

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/IMG_1205.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/IMG_1235.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/IMG_1237.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/IMG_1238.jpg

It's normal for the abdomen on the molt to be kinda mangled like that. While it's easier when the molt is fresh, take some tweezers and gently try to unfold the abdomen a bit. If it hasn't dried out too much you might be able to maneuver it so the spermatheca(or lake thereof) are visible, though you probably need some magnification on that little guy. Another cool thing, try to get a peek at your little T's fangs after a molt - they'll be white/red instead of the normal black until they harden. Also, don't feed(or handle really) until those fangs darken back up or they could end up getting damaged.

Yeah, I tried to unfold it but it didn't go very well! The inside had quite a few holes in it already, and my meddling just made it worse :oops: Maybe next time.

Yes, I know how sensitive they are after they molt! I'll be very careful and just let the little one be on his own for now!

So what does this crazy change mean age wise? I've seen tarantulas molt before, but usually they looked the same--just a little bigger. This one seems to have changed quite a bit! Was that all just the pre-molt swelling or whatever?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by purplemuffin

So what does this crazy change mean age wise? I've seen tarantulas molt before, but usually they looked the same--just a little bigger. This one seems to have changed quite a bit! Was that all just the pre-molt swelling or whatever?

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Tarantulas are just at their best, looks-wise, following a molt.