First Molt!

My boyfriend was worried about our P. irminia last night when we went to water due to very slow movement, and when he tried to herd him back to the burrow the T barely moved, had a delayed threat pose, etc.(he was pretty concerned when he nudged it wrong and the poor T fell from it's perch on the cube) Had my suspicions on pre-molt, looked this morning and guess who's on their back? Got into an odd place where it's borderline wedged under a piece of leaning cork bark, and the boyfriend about had a heart attack thinking it was dying. With assurances (and hopefully a fresh exuvium in a couple of hours) he let it be, but I'm excited to get the first molt out and confirm the sex. Can't find my camera, but when I do I'll try to post pics later

VERY nice and exciting!!! Congrats and good luck with the molt :gj: :gj:

Thanks! I'm hoping it won't take much longer, just got home from work/errands and though it's definitely more of a "curl" now with pulsing legs, still no actual extraction yet :( Ah well, will check in the mornin or before bed

Hehe molts are always exciting. Good luck with it, I'll keep my fingers crossed for a girl for ya! :)

Ach... I don't know if this is beginners nerves or a problem because after checking this morning there's no progress, and no movement :( is it unusual for molts to take this long with a sling? I'm actually afraid that it might be a dead critter, but what I've read has told me to keep distance... At what point is it a good idea to start and ICU?

It's been over 24hours and it is not out yet? Is it partially out or has it not even started to get out of it yet? Is it still on its back?

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Originally Posted by Boanerges

It's been over 24hours and it is not out yet? Is it partially out or has it not even started to get out of it yet? Is it still on its back?

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Not out yet, hasn't even started. And still on it's back, After as long as it's been (a little before when I posted the thread) I'm pretty sure something went wrong. When we bought it, the enclosure was included and was a decent sized acrylic cube with a layer of substrate and some corkbark that it had established a burrow in and seemed to be thriving. Water and food provided, placed near a snake tub in the warmer part of the house, so I don't think anything in the environment changed dramatically... More confused than anything =/

You said she looked awkward ... is the space too small?

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Originally Posted by Jessica Loesch

You said she looked awkward ... is the space too small?

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Was my first concern, but there was room for legs to fully extend and with the way the prosoma was facing it would've extracted towards the open area in the enclosure. After some closer inspection last night I spotted a food bolus in the corner that I've missed during cage tidying, and it looked like it had white mold growing on it. You think that there might have been a fungal thing going on that caused issues?

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Originally Posted by Valentine Pirate

Was my first concern, but there was room for legs to fully extend and with the way the prosoma was facing it would've extracted towards the open area in the enclosure. After some closer inspection last night I spotted a food bolus in the corner that I've missed during cage tidying, and it looked like it had white mold growing on it. You think that there might have been a fungal thing going on that caused issues?

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It is possible but I would doubt that little bit was the cause. But there is no way really to tell if it was or not. Could have been lack of humidity, air ventilation, dehydration, the mold or any number of internal things that we are unaware of :( Is the tarantula still alive? Is it in ICU? Any progress?

Lost a GBB almost the exact same way. It's hard to tell with a T being sick/in need when you're new. I'm sure Jeff and Alexa and a few others know immediately when something is starting to go awry. I was also told that mortality rates for slings can be high. I'm lucky to have only lost one out of the 8 I've kept. I know GBB are usually pretty hearty but mine did almost the same thing as yours until I realized it was dead. Hope this isn't the case but good luck!

Regards,

B

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Originally Posted by Boanerges

It is possible but I would doubt that little bit was the cause. But there is no way really to tell if it was or not. Could have been lack of humidity, air ventilation, dehydration, the mold or any number of internal things that we are unaware of :( Is the tarantula still alive? Is it in ICU? Any progress?

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As of looking around last night there was no reaction to some gentle prodding, so my guess is that it is dead at this point :( We flipped it right side up and there was no movement either. I'm wondering if it was too much humidity, we were spraying the side of the cage to water every couple of days as it dried up a bit...

Trying to take it as a learning experience. Sad to lose such a pretty tarantula, but it doesn't mean we can't get another and try again with a closer eye on the setup and animal

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Originally Posted by Valentine Pirate

As of looking around last night there was no reaction to some gentle prodding, so my guess is that it is dead at this point :( We flipped it right side up and there was no movement either. I'm wondering if it was too much humidity, we were spraying the side of the cage to water every couple of days as it dried up a bit...

Trying to take it as a learning experience. Sad to lose such a pretty tarantula, but it doesn't mean we can't get another and try again with a closer eye on the setup and animal

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VERY sorry to hear that :(

I'm so sorry to hear that :( The only thing I can really think of as a cause would be mold - you said you kept it in the same enclosure as you got it in without any changes, it could be that the previous owners were careless and let the enclosure get dirty and just cleaned it out before you got it just so that they didn't look bad. If it had been exposed to mold prior to you owning it for a long enough time, it could be fatal. But it really could be anything, that'st he thing with these guys. SADS ("sudden arachnid death syndrome") is really common especially in young ones.

Again, I'm very sorry for your loss :( It sounds like you really cared for the little one, I don't think this was your fault. Just bad luck :(

Thanks you guys. I'm bummed out by the experience, but it also makes me more determined to do a better job with the newer additions whenever we're able to get some. Might get a little paranoid any time I see one go into molt now though :oops: Haha

Thanks also for the help and advice for the little while I had it. I've got a wishlist of more "beginner friendly" tarantulas that I had made after some research, here's to hoping it'll go a lot smoother (though I might pick up another P. irminia pretty soon too, other than this experience we didn't have problems and I'd like to see one grow to full size :) )