I got pink toe (it was sold as a metallic for more $ but I am thinking it might be A. Avicularia) about a month ago. It was a good 2'' leg span. After about a week it clearly showed an upcoming molt so I waited...and waited...and waited. It seems snakes, lizards, and amphibians have less of an ordeal when they shed. Yesterday it built a nice web canopy right on the coco fiber substrate. It even strapped webbing around it's left and right 3rd legs. I didn't know why it would do such a thing because I thought spiders were flawless in their use of webbing. Well it did it on purpose because it used the straps to gain leverage coming out of the molt.
I think the reason why invertebrate molting is more of an ordeal is because this spider is now 3'' leg span. It was a dramatic change and the colors are just popping. I figure in about 3-4 days it will be time to feast, but until then it was just cool to see a tarantula "giving birth" to itself. I really wish I A) had a good camera, and B) wasn't completely terrible at taking all kinds of photos.
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