Molting time

[Annalisa]

Hello, guys!
This morning around 10 my brachypelma started to moly: she got on her back . She is 5 years old and pretty big. Moving slowly her legs, but taking a long time compared to the previous times. Is it normal?
The humidity is nicely high in the tank. Hope to hear soon from you

 

[Tarantula Trooper]

It sometimes takes awhile. Nothing much to do but be patient and keep an eye on her.

 

[Annalisa]

It sometimes takes awhile. Nothing much to do but be patient and keep an eye on her.

Ok. Will try to keep calm. Thanks for your help

 

[Annalisa]

Ok. Will try to keep calm. Thanks for your help

She’s safe, chilling with her old herself

 

[Tarantula Trooper]

She’s safe, chilling with her old herself

Wonderful! Molts can be stressful and if you have dealt with a bad one it's a terrible day.

 

[Annalisa]

Wonderful! Molts can be stressful and if you have dealt with a bad one it's a terrible day.

Indeed! She’s exhausted and resting in very weird positions, poor little thing… Well… Not that little anymore
Thanks again for your help!

 

[jrabbits]

Hello, guys!
This morning around 10 my brachypelma started to moly: she got on her back . She is 5 years old and pretty big. Moving slowly her legs, but taking a long time compared to the previous times. Is it normal?
The humidity is nicely high in the tank. Hope to hear soon from you

One of the times my brachypelma took almost 12 hours. It’s normal. I would not keep the humidity to high. What do you have it set at? Around 60% mine is usually but he tends to like it more dry then wet. She will be fine just don’t touch her and keep an eye on her

 

[Annalisa]

One of the times my brachypelma took almost 12 hours. It’s normal. I would not keep the humidity to high. What do you have it set at? Around 60% mine is usually but he tends to like it more dry then wet. She will be fine just don’t touch her and keep an eye on her

Oh, wow.. 12 hours is a very long time.. How old is your cutie?
Mine took kinda 7 hours, the longest of my life. I only had this experience as an owner so EVERYTHING is still new to me. I read in the past that sometimes they die trying to molt cause it’s too dry,so I pushed the humidity to 80%…Hope I didn’t make things harder for her
Now she is resting calmly and nice.

 

[TarantulaMamma]

As a relatively new T owner (I now have 3), I recently went through my first moult with my Brachypelma emilia. He was ensconced in his cave (a decorative sandstone tube) for about 2 weeks prior and had webbed up one end with a bolus of substrate. Then last week I looked into the open end of the cave and it looked like there were 2 spiders; the moult was on its back. Freaky at first, like he had a twin. I was able to carefully extract the moult and inspect it. A leg detached in the examination process but it was quite a remarkable structure! The spooder is doing great and back to grabbing feeders from my long tongs, and spending time at the water dish when not calmly walking around the enclosure, bigger and bolder!

 

[TarantulaMamma]

Oh, wow.. 12 hours is a very long time.. How old is your cutie?
Mine took kinda 7 hours, the longest of my life. I only had this experience as an owner so EVERYTHING is still new to me. I read in the past that sometimes they die trying to molt cause it’s too dry,so I pushed the humidity to 80%…Hope I didn’t make things harder for her
Now she is resting calmly and nice.

Sounds like you did great, making sure extra water was available and leaving her to do her thing without stressing her by interfering. Spiders are very resourceful but also quite shy usually. That's why they're such cool pets/companions!

 

[Annalisa]

As a relatively new T owner (I now have 3), I recently went through my first moult with my Brachypelma emilia. He was ensconced in his cave (a decorative sandstone tube) for about 2 weeks prior and had webbed up one end with a bolus of substrate. Then last week I looked into the open end of the cave and it looked like there were 2 spiders; the moult was on its back. Freaky at first, like he had a twin. I was able to carefully extract the moult and inspect it. A leg detached in the examination process but it was quite a remarkable structure! The spooder is doing great and back to grabbing feeders from my long tongs, and spending time at the water dish when not calmly walking around the enclosure, bigger and bolder!

It’s so fascinating… Just lovely!

 

[Tarantula Trooper]

Oh, wow.. 12 hours is a very long time.. How old is your cutie?
Mine took kinda 7 hours, the longest of my life. I only had this experience as an owner so EVERYTHING is still new to me. I read in the past that sometimes they die trying to molt cause it’s too dry,so I pushed the humidity to 80%…Hope I didn’t make things harder for her
Now she is resting calmly and nice.

Hello again Annalisa! When I know I have ( or suspect more like it) a T about to go to pre molt I like to feed hornworms for the moisture content. This in MHO helps build up internal moisture levels to hopefully aid them with their molt! Raising external tank humidity won't help. Dryer species certainly don't help as where their from their is little external humidity! Having good gut loaded, moisture laden prey is a good way to go! Again, just my opinion, is vary your feeders as well. Crickets mixed with Dubia, Super worms and if slings, juvies mealworms! Bad molts happen. I've had 2 bad ones! The first was my M. Balfori! Lost limbs and had a really bad jacked up leg that turned up towards the sky. Nursed her back and she has all her parts again and can hardly tell she had any distress! My Phormingochilus Arboricola not so much! Her shed stuck around her abdomen. Quite a bit around the spinnerets! She was gone less than a week later. Abdomen split. Looked like internal dried silk! Still completely devastated over her passing! If you keep a lot of T's it will happen sooner or later it is just how bad is it. It does, though, make you appreciate when you're Spoods molt good and they look good after! Relief indeed!! Happy Spoodering!

 

[Annalisa]

Hello again Annalisa! When I know I have ( or suspect more like it) a T about to go to pre molt I like to feed hornworms for the moisture content. This in MHO helps build up internal moisture levels to hopefully aid them with their molt! Raising external tank humidity won't help. Dryer species certainly don't help as where their from their is little external humidity! Having good gut loaded, moisture laden prey is a good way to go! Again, just my opinion, is vary your feeders as well. Crickets mixed with Dubia, Super worms and if slings, juvies mealworms! Bad molts happen. I've had 2 bad ones! The first was my M. Balfori! Lost limbs and had a really bad jacked up leg that turned up towards the sky. Nursed her back and she has all her parts again and can hardly tell she had any distress! My Phormingochilus Arboricola not so much! Her shed stuck around her abdomen. Quite a bit around the spinnerets! She was gone less than a week later. Abdomen split. Looked like internal dried silk! Still completely devastated over her passing! If you keep a lot of T's it will happen sooner or later it is just how bad is it. It does, though, make you appreciate when you're Spoods molt good and they look good after! Relief indeed!! Happy Spoodering!

This makes completely sense to meWhat I try to do is to keep her food always super hydrated with fruits or other solutions, depending on the kind of insect.I will try to find hornworms for the future, I think she very much deserves one in a couple of weeks! Thanks for sharing your experiences, it’s so helpful for not expert people like me.
Thanks again!!!

 

[Tarantula Trooper]

This makes completely sense to meWhat I try to do is to keep her food always super hydrated with fruits or other solutions, depending on the kind of insect.I will try to find hornworms for the future, I think she very much deserves one in a couple of weeks! Thanks for sharing your experiences, it’s so helpful for not expert people like me.
Thanks again!!!

Thing to remember with Hornworms is always use store bought. I don't know if they are even available in Europe but you can end up with them on your tomato plants in your garden and are toxic from the plant matter they eat and could potentially kill your T if consumed! Store bought they get fed a completely different diet and are not toxic and loaded with moisture. T candy actually. Some call them Tarantula Gummy Worms. Lol! Happy Spoodering Annalisa!!

 

[Annalisa]

Thing to remember with Hornworms is always use store bought. I don't know if they are even available in Europe but you can end up with them on your tomato plants in your garden and are toxic from the plant matter they eat and could potentially kill your T if consumed! Store bought they get fed a completely different diet and are not toxic and loaded with moisture. T candy actually. Some call them Tarantula Gummy Worms. Lol! Happy Spoodering Annalisa!!

 

[Annalisa]

Couldn’t find them in my favourite store in Amsterdam, but maybe they can help me to order them. Thank you!! I’ll upload a video of me being a happy mama

 

[Tarantula Trooper]

Tried to watch your vid but sadly my phone won't play it! Ohhhhh well! Enjoy your T and as most times.... Happy Spoodering!

 

[josettel]

Some people keep it around 60% during molts, some run it higher—no magic number really. The weakness and weird positioning right after is just because they're still soft and exhausted. She should firm back up and get moving in a day or two.

 

[Annalisa]

Some people keep it around 60% during molts, some run it higher—no magic number really. The weakness and weird positioning right after is just because they're still soft and exhausted. She should firm back up and get moving in a day or two.

She is still doing spider-yoga and relaxing I just give her fresh water and wait before o can give her some food again