Weird post molt behavior

[Whitelightning777]

My L Klugi molted 2 days ago and she's pretty. Physically now she's huge and appears healthy but she's acting weird.

She's hiding all the time and appears to have a totally different and much more secretive personality. I noticed she was avoiding the molting mat that she webbed to molt upon and she molted in the open in plain sight.

I'm not sure if she's just waiting for the fangs to harden or if there's something else wrong that I can't see. She dove for cover when I pulled the molting webbing that was on the frog moss covering it completely

Not only that, it makes getting pics impossible and she isn't really stretching out to show her true size very often. I will wait a week and then attempt to feed an Earth worm, which should be easier to eat then a meal worm. I'm not sure what her size is but she can probably cover the entire clump of frog moss if she wanted to, maybe 4"-5"????

 

[Enn49]

Just after a moult a T is very vulnerable. Not only are the fangs not hard enough to use in attack but their whole exoskeleton is soft. A T can be stressed at this time so it won't always stretch out, in fact some can look as though they are in a death curl. Give it a few more days and I'm sure she'll be back to normal and ready to eat just make sure she has a water bowl close by..

 

[Whitelightning777]

The water bowl is always full for all of them. There's been some interesting changes. Hopefully she'll settle down in a week, back to her usual self.

When she's molted in the past, she's always been completely hidden away for a few days instead of out and about at all.

Here's a video, latest one.

By contrast, here's the unboxing video of her when I just got her. I switched her out into a smaller cage and just recently back into a 5 gallon Terra Blue professional enclosure.

The transformation is amazing. When I first got her, she was about the same size as a large wolf spider. Such is no longer the case.

Adding the occasional Earth worm to her diet along with the usual meal worms, roaches crickets etc seems to boost her growth rate. She seems to molt a bit more frequently when Earth worms are added. Of course, these are an occasional treat usually only fed once or twice a month. Typically I feed her two or three times a week and her cage is generally kept at 80 degrees.

I only really worry about boosting humidity when she's in premolt. The frog moss really stabilizes that. It's been her favorite a place to lounge around.

Best of all, it keeps her visible and generally happy most of the time.

 

[Enn49]

I love the way they grow and develop. My little D. pentaloris has begun to show itself more since its last moult.

 

[Whitelightning777]

I researched the D pentaloris. How big is yours? It seems like an interesting species.

Does it try to escape when you feed it or remove the water dish for cleaning?

I watched the video you gotta get one of these on Tom Moran's channel. There's a lot of interesting ones, far too many for me to keep them all.

My latest upcoming purchase is H pulchripes. Since it's similar to my M balfouri in many ways and drop dead gorgeous, I gotta have it.

I found a seller that had a sling which was only $100 and just over an inch long I think.

 

[Enn49]

@Whitelightning777 Tamale is only around 1" dls and still shy, will run and hide when disturbed. Beck is now 4" at 3 years old and is very calm although she does like her food so she will come towards me when I open her container but in the hope a cricket might appear..

 

[Whitelightning777]

Here's the latest pics of Justina. She seems to be getting back to her old self but is still hiding a bit to the back of the enclosure.

I also put these in the gallery, but I figured why not put them here as well.

 

[Whitelightning777]

The band on the abdomen is new and there is a hint of blue in the pics that doesn't really show up much when viewed with the naked eye.

I wonder if the camera is more precise or the software doesn't know how to translate complex organic coloration.

Hopefully she won't kick off as many hairs as she did last time.