Molt Crisis.

First: I know a lot of you are going to yell at me for doing this, because this whole terrible thing would never have happened if I had set up my T's tank in another fashion, but I need some help. So please, just help me.

My Chaco spiderling molted from the screen ceiling of his tank, and fell into his water dish below. The dish was one of those light plastic things you buy in the pet stores, it was very shallow and the water was low.

He was not under the water, however he was laying with his legs bent in the opposite direction. As if to say a spider stands on his legs, but put his legs down with his abdomen, fangs facing up. ( That's harder to describe )

I have pulled him out and put him in ICU. He has arranged his legs to be in the usual T position, and has begun to curl. However, he is moving around a bit.

I don't know how much time had passed before we found him. He may have only been laying there for a short time, but who knows... I was at work all day.

He's in a cabinet in the kitchen. It's dark. It's damp. ((It's florida and we have all the windows open and its been raining for days)) And it's also rather undisturbed.

Is there anything else we can do ?

- Amber

i've never heard of a spider molting from the ceiling. and i don't really understand the way you're describing its position when you found it...

i guess all you can do is keep him in the ICU and hope he pulls through.

kitty_b said:

i've never heard of a spider molting from the ceiling. and i don't really understand the way you're describing its position when you found it...

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Same on both counts. It's considered slightly odd (if harmless) if a tarantula decides to molt at a funny angle or against a wall, but I have NEVER heard of trying to molt on a ceiling. That doesn't even sound possible, because they have to lie on their backs most of the time, and you can't do that on a ceiling.

I'm more inclined to believe that something else happened, and was just misinterpreted. Which means that I have no idea what's going on or what advice to give. :?

hmm?

soo your saying that his eyes were facing up if he had a pupil or he was sitting on his butt (abdomen). All you can really do is wait. If he is moving around then he should be fine I suppose.

He had been hanging out on the screen of the tank alot. He'd webbed up one of the corners, and could stay in the webbing for days.

When I first found him it was because I had noticed what I thought was the T itself dangling from the wire screen of the center of the lid. On closer expection I realized it was his molted skin hanging by one leg from the lid, and he was down on the edge of the water dish that had been in the center of the cage.

His legs were so long and loose they looked like dreadlocks. They were collapsed over to the side, and the exposed part of his body was his underside, with his mouth exposed.

It's like, if we bent our legs backwards from the hip and sat on our pelvis instead of our butts.

He was also an icky clear and pink colour.

After I put him into ICU he bent his legs into the traditional position and went into a deathcurl. He has since spread out of the death curl and is stretching his legs and moving a bit. He's also darkened up significantly, and his stripes are much more defined.

I have some hopes that he will come through this.

I hope.

it seems spiderlings are quite resilient. i just had a crazy experience with a molt and mine lived thru all that. that with the water, i dunno. it's a flip of the coin. it depends on how fast you got to your spider. i hope it pulls through.