Molt emergency?

Flagg

Arachnosquire
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I have a 1" G.Aureostriata, one of my first 2 Ts actually, that has been on his back in the middle of a shed for at least 12 hrs now, possibly much more as I don't recall exactly when I noticed he had started.

His legs are all bound up and he doesn;t appear to have gotten much out of the old skin yet. There's a bit of bloody looking gel-like pink material towards what I think is the front.

Is there anything I can or should do or do I just wait it out and hope he makes it?
 

P. Novak

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I have a 1" G.Aureostriata, one of my first 2 Ts actually, that has been on his back in the middle of a shed for at least 12 hrs now, possibly much more as I don't recall exactly when I noticed he had started.

His legs are all bound up and he doesn;t appear to have gotten much out of the old skin yet. There's a bit of bloody looking gel-like pink material towards what I think is the front.

Is there anything I can or should do or do I just wait it out and hope he makes it?
Wow, 12 hours!? :eek: I think this sling might be stuck or dead. Has it been moving at all? At 1" there isn't really much you can do to save it either..:(
 

Anastasia

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I wud agree with Novak, 12 hr for 1" sling way to long
I had slings stuck in molt before, there is nothing much u can do :(
 

Flagg

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He seems to have made a little progress since I looked earlier, but it has been an awfully long time.

Might be 1.5", haven't actually measured it.

Well I hope he will be able to pull through, if it's not already too late. and I was just thinking the other day how lucky I had been to never have lost a sling.
 

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Anastasia

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if its still moving, leave it be, dont touch, dont do anything
they molt, they know how to do it, we dont ;)
hope little one will pull out
 

The_Thunderer

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I'm hoping for you too, Flagg. Mine successfully molted yesterday. Hope yours does as well!
 

P. Novak

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He seems to have made a little progress since I looked earlier, but it has been an awfully long time.

Might be 1.5", haven't actually measured it.

Well I hope he will be able to pull through, if it's not already too late. and I was just thinking the other day how lucky I had been to never have lost a sling.
:eek: I'm even more shocked that it's still going... 12+ hours for a 1.5" sling is a long time. Just goes to show you that our 'average' times are certainly estimations, not facts. I really hope he makes it though.

I can't imagine what his molting time would be at 4, 5, 6 inches! :rolleyes:
 

Flagg

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Well, he/she didn't make it. No change from the pictures taken last night, and definitely not moving any more. It was probably already dead when I took those pictures.

What causes them to get stuck in a molt like that? Could it have been too dry? I keep them all on dampened peat, I dampen at least a corner of every enclosure every couple days. This is also the only one in an amac cube that I drilled side holes as well as top holes. Could that have caused it to be too dry? I don't want to lose any more slings.

At least this wasn't my only G.Aureostriata. I have a sibling of this one that still seems to be ok, and 2 others that are slightly larger.
 
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Kmatzy1228

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sry

sry man that is a shame. I doubt it would be too dry for it to molt like that. I would think peat moss would obsorbe most of the water and contain it. Maybe it had some other problem.
 

P. Novak

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Well, he/she didn't make it. No change from the pictures taken last night, and definitely not moving any more. It was probably already dead when I took those pictures.

What causes them to get stuck in a molt like that? Could it have been too dry? I keep them all on dampened peat, I dampen at least a corner of every enclosure every couple days. This is also the only one in an amac cube that I drilled side holes as well as top holes. Could that have caused it to be too dry? I don't want to lose any more slings.

At least this wasn't my only G.Aureostriata. I have a sibling of this one that still seems to be ok, and 2 others that are slightly larger.
I'm actually not surprised that it didn't make it, but I'm sorry for your loss. Sometimes it being too dry is the issue, but internal hydration is more of a problem then the outer moisture. Either way I don't think that was the culprit. Some Ts just are unlucky and get caught in thier molt. If your T was bigger there may have been something you could have done to save it, but since it was so small nothing you would have done could have saved it. The stress would have killed it anyway. I hope all your other slings make it through all their molts with you.
 

The_Thunderer

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One lesson that could possibly be learned...

I know from my previous experience with snakes, geckos, bearded dragons and tortoises... Sometimes you can do everything exactly right - and still lose some animals. It just happens sometimes.

I'm so sorry for your loss.
 

tarantula3898

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I know everyone says not to touch a T while it molts, so I feel I should share.

I used to have a few Avicular Aviculars and a few times when they were molting I would wash my hands and take medical scissors which I washed too and would cut along some of the old leg molt to speed up the process of getting out. I never once had one die after or at least years after. I do not want to miscommunicate what I said. I did not pick up my present molting T and throw them about the room, lick or breath on them, and certainly did not see my T molting and cut it's ENTIRE molt off. What I did was wait until my T seemed to spend more than 10 minutes trying to get a fraction of a segment out and then made the tiniest of snips to remove some of the grip. The first time I did this every cut seemed to help, so I continued to do this every time I noticed a T was having a hard time molting. My Pinktoes usually took between 1hr and 1.75hr to finish molting, and I never had to make more than 5-6 cuts.

I am sorry for your loss and I hope this helps for next time.
 

Flagg

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It looks like the other G.Aureostriata spiderling I bought at the same time as the subject of this thread, has started to molt.

I bought just the 2 of them as 1/4" spiderlings from Jansen's Inverts back in March, they were my first tarantulas.

What is it about the weather and spiders molting? Rainy day today and several of my spiderlings seem to be molting.

I hope this one makes it and doesn't suffer the same fate as its sibling.
 

Corranthe

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It looks like the other G.Aureostriata spiderling I bought at the same time as the subject of this thread, has started to molt.

I bought just the 2 of them as 1/4" spiderlings from Jansen's Inverts back in March, they were my first tarantulas.

What is it about the weather and spiders molting? Rainy day today and several of my spiderlings seem to be molting.

I hope this one makes it and doesn't suffer the same fate as its sibling.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for your little one. My baby Versicolor molted yesterday and she was so small and thin and a little dried out looking when she started, she was on her back for over an hour and hadn't started so I put her enclosure in the bathroom next to the sink while I took a shower (to make it warm and humid in her enclosure without having to actually mist it) and then she was halfway out by the time I got out of the shower and all the way out about five minutes later. I don't know if that actually helped or if she would have done just fine on her own, but at least I felt pro-active.
 

PhilK

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Maybe rain increases humidity, and lowers the chance of predators being around?
 

Flagg

Arachnosquire
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Yea maybe its as simple as the increased humidity making it a more opportune time for them to molt.

Whatever it is, I'm still worried about this guy even thougn I have about 25 other slings and they molt all the time with no problems. I don't think he's really even started yet, but has been in his burrow on his back for a while now.
 
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