Is this a sign of pre-moult

If you mean the black patch on the abdomen... No It isn't.

What kind of T is it?

There is a alot of threads here showing what a premolt T will look like, although yours does look dark overall but I'm not sure what T you have so I can't say wether that's it's natural colouration...

Looks like my LP sling a few months ago. And yes it looks like premolt. But it's early premolt. But being that it's a sling, it will probably be in heavy premolt in 48 hrs and molted in 96 hours. Just my 2c.

That black patch is the urticating hair patch, and is not a sign of premolt. When it's in premolt, the ENTIRE abdomen will darken.

Take a look here, there are numerous examples of what tarantulas in premolt and not in molt look like:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/sho...pre-molt-looks-like&highlight=premolt+picture (We need to add more photos to this and eventually get it stickied.)

Shell said:

That black patch is the urticating hair patch, and is not a sign of premolt. When it's in premolt, the ENTIRE abdomen will darken.

Click to expand...

Shell and psta6140, this is not quite correct. Tarantulas aren't that simple. Sorry.

Psta6140, your tarantula is still a baby, and has an almost completely bare abdomen EXCEPT for the patch of urticating bristles (UB). (These are the bristles that come loose easily and make you itch.) Thus, you can see the bare skin on most of the abdomen except what's under those UB. And, as your baby tarantula approaches a molt, and the new exoskeleton's bristles begin to darken, all the bare skin on the abdomen will also turn dark or black, except the patch of UB. But, remember that in your specific baby, the UB are already black. In a beige colored tarantula the bare skin would turn dark, but the UB would remain beige. Am I confusing you? (Even I had to re-read this paragraph!)

Once your tarantula has grown and aged to the point where it is completely covered with bristles, there will no longer be any bare skin to watch turn black. Unless it has lost some or all of its UB. In which the whole pattern will be the reverse of what it appears now: Solid colored abdomen, covered with bristles, that doesn't change color or turn black. But, if your tarantula loses a bunch of those UB, that WILL expose the skin, and that's what you will see turning from gray, tan, or flesh color to black.

The point is that the condition reverses itself as the baby grows.

The baby has lots of bare skin that turns black, and a small patch of bristles that doesn't change from whatever color it normally is.

The adult has an abdomen with no bare skin. It's completely covered with bristles that don't change whatever color they normally are. Except that if it loses some of the UB, that exposes some bare skin that DOES turn dark or black.

One seems to be the exact reverse of the other.

Now that you know what's happening, and what to expect, I'd strongly urge that you continue to take photos and document, molt by molt, what happens as the baby tarantula makes the transition to its adult "plumage." Then post the photos here. And, maybe, write up a little story about it and submit it and your photos to the American Tarantula Society's editor, Rhys Brigida, for publication in their Forum Magazine.

It may interest you to know that tarantulas have been working on this for tens of millions of years just so they could confuse us.

Enjoy your little 8-legged prankster!

Pikaia said:

Shell and psta6140, this is not quite correct. Tarantulas aren't that simple. Sorry.

Psta6140, your tarantula is still a baby, and has an almost completely bare abdomen EXCEPT for the patch of urticating bristles (UB). (These are the bristles that come loose easily and make you itch.) Thus, you can see the bare skin on most of the abdomen except what's under those UB. And, as your baby tarantula approaches a molt, and the new exoskeleton's bristles begin to darken, all the bare skin on the abdomen will also turn dark or black, except the patch of UB. But, remember that in your specific baby, the UB are already black. In a beige colored tarantula the bare skin would turn dark, but the UB would remain beige. Am I confusing you? (Even I had to re-read this paragraph!)

Once your tarantula has grown and aged to the point where it is completely covered with bristles, there will no longer be any bare skin to watch turn black. Unless it has lost some or all of its UB. In which the whole pattern will be the reverse of what it appears now: Solid colored abdomen, covered with bristles, that doesn't change color or turn black. But, if your tarantula loses a bunch of those UB, that WILL expose the skin, and that's what you will see turning from gray, tan, or flesh color to black.

The point is that the condition reverses itself as the baby grows.

The baby has lots of bare skin that turns black, and a small patch of bristles that doesn't change from whatever color it normally is.

The adult has an abdomen with no bare skin. It's completely covered with bristles that don't change whatever color they normally are. Except that if it loses some of the UB, that exposes some bare skin that DOES turn dark or black.

Click to expand...

Thanks Stan, very aware of all of this, and that my reply was not the full answer. I just didn't have the time to sit down and write something that long. I meant the abdomen will darken in premolt, which it does, whether you can see it (in a baby) or not (in an adult). I was more making the statement that the patch of urticating hairs does NOT indicate pre molt, since many people seem to think, that in babies, that is what it means.

Shell said:

Thanks Stan, very aware of all of this, and that my reply was not the full answer. I just didn't have the time to sit down and write something that long. I meant the abdomen will darken in premolt, which it does, whether you can see it (in a baby) or not (in an adult). I was more making the statement that the patch of urticating hairs does NOT indicate pre molt, since many people seem to think, that in babies, that is what it means.

Click to expand...

Of course. I should've guessed. Sorry.

Pikaia said:

Of course. I should've guessed. Sorry.

Click to expand...

It's all good, Stan.