Psalmopoeus Irminia Post Molt ?

Hello, my Psalmopoeus Irminia just got done molting last Thursday night. She seemed to have been in pre molt for awhile….not taking food for 2-3 weeks. Her abdomen was plump and I figured not to worry since she was well fed. Now, after her molt, her abdomen looks like a peanut….very small in comparison to her carapace. She has been hiding and I noticed her abdomen last night. I thought she seemed sluggish by the way she was not reacting to my lifting her enclosure. I am worried that she is starving because of that tiny abdomen. I am hoping she makes it til Friday when I feed her. She is about 2.75" now. I am just shocked that her abdomen changed size so drastically. Am I wigging out for no reason or is this unusual?

Just give her a few days.......that abdomen will enlarge as she "dries out". She'll hide until she's ready to eat....you'll probably see her crawling outside her web.....Mine just molted, as well.....it crawled over to the opening in its web so I offered it a small meal.....It's doing fine, so far.

In all of my researching and reading threads on here I'm very certain that you have nothing to worry about. Although I've not had either of the spiders we have molt I don't think it's a concern for a couple of reasons.

1.) most of the spiders I've seen pics and videos of in the pre-molt stage have rather plump abdomens. Post molt pics are usually considerably smaller. Some of the comments I've seen have mentioned the remarkable "weight" loss.

2.) from what I understand tarantulas take a LONG time to die of starvation. G. rosea apparently can take about 18 months to die of starvation. That species might be at the extreme end of that spectrum but I'm positive a month long fast would be cake for any T. The biggest concern is to make sure your T. has water available and you should be fine.

Good luck!

Freshly molted tarantulas will almost always have tiny abdomens after molting. All that junk in the trunk was used to fill out larger and longer legs/body parts. It will remain small until it gets some food in there, but it is no cause for concern. Just make sure it has access to water and it will be able to wait a couple of weeks before being fed, regardless if how long it fasted beforehand.

Hobo said:

Freshly molted tarantulas will almost always have tiny abdomens after molting. All that junk in the trunk was used to fill out larger and longer legs/body parts. It will remain small until it gets some food in there, but it is no cause for concern. Just make sure it has access to water and it will be able to wait a couple of weeks before being fed, regardless if how long it fasted beforehand.

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I do not have a water dish but I sprayed the sides of the cork and some of her web…I was going to wait on a dish until she upgrades to a bigger home…probably by her next molt. Does this sound good enough or should I add a water dish immediately?

That should be sufficient. I usually leave a few drops of water on their web/molting mat if they have no water dish and it looks like they need a drink.