Molt delaying

lacrosse5001

lacrosse5001

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TL;DR: Can tarantulas push back their molt until it is safe to do so?

Backstory:
I recently transferred my GBB sling (~1.5") into a nice new enclosure, but the substrate was s bit damp so he was all huffy and hung out on a little platform near the lid (the really useful box has a weird setup). I kept trying to herd him down into his hide when the substrate dried out, but every night he was back up, and has now made himself a web platform up there. I know he is in premolt as he has been refusing food for a while and the colors are getting dull. Eventually I realized how dumb I was being and just let him do what he wanted, and I am curious if my stupidity/stressing him out caused him to refuse molting for longer than need be since he was stressed out. Thoughts?
 
awiec

awiec

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I interrupted my n.chromatus sling on accident yesterday when I was doing roll call. It flipped back over and hid. It then resumed a few hours later and molted successfully. It sounds like it's readjusting to the new digs and will molt when it feels safe. Perhaps put it somewhere quiet and dark like a closet for a few days, that should help it relax faster. I've transferred ts and have them molt hours after transfer so some adjust faster than others.
 
tonypace2009

tonypace2009

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It makes since that it would hold of molting until it felt more secure hence the web platform. They can hold of molting for a short time. Seems that it would stress the spider more
 
cold blood

cold blood

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You hear it all the time with people who keep a lot of t's....Get a week of rain or high humidity and they seem to molt in mass. There's got to be certain environmental triggers that they seem to prefer IME. Just last week we had nearly a week of exceptional humidity, I had 7 molts, and I only have 17 t's. Some of those had been in pre-molt for a long time (like 3.5 weeks for a 1.5" P. cam), others molted before I even knew they were pre-molt (mmmmm, good hiders they were).
 
philthyxphil

philthyxphil

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I adopted a G pulchripes from a friend who had no business owning a tarantula. He kept it in a cube shaped enclosure with less than an inch of substrate. The day I got it, I added more substrate, and overnight it had borrowed and molted. Maybe it was just scheduled to molt, but I like to think it was waiting until it felt secure.
 
Neoza

Neoza

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cold blood said:
You hear it all the time with people who keep a lot of t's....Get a week of rain or high humidity and they seem to molt in mass. There's got to be certain environmental triggers that they seem to prefer IME. Just last week we had nearly a week of exceptional humidity, I had 7 molts, and I only have 17 t's. Some of those had been in pre-molt for a long time (like 3.5 weeks for a 1.5" P. cam), others molted before I even knew they were pre-molt (mmmmm, good hiders they were).
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Interesting discovery! Realy cool to know!
 
lacrosse5001

lacrosse5001

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Sprocket just molted :D
Perhaps wetting some substrate helped, but he did have plenty of time (2 weeks).
 
F

fuzzyavics72

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High humidity will trigger molts and egg sacs. Depending on species since, I don't use damp substrate for dryer species, but the damp ecoearth helps bring up the humidity and there's a molt or egg sac lol.
 
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Poec54

Poec54

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fuzzyavics72 said:
High humidity will trigger molts and egg sacs.
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+1. I get dozens of spiders molting when we've had a few rainy days, which would lead me to believe that they're ready to go and wait for favorable circumstances.
 
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awiec

awiec

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Poec54 said:
+1. I get dozens of spider molting when we've had a few rainy days, which would lead me to believe that they're ready to go and wait for favorable circumstances.
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Sometimes I try to "encourage" molts by upping the humidity a bit, the Ts don't know it's not the wet season but it helps them to decide when to molt.
 
Poec54

Poec54

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awiec said:
Sometimes I try to "encourage" molts by upping the humidity a bit, the Ts don't know it's not the wet season but it helps them to decide when to molt.
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When it's warm/hot, molting at a dry time can be risky. Much better to molt when the humidity's higher so the molting fluids don't dry prematurely.
 
awiec

awiec

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Poec54 said:
When it's warm/hot, molting at a dry time can be risky. Much better to molt when the humidity's higher so the molting fluids don't dry prematurely.
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Very much so, I don't like having to pull spiders out of molts if I can avoid it so I provide the best environment I can for them during that time.
 
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