Unusual sling behavior (please help)

borotasinisa

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 31, 2014
Messages
19
A friends sling of L.parahybana was on her back for 3 days and haven't molted, he properly turned up heat and humidity, for shorter story it looked like this: http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2rrxok6&s=8 , before the ''molt'' she was bending her legs below the body, but soon afterwards she went on her back.. Today he turned the T in normal position with a stick after 3 days on her back (she was cooperative, I mean it was not forced) and she seems to walk fine, only with some rapid leg moves (similar to how she throws urticating hairs)... What is going on and how you thing we should help the T?
 

skippydude

Arachnobaron
Joined
Feb 3, 2013
Messages
487
Did it complete the molt? Or did he start poking at it during the molt? When a T is on it's back trying to molt, you should let it be, even if it takes days.
 

borotasinisa

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 31, 2014
Messages
19
It didn't complete the molt, it seems like it's something more serious.. Did you see the vid?
 

Tfisher

Arachno-Geek
Joined
Sep 28, 2014
Messages
251
During molting with this large sp. you should be able to see splits in the carapace. It could be she's having trouble molting. Honestly I would have left her. No need to be worried for even a couple weeks on her back. It's not like she'll starve... I don't want to be a bearer of bad news but a tarantula feeling threatened during it's most defenseless stage could have really scared her. You have to remember tarantulas take weeks to start this process that's why it's called pre molt. Hopefully she's not aborting the molt due to threat, as this can strangle her with her own old skin. If she decides to flip over again let her be. I would try and not disturb her for now.
 

borotasinisa

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 31, 2014
Messages
19
Her abdomen has not been black or anything, the didn't look like it was in premolt, look at the video clip, it's all rapid movements and no cracks in carapace....
 

Tfisher

Arachno-Geek
Joined
Sep 28, 2014
Messages
251
Her abdomen has not been black or anything, the didn't look like it was in premolt, look at the video clip, it's all rapid movements and no cracks in carapace....
Black spot does not guarantee pre molt, in most cases its a great hint but I wouldn't use only that method. I've had several species especially slings not give this sign. I still put my chips on crisis during molt. Just wait it out and let nature run its course. Now if lp goes into molt and seems to be struggling, its exhausted its energy to complete the molt do what you can to help. A friend of mine used a paper cup and cut the bottom out and suspended it over another container. He got cheap cotton balls and unrolled it to simulate webbing. He then up it on a shelf closest to the ceiling. This idea was to use gravity to assist the sling to complete the molt. The sling made it but could not free itself from two legs so they were amputated. To wrap the story up the sling lived another three weeks then died for no apparent reason. There is only so much we can do as keepers. :(
 

awiec

Arachnoprince
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
1,325
Any more opinions people?
If it attempts it again, I would leave it and maybe bump up the humidity. There are tons of slings who don't make it in the wild due to various causes, including not being able to molt right, so your friend might just have a weakling of a specimen.
 
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