Molting Early?

I've casually caught some people mention if Ts molt earlier than usual as a mechanism to replace damaged body parts. I think the answer is yes. What have other people observed?

I have an adult female Hapolopus sp. >Pumpkin Patch "large". She's one of my favorite Ts. Anyway back in Jan or Feb, I posted up pics of her after the last molt because she lost BOTH her fangs in molting. The bottom of her abdomen was also not smooth, looked like a difficult molt in that area, which I suspected would be an issue the next time around.

Since that molt she has managed to keep her bp up by drinking more water than usual IMO, and sucking up the juices of only 3 crickets, not a lot of food at all for her esp in this time frame. I always felt she would die early as a result of that difficult molt.

WELL, this morning I woke up to find she MOLTED out of no where. With a brand new set of white fangs!

However, the remainder of her exoskeleton was attached at the bottom of her abdomen where it's rough in texture. I removed the surrounding portion to make mobility easier for her, and I gently placed right up on the tiny water bowl
so she could drink if needed in case there are issues of bleeding that I can't observe, she was just a few millimeters shy of the water. Clearly she's exhausted, I don't know if she will survive or not. I'm quite skeptical she will make it.

And on top of that, my young female C marshalli died for unknown reasons, just as she was getting her horn. She was fully hydrated and getting ready to molt any day/week now, and today I found her right side up, w/her abdomen deflated on the top, like an upside down flat tire sorta.


What a crappy way to start the weekend.

That stinks, losing a t for no reason! I hope your other one feeds and pulls through!

The unexpected molt/invisible premolt has happened to me twice in the past 2 years with reputed 'slow growers'- one with a 'E. pulcherrimaklaasi' and another with a B. albopilosum. This plays into my current opinion of the 'mysterious lump' thread, but I'm just going to wait to see what happens before I pipe in there again. The molts were way way before they should be due, and neither of them had an injury or any sign of stress. Both were also female. I'd be open to an explanation other than the 'variability between individuals' theory that I currently have.....but yes. I've seen this....elevated temps on the both of them, but still. WAY early. And they were both 4"+
Condolences for your marshalli.

horanjp said:

The unexpected molt/invisible premolt has happened to me twice in the past 2 years with reputed 'slow growers'- one with a 'E. pulcherrimaklaasi' and another with a B. albopilosum. This plays into my current opinion of the 'mysterious lump' thread, but I'm just going to wait to see what happens before I pipe in there again. The molts were way way before they should be due, and neither of them had an injury or any sign of stress. Both were also female. I'd be open to an explanation other than the 'variability between individuals' theory that I currently have.....but yes. I've seen this....elevated temps on the both of them, but still. WAY early. And they were both 4"+
Condolences for your marshalli.

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Yeah my marshalli, I have no idea the reason. Shame too because her horn was JUST coming in nicely too.

I'm not out of the woods yet with my Pumpkin Patch. This totally sucks, I bought her as a sling years ago, when they were brand new, rarely do I purchase a brand new species in the hobby right away. It was the only T I knew of that had adult colors as a juvi, and so brilliant too. Plus, to end up with a female on the first shot was just plain lucky.

I'm pretty sure she's going to die today or soon. She hasn't moved an inch, and while she may be alive, quietly sipping water, she sure looks dead/frozen in time. I hate when they clear the molt mostly, and then end up dying right after. I knew the fang loss a couple of months ago spelled trouble.

She definitely molted WAY before she should have, both in time and the amount of food she had, which was nothing compared to her ravenous appetite previously. This totally sucks.

At this rate I'll be left with my female adult and young adult Grammos/Brachy's, my female GBB and my female minatrix.

Crazy that the marshalli just up and died, tough species to just up and die. I hate it when it happens right when you are beginning to see the results of raising it....I lost an albiceps literally JUST before it showed those beautiful colors...bummer.


I'd hold off on your pessimism when it comes to the pumpkin, that one could very well make it. When I had a t with a stuck exo on the abdomen I really moistened the sub and the went right to the moisture and pressed the stuck area into the moisture....within hours it was free.

That thing needed a quick molt to get those fangs back.

Please update with any new news Chris....and best of luck.

cold blood said:

Crazy that the marshalli just up and died, tough species to just up and die. I hate it when it happens right when you are beginning to see the results of raising it....I lost an albiceps literally JUST before it showed those beautiful colors...bummer.


I'd hold off on your pessimism when it comes to the pumpkin, that one could very well make it. When I had a t with a stuck exo on the abdomen I really moistened the sub and the went right to the moisture and pressed the stuck area into the moisture....within hours it was free.

That thing needed a quick molt to get those fangs back.

Please update with any new news Chris....and best of luck.

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Dude, it's not my year so far with Ts at all. From the mysterious Avic passing, to my marshalli. Sadly, I was right, my adult female Hap, died. This totally sucks, totally sucks.

So sorry to hear about your losses. It can be incredibly discouraging.

LythSalicaria said:

So sorry to hear about your losses. It can be incredibly discouraging.

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I'm definitely discouraged. On a good note, I opened my E sp Yellow's container, and true to this locality's behavior it decided to explore outside his home in less than 2 mins. It's a fascinating behavior that none of my species exhibit at all.

Ya lost the hap....that's really too bad after all that...if it was gonna go it should have just done so when it lost the fangs and saved you the time, effort and grief. I think its a conspiracy against you.

cold blood said:

Ya lost the hap....that's really too bad after all that...if it was gonna go it should have just done so when it lost the fangs and saved you the time, effort and grief. I think its a conspiracy against you.

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Agreed. So sad.
Not right to worry all this time and then him not to survive the regenerative molt and thrive.

I'm so sorry Viper.

Viper if your girl don't make it I got a 2nd in star pumpkin patch large I send you for free ole buddy no strings attached one of my females had a sac and guess they all got ate but 2 got another female looks like she about to drop

just1moreT said:

Viper if your girl don't make it I got a 2nd in star pumpkin patch large I send you for free ole buddy no strings attached one of my females had a sac and guess they all got ate but 2 got another female looks like she about to drop

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Hey Just1, oh that's really kind of you. I may just take you up on that one. I need some time to think. Yeah she didn't make it. I was just telling ColdBlood, of all the Ts that I thought was going to die, esp because of a molt, would have been my irminia. He molted and lost 4 legs and pedipalp, prior to that he barely ate for some reason. So I thought for sure he was gonig to die. Yet he managed to eat up a storm, after that bad molt.
He really increased his frequency of eating, like no other T I have except for my female Curly Hair when she was in her growth spurt to adult size. Anyway, 3 molts later my irminia looks like nothing happened. He should have been the one that died, not my Pumpkin.

She was one of my favorites really, my first dwarf too. I didn't even know there were small Ts, till Kelly Swift showed me this localitiy, and I took quite a few pictures of her, because even people that didn't like Ts, liked there was an orange/black T for Halloween hahah, and were amazed by how brilliant the colors are on that species. When you think about there aren't a lot of Ts that stand out that brilliantly with only 2 colors.

Well if you so decide to let me know man