am i doing something wrong?

solaceofwinter · Mar 12, 2006

my gbb shed last night but just like my a geniculta's last molt most of the abdomen did not shed. as most people have suggested ive kept the spiders more on the drier side i just think it is too coincidental that this happened. the gbb was too small for a water dish but ate very well and i misted one side every 2-3 days. never saw it drink but assumed much of its hydration needs were comming from its prey. am i doing something wrong? too dry? my suntiger or l.parahybana have neither had this problem. same room conditions. just luck of the draw?

bonesmama · Mar 12, 2006

For me,fear of dessication outweighs the fear of a sling drowning in a water bowl.
I've had the same thing happen in the first molt of a couple of my slings when I first got them. Now they all get water dishes of some sort, (anything that's shallow and holds water will do) as soon as I get them. I've never had a problem molt with a sling that I've had for awhile. Some people may think this is a coincidence (sp?) but I think it's the water.

solaceofwinter · Mar 12, 2006

yeah im trying to think of something for the few without. my l.parahybana just really is too small for one. about 1/4" still. the gbb is big enough now where i think i can get away with something. suntiger is just going to wait till it gets a new home very soon.

MindUtopia · Mar 12, 2006

It could be dehydration. It could also just be some sort of weird unfortunate coincidence. If it helps, I actually use small shallow water dishes (about the size and depth of the lid of a film canister) with all my slings over 1 inch. I've never had a bad molt or a sling drown, so maybe that is an option for you. How did everything turn out? Were you able to get the exuvium off?

solaceofwinter · Mar 12, 2006

its just odd, the a geniculta drinks quit a bit but still had the skin stuck. im not even going to try to get it of ill just wait to see if she will shed it next round. the gbb shed most of it and is fine. its weird. the one that drank the most had the most problems... all my spiders are very healthy and fat. its always the abdomen part that sticks, legs come right out. the only thing i can think of is i keep them both on the drier side... but my suntiger is kept very dry without a water dish, misted 2-3 days make sure plenty goes into her burrow so it can get some if it wants and its doing the best of all.

jbrd · Mar 12, 2006

What are you feeding your T's?

solaceofwinter · Mar 12, 2006

crickets...

jbrd · Mar 12, 2006

Do you gut load your crics? I feed mine apple's, carrots or potatoes etc etc. This might help get more hydration into your T's. just a thought.

solaceofwinter · Mar 12, 2006

yeah i gut load'em too.

Scorpiove · Mar 12, 2006

I think its coincidence. The time it happened to me with a sling of mine, it also had plenty of moisture and water on the side of the container to drink from.

elliot · Mar 13, 2006

if you are misting the slings a bit every 2 or 3 days then they should have enough water to drink if they choose to. if they're not thirsty, then there's not much more to do. I suspect a co-incidence... it's far from impossible.

people who keep their spiders very humid have bad molts occur too.

glad your GBB is ok.

bonesmama · Mar 13, 2006

elliot said:
if you are misting the slings a bit every 2 or 3 days then they should have enough water to drink if they choose to. if they're not thirsty, then there's not much more to do. I suspect a co-incidence... it's far from impossible.

people who keep their spiders very humid have bad molts occur too.

Yes, but adequate hydration and humidity are two different things...if you had to say which was more important, wouldn't you say hydration?

nine livez · Mar 13, 2006

mist daily, and keep the temp up. thats all i can say

DanHalen · Mar 13, 2006

nine livez said:
mist daily, and keep the temp up. thats all i can say

I wouldnt do that for a GBB myself - Daily misting, and a high temp would give a pretty high humidity.

GBB's dont really appreciate higher humidity - In fact, it *can* kill them.

elliot · Mar 13, 2006

bonesmama said:
elliot said:

if you are misting the slings a bit every 2 or 3 days then they should have enough water to drink if they choose to. if they're not thirsty, then there's not much more to do. I suspect a co-incidence... it's far from impossible.

people who keep their spiders very humid have bad molts occur too.

Click to expand...

Yes, but adequate hydration and humidity are two different things...if you had to say which was more important, wouldn't you say hydration?

absolutely agree. maybe I wasn't clear.

I think GBBs definately do better in a dry environment, but they absolutely need adequate hydration. if you choose not to give your slings a water dish, as is the case with the original poster, I think a good idea is to wet one wall so the sling can drink the water dropplets. It looks like he was doing that, which I assume means that the spider had enough water to drink. Therefore I think the bad molt was just bad luck, not improper keeping.

nine livez said:
mist daily, and keep the temp up. thats all i can say

this makes no sense to me, especially considering what species of spider we are talking about here.

Windchaser · Mar 13, 2006

How big were your tarantulas? I am not sure there is much to worry about. I have observed that smaller slings will on occasion finish a molt with the exuvium stuck by the abdomen. What I have seen is that the exuvium is always very loosely stuck and it seems to be more a symptom of the fact that the exuvium is so light that it just doesn't pull off all the way. I have not seen any cases for small slings where the molt wasn't complete. For larger tarantulas, there is simply more mass to the exuvium and it will fall off and detach completely. For small slings, it looks like they have actually completed the molt, yet the exuvium is stuck. It is more like tarantula static cling then anything else.

solaceofwinter · Mar 13, 2006

the a geniculta is about 2.5" legspan now it seemed as though the entire abdomen did not shed at all.
the GBB that just shed was about 1/2" now just about 3/4" seems to have shed 90%.
im summing it up to coincidence i just hope it doesnt make the next sheds a problem. there was no way to remove the shed from the a geniculta since 0% came off...

smof · Mar 13, 2006

solaceofwinter said:
yeah im trying to think of something for the few without. my l.parahybana just really is too small for one. about 1/4" still. the gbb is big enough now where i think i can get away with something. suntiger is just going to wait till it gets a new home very soon.

I have a GBB that is 0.75" and I wanted to give it a water dish but something it wouldn't drown in, so I got an empty blister pack - like the ones you get cold & flu pills in - and cut out one of the 'pockets'. Makes a tiny little dish. Though now I have the problem of trying to refill it when it's underneath an inch-thick multiple-level layer of web. I guess I need a pipette or something. Anyway, that's an idea for you.

elliot · Mar 13, 2006

smof said:
I have a GBB that is 0.75" and I wanted to give it a water dish but something it wouldn't drown in, so I got an empty blister pack - like the ones you get cold & flu pills in - and cut out one of the 'pokcets'. Makes a tiny little dish. Though now I have the problem of trying to refill it when it's underneath an inch-thick multiple-level layer of web. I guess I need a pipette or something. Anyway, that's an idea for you.

that's really cute.

am i doing something wrong?

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