GBB sling long premolt

[Driller64]

Good news! The GBB sling somehow shaved all the hairs off a small section of its abdomen, revealing that it is in fact in premolt

 

[Driller64]

I believe I may have accidentally disturbed my GBB sling while it was attempting to molt. I found my GBB sling on its hide with its legs stretched out. Since this is an odd position for it (I rarely do this anymore to it, so don't scold me) I opened up the cage and prodded it a little, just a little. It reacted in much the same way as it did when I disturbed it while it was molting last time. However, this time I recognized this and stopped disturbing it immediately and closed the cage up. Now I am worried it will be stuck and die. It lived the last time I accidentally did this, so let's hope it makes it through!

 

[Tivia]

Ok, this isn't something that I would normally post on, but I can help it since I have a GBB sling in premolt myself. Why? Why would you disturb it? Especially since you said you did this exact thing before. I am just having a hard time wrapping my head around this. I'm glad you realized what you were doing and stopped, but you ready caused it more stress during a very stressful time.

 

[Driller64]

I believe I may have accidentally disturbed my GBB sling while it was attempting to molt. I found my GBB sling on its hide with its legs stretched out. Since this is an odd position for it (I rarely do this anymore to it, so don't scold me) I opened up the cage and prodded it a little, just a little. It reacted in much the same way as it did when I disturbed it while it was molting last time. However, this time I recognized this and stopped disturbing it immediately and closed the cage up. Now I am worried it will be stuck and die. It lived the last time I accidentally did this, so let's hope it makes it through!

Update. I seems to be pulsating upright now, which is good. At least that's a good sign

 

[Tivia]

Also, you didn't accidental disturb it if you made the conscious choice to open up the enclosure and prod it.

 

[Driller64]

BTW I think I will cry a little if it dies because it has been with me the longest

---------- Post added 05-21-2014 at 09:38 PM ----------

BTW I think I will cry a little if it dies because it has been with me the longest

Scratch that, because I just went upstairs and found that it has popped out of its old exo and has commenced the molt!

 

[awiec]

Knowing your history the best advice I can give is BREATH. Being a hover owner is just going to get you another dead T. Sometimes they are not hungry and don't wanna eat, then are hungry again. All you need to do is provide fresh water and leave it the heck alone and take out un-eaten food. My G.pulchripes refused food for a few weeks then ate a few more times then decided to molt. I knew it was going to molt because of the classic darkening of the abdomen and legs so I made sure it had water and I left it alone. Don't make me come out to NJ to teach you how to relax and care for your T's

 

[Driller64]

I think I know why this is happening but still am a little angry. I checked on my GBB sling and found that a few hairs had been lost from its abdomen, revealing the pitch black skin of premolt. Again, I believe it is in premolt once again so soon because of two reasons: 1. I fed it a little more than I did last time, and fed it larger crickets, and 2. It is warmer outside and in my room, but still I am a little mad that I had to wait five months for it to molt last time, and now here it is in premolt again after just a month!

 

[awiec]

I think I know why this is happening but still am a little angry. I checked on my GBB sling and found that a few hairs had been lost from its abdomen, revealing the pitch black skin of premolt. Again, I believe it is in premolt once again so soon because of two reasons: 1. I fed it a little more than I did last time, and fed it larger crickets, and 2. It is warmer outside and in my room, but still I am a little mad that I had to wait five months for it to molt last time, and now here it is in premolt again after just a month!

why be mad? I am still waiting for my female C.darligi to molt and its been 6 months. Summer is always when spiders molt a lot cause well its warm, there is lots of food (if they were in the wild) and this is when their body tells them this is the time to molt. Nearly everything I have in my collection has molted in the past 2 months besides my A.versicolor (this thing has been at 1.5 inches for months) and my C.darlingi. Your spider is in an environment where the environmental cues are very subtle and not as easy to detect than if it where wild. There is always food for it and the temperature is pretty much the same all the time in your home. I try to assist a little with the cues by allowing natural sun light my room up, they pick up on day lengths very well and in the winter time I cut the rations as winter time generally does not have much food or is an appropriate time to molt. I expect at least half of my collection to molt again before fall hits as I'm more generous with food in the summer as thus is the time Ts are most likely to molt so just enjoy your slings and just remember to BREATH. Tarantulas can for the most part care for themselves, all you need to do is deliver some drink and dinner.

 

[Driller64]

I believe my GBB sling is trying to molt now, as it is half turned on its back and half clinging to its hide. This time I recognized the signs and did not disturb it. But as a slightly off topic thing, can the vibrations produced by you walking around in your T room disrupt molting Ts?

 

[cold blood]

I believe my GBB sling is trying to molt now, as it is half turned on its back and half clinging to its hide. This time I recognized the signs and did not disturb it. But as a slightly off topic thing, can the vibrations produced by you walking around in your T room disrupt molting Ts?

I wouldn't worry about walking around.

 

[Driller64]

I wouldn't worry about walking around.

But non molting Ts in my T room are sometimes disrupted by me walking in my room.

BTW the GBB sling is pulsating now

---------- Post added 06-30-2014 at 02:36 PM ----------

It appears that the GBB sling is coming out of its shell, quite literally

I can't take a photo now, but I will once it is finished.

---------- Post added 06-30-2014 at 02:49 PM ----------

I don't know if you can see this, but it's blue

 

[awiec]

But non molting Ts in my T room are sometimes disrupted by me walking in my room.

BTW the GBB sling is pulsating now

---------- Post added 06-30-2014 at 02:36 PM ----------

It appears that the GBB sling is coming out of its shell, quite literally

I can't take a photo now, but I will once it is finished.

---------- Post added 06-30-2014 at 02:49 PM ----------

I don't know if you can see this, but it's blue

I straight up dance in my room, none of my Ts have been bothered by it and they complete their molting business. And yes GBBs change color on par with A.versicolor. Mine is probably one molt away from losing its gold carapace as it has no orange on its legs anymore.

 

[Driller64]

I keep finding my GBB sling with some, never all, of its legs curled underneath its body. After tapping on the container lightly which I do when I find my Ts in this position because sometimes they are just sitting in a funny position that merely looks like a death curl, it bolts and behaves normally for several hours before I see this position again! Is it just doing some post molt stretching, or should I be worried?

 

[awiec]

I keep finding my GBB sling with some, never all, of its legs curled underneath its body. After tapping on the container lightly which I do when I find my Ts in this position because sometimes they are just sitting in a funny position that merely looks like a death curl, it bolts and behaves normally for several hours before I see this position again! Is it just doing some post molt stretching, or should I be worried?

Its probably just exercising, my C.darlingi sits in all sorts of postions but she is very healthy. Remember the last time you tampered with your T? Yeah so leave it alone for now.

 

[skippydude]

I keep finding my GBB sling with some, never all, of its legs curled underneath its body. After tapping on the container lightly which I do when I find my Ts in this position because sometimes they are just sitting in a funny position that merely looks like a death curl, it bolts and behaves normally for several hours before I see this position again! Is it just doing some post molt stretching, or should I be worried?

My smaller GBBs do this too. Since they snap out of the curled position to snatch the roach from the tweezers, I never really gave it a second thought :?
After they grow to about 1 1/2" they quit doing it so much. It may just be an instinctive defense mechanism, when curled up they would be harder for predators to see.

 

[LythSalicaria]

Yeah my tiny LD sling does this too; tomorrow I'll be unpacking a GBB sling of my own. After it's been in its new home for a week or so I'll post an update to let you know if it behaves similarly.

And I'll also parrot awiec: Leave it alone. Tapping on enclosures is in no way a good method for checking on your slings. Here's how I check on my slings: Water disappearing from water dish? Check. Food being eaten? Check. If food isn't being eaten, I leave the sling in question alone for a couple days to a week and then try feeding again - virtually every time, the food is gone. I can understand the fears, for the first little while I was worried about my B. vagans sling because it buried itself in the substrate and has yet to surface. I debated digging it up and putting it into a smaller enclosure with less substrate, but I rethought that because I knew it would stress out the sling. Now it has a few burrows that are visible at the bottom and sides of its enclosure, so I'm able to get a glimpse of it every few days when it's in the right place at the right time. The moral of that little story is, don't stress! Hovering, poking, prodding are not helpful in any way - you might get a brief moment of reassurance that your T is alive, but your T ends up terrified.