WHOA! Bad molt out of nowhere please help!

[CodeWilster]

My Brachypelma auratum molted yesterday, but it was a bad molt. I've never seen this before, and I've consulted a couple pros and they haven't either. So now it's up for everybody to see, anybody who has seen or had this problem please let me know. I'll give a quick description and hypothesis but the pic pretty much explains it all. So the T molted and apparently (in my opinion) it was a premature molt, or the new cuticle got stuck to the older skin. I'm not sure if it was lack of moisture that caused this or what, her abdomen was black (hemolymph between old and new skin like normal) just like it should be and she even seemed to get out of her old skin smoothly (minus 1/2 the skin though); but that part is over and I'm trying to figure out what to do now. Her abdomen looks like a human scab or something, it's very dry and cracky, and is considerably lower than the skin around it that did develop properly (she's basically missing a layer of skin). Even though she is a desert-subdesert/tropical species, I am now keeping her a bit warmer and very moist. I put a few drops of water on her abdomen which possibly helped. I'm just worried that like chapped lips as she feeds and the abdomen swells it will split and crack and consequently bleed. Any help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! I've had tons of spiders for a long time now and this is my first molting problem I've had to face, and it looks like a tough one. I would love to know what happened and why, and what I need to do, if anything different than what I am doing already. Please help and God bless...Thanks (pm or e-mail codewilster@yahoo.com)

 

[Talkenlate04]

The abdomen skin did not come off. You can see near the top close to the carapace that the exo came off some and you can see the new exo but it did not come all the way off. This means that more then likely the book lungs were not shed ether. Keep the water dish full, wait for it to harden up, feed, and hope the next molt goes better. I hope it makes it that long. Keep us updated.
When things like this happen sometimes they can turn around and molt again in a short period of time to correct the problem. The more I look the more it looks like the new layer was not all the way formed there too.

 

[DrAce]

Honestly, I have no advice, but it really does look like what you, and Talken, have both suggested - incorrect growth of the new skin and/or a lack of shedding of the old.

My only advice is to probably run with what Talken suggests. He's done most of it before.

Good luck.

 

[Talkenlate04]

It is awful looking that is for sure.
I got my fingers crossed that it gets to the next molt ok.
Try not to handle it to much, I am not to sure how well those book lungs are working and she could easily be exhausted which could cause problems.

 

[CodeWilster]

B. auratum

I guess if I'm I'm going to keep a ginormous collection of T's and raise them all up to maturity this kind of experience is going to pay off, and something was inevitable by now anyway. Anyway thanks for the replies, and to talkenlate, her book lungs are there in the molt so that means she shed them fine right? If you look at the pic closely she has hair at the base of the abdomen and she also does underneath her abdomen. It's just this big chunk of exo on top that's missing. She seems to be acting okay right now (yes I know it's only two days later) I ketch her walking around all of the time. Ever since I dropped a couple drops of water on her abdomen and have been keeping the tank moist it doesn't look near as dried out and cracky as in the pic. I'm keeping her in a 5.5 gallon tank with now moist coco bedding and a big hideaway. Above the tank is a little cabinet light that keeps the cabinet pretty darn warm, so I keep a towel over her enclosure but that light alone keeps the tank at about 80F. So she's in a warm humid and dark tank. I noticed yesterday that her abdomen shriveled up a bit more than it was in the pic, I have a feeling she's going to be hungry soon. I'm going to add a second water bowl. I'm just throwing all of these details out so hopefully I can get replies like "yeah that's good" or "NO! stop!". I rarely handle my T's, definitely not because of fear, but because half of mine are pet holes I don't feel like digging up and in general I don't like to disturb them when I don't have to. So no, I have not even touched the B. auratum yet. I'll wait until she starts feeding and acting healthy again (pray she does!) then I'll give her a quick examination and will take more pics. Thanks so much everybody, continue to help me/her out, and please anybody else with experience with something like this; ALL opinions are greatly appreciated!

 

[Talkenlate04]

With the book lungs having shed that is a very good thing, this obviously means she is hopefully getting oxygen properly and she should be somewhat normal in the behavior department including her feeding. Good luck man everything you are doing sounds ok so far. Keep us updated.

 

[Truff135]

I don't want to thread hijack but I just lost my b. boehmei female to a bad molt last Monday. I have no idea what went wrong; full water dish all the time, I even misted about every other day knowing that she was nearing a molt, and yet she got stuck. Looked like her fangs were still stuck and the back half of her abdomen (near the spinerettes) was still stuck. After 24 hours she made it maybe 1/3 of the way through the molt. I re-misted the tank and put her next to a heater with damp towels on top and everything to keep it humid and warm in there, to no avail. The misting made her wiggle around and when she did that, she started bleeding from the mouth area. I waited a little while longer to see what she'd do but there was no movement after that. Unfortunately I decided that the freezer was the best option. I know people say tarantulas can make it through some amazing things but the odds seemed against her with 2/3 of the way still to go through the molt and bleeding at that. I would never ever resort to the freezer unless I felt it was necessary, and this time it was (so no flaming please). I couldn't stand the thought of her being exhausted and bleeding to death. Honestly though I think she had passed from the bleeding before she ever made it to the freezer. The next day I left work early depressed and heartbroken, but gave her a proper burial.

Anyhow, I guess my point was that I feel your pain, I really do. I guess sometimes things like this just happen but that doesn't help the hurt. Please keep us posted on how it turns out, I'd hate to see another brachy go to a bad molt.

I apologize for tossing my story in there, I guess I just had to get it out.

 

[CodeWilster]

Anyhow, I guess my point was that I feel your pain, I really do. I guess sometimes things like this just happen but that doesn't help the hurt. Please keep us posted on how it turns out, I'd hate to see another brachy go to a bad molt.

I apologize for tossing my story in there, I guess I just had to get it out.

It's not a problem...your post kind of made me feel a little more fortunate. I'm sorry that happened that's horrible!!! I pretty much do the same thing with my T's when they are approaching a molt. The second I see the bald black abdomen I usually throw in a second water dish and raise the humidity and heat slightly. However if I ever ketch a spider in the middle of a molt, I NEVER disturb it. The humidity may help them slide out of thier old exo but the misting will stress the spider out much more than it is worth. And as for the bleeding, should this happen again and I sure hope that it does not, dab some baking powder (corn starch/flour) on the wound. Another way to possibly help in case of emergency, drop a few drops of lukewarm water onto the old skin (this will help loosen it and it will hopefully slide off more smoothly). Again, only do these things in case of emergency. So sorry to hear about your brachy but thank you for sharing Bad molts happen and more people should be aware and prepared because they can seriously come out of nowhere. I'll keep everyone posted, but my B. auratum seems to be doing okay. She's sitting on the log a few inches from the towel that is heated by the light bulb above her. I think I'll try to give her a cricket again...

 

[Talkenlate04]

She's sitting on the log a few inches from the towel that is heated by the light bulb above her. I think I'll try to give her a cricket again...

Light bulb heating is not the best of methods. You can cause far more bad than good using that as a heat source.

 

[CodeWilster]

Light bulb heating is not the best of methods. You can cause far more bad than good using that as a heat source.

It's very high above the enclosure, and to keep direct light/heat from the enclosure I threw a towel over the screen (in case you misread it, it's the towel that gets most of the heat). It doesn't heat the tank directly anyway, it's just a cabinet light and as long as I keep it on and keep the doors shut the entire cabinet is about 78-80F. I house four T's (and their 5.5 gallon enclosures) in there that are all heated in this way by this one little lamp. I'm assuming you thought I had a heat lamp sitting on top of the tank and no I do not. None of my tanks are heated in this way, nor with a heat pad/mat rock or anything else. They are all whatever my room temperature happens to be, which is usually 75-80F. The only exception is this cabinet Thanks though

 

[CodeWilster]

update

She ate!!! I am happy to say this girl finally ate a nice sized cricket. *huge sigh of relief* other than that she is looking like she was. I feel much better now. I'll have to load her up quick so she can hopefully molt this crap off soon...

 

[beanb142002]

I am sorry to hear the bad molt story. But since she ate, this shows she does have enough stamina to survive.

I too have a female B. Auratum and I could only imagine what it must be with a Brachy so nice as an Auratum having a bad molt.

But lets stay focused on the positive side. She ate so she must have an appetite. Since she has an appetite her body is receptive of food and since food is digested and digestion needs oxygen, her book lungs should be fine

In fact, if she wasn't getting adequate oxygen from damaged or malfunctioning book lungs she probably would not have had the strength to eat the cricket in the first place.

So everything looks to be going well!!!!

 

[CodeWilster]

I am sorry to hear the bad molt story. But since she ate, this shows she does have enough stamina to survive.....So everything looks to be going well!!!!

Lol thanks. And I looked over the entire post and I've realized there may have been a misunderstanding. Some people were saying how that's just old exoskeleton skin on her abdomen, it's extremely difficult to tell by the picture but no it is not. If it was, I would have been able to wet it and peel it off and there be a nice fuzzy abdomen underneath. So the thing is (and what may have not been entirely clear before) is that there is no old skin stuck to her. The newest exo overlaps that nasty spot. What you see is the layer of skin you would see should you peel a chunk of your T's skin off (sorry). It's just an all dried out underlayer (like the dermis pealed off a human...yuck sorry again) I examined her molt afterward and the molt looked normal. And another thing is her abdomen was bald before she molted, and dark black. My only guess is her abdomen was not entirely developed before she molted, or, she molted and the outermost layer of her exo got stuck to the old skin and came off when she molted (ouch). Definitely curious to know and only God knows why, but right now I don't really care because that parts over. Now I just have to hold her little tarsis and hope she gets through the next molt and everything's okay...lol Thanks again everyone who's posted, e-mailed, or even viewed this. Comments are always welcome.

 

[c'est ma]

She ate!!! I am happy to say this girl finally ate a nice sized cricket. *huge sigh of relief* other than that she is looking like she was. I feel much better now. I'll have to load her up quick so she can hopefully molt this crap off soon...

So glad to hear the good news! Doesn't even seem that long to have waited...my Brachys easily go a week or a few days more after molting before they're hungry. (But I always offer them something too early, "just in case," and always have to fish it out again. :wall: :wall: )

Your description sounds a lot worse than having old exoskeleton stuck to her, but maybe if the healed-over area is tough enough, when it's time to molt again the new exo will form under it just as if it were the original cuticle...

Great update!

--Diane

 

[Bosing]

happy for your T and of course for you also, sir! If the T eats regularly the next molt will not take that long. Here's hoping for the best!

 

[CodeWilster]

happy for your T and of course for you also, sir! If the T eats regularly the next molt will not take that long. Here's hoping for the best!

Thanks a lot man, she's eating heavily now too I just got to pray the next molt goes okay and her problems literally slip right off of her back

 

[CodeWilster]

Update

Alright so it's only been a couple months since this incident, but she's looking sooooo much better. Take a look at my very first pic and then the ones below. She's eaten a ton of food and her abdomen seems to stretch just fine with the growing belly As of the past week, she's stopped eating. It will probably be a while but maybe she's rapidly made it to premolt already to fix this problem. Still a nasty sight but things are going better. Will keep everybody posted.

 

[CodeWilster]

Update

If anybody cares, as of today I noticed her abdomen turned black. She's already in premolt. I hope this molt goes well and fixes everything!!!! I'll keep everybody updated. Thanks

 

[LadyPharaoh]

I don't know enough to give any advice but fingers crossed for a good healthy molt.

 

[CodeWilster]

I don't know enough to give any advice but fingers crossed for a good healthy molt.

Thanks. We shall see