My son's Rosey has stuck molt

liltattyprinces · 09-07-04, 08:43 AM

The kids and I were away for a bit and returned home to find 4 of my son's 6 T's had molted all was great with all of them but one. It's molted but where the abdomen and carapace meet it still has a bit of the old molt, still attached. At first i thought a leg was bent backwards, but it is old molt from the abdomen. I'm not sure what i should do as i cannot really handle T's as i'm deathly allergic to spider bites. Should i try to remove the old molt that is still attached or just let it be? Any help would be greatly appericated as Mr. Fat Butt is Hayden's favorite T, and i would do anything for him. My son is sooooo worried about his T.

Laura-Lee L

bighillreptiles · 09-07-04, 08:55 AM

i would mist tham down and leave tham alone and see what hapens after a few days ,prob just not enough humidity in thar incloser,hope this helps

liltattyprinces · 09-07-04, 11:59 AM

Hey there Paul thanks for the advice, The thing is, is that my son does mist them almost to the point that I have to make sure he dosen't do it too much(he's only 5). I guess i should of mentioned that the T's are in seperate enclosures. The one that molted is in a split aquarium, the T next to it molted a couple of weeks prior and had no problem, and there has been no change in the amount of moisture.So i am somewhat at a loss of what has caused it unless just that small amount of time while we were gone made that big of difference. Btw Hayden has increased the amount of misting since this has happened but there seems to be no improvement. Thanks

Laura-Lee L

Vanan · 09-08-04, 09:22 AM

Just leave it on. The exoskeleton would have hardened enough that the old moult probably won't affect it. As long as it's not getting in the way of eating I wouldn't worry about it. Just make sure that you have a water dish at all times. Don't worry too much about misting him, also it's been known now that it's pointless to raise the humidity for a T in moult as it's the time before going into the moult which needs more moisture. Spraying your substrate is only gonna increase the chances for mites. Big enough water dish and he should be fine.

reptile boi · 09-08-04, 03:02 PM

hmmm...do you have an incubator? Like one of the homemade ones with the bricks and water heater? If so, i find that from experience if you set the temp to somewhere between 84F-88F and leave the spider with its tank inside for about 24 hours, the humidity would be around 100% plus the heat which will make it a lot easier for the spider to come out of its old exoskeleton.

Thanks,
Ben

Dragoon · 09-09-04, 09:27 AM

You could try wetting some tissue with water, and applying it to the old skin to soak it. After a while, perhaps the skin will have softened, and you can use tweezers to gently pull on the old skin. Gently is important, since any tears in the tarantulas body will not clot or close, and it could bleed to death.

I would not ignore the issue for that very reason. I would try very hard to remove the skin, since it could catch on something, and tear off while it is hard, and injure the T. It could bleed to death while you are away.

If you use long handled tweezers, you should be fine. I have had to rub mold off the face of my friend's rosea with a QTip, and it couldn't have been happy, yet it quietly endured my poking. It kept trying to hide its eyes behind it's knees. Poor thing. I don't think roseas are hard wired to bite. You will get warning of its mood, I am sure.
Good luck
D.

reptile boi · 09-09-04, 04:53 PM

Hey Dragoon,
I dont think wet tissues would work for this as it would only sort of soak up the bottom of the T. liltat, go for the incubator method if you have an incubator avail, the warm humid air would definitely soften up the skin and if the T doesnt get it off by itself, you can easily get it off after its been in there for a couple hours.

Thanks,
Ben