Big girl molting gone wrong!

[Oursapoil]

Hi T family
I just got a case of bad molt on our female T. stirmi (8-1/2” dls) and was able to get some great shots so it would be a shame not to share and get a chance to document it.
So our girl molted about 3 to 4 weeks ago, in her den. About 3 weeks ago she came out all beautiful and I retrieved the molt while we was moving around. At that time nothing caught my attention. For the past two weeks she has been staying out of her den and resting by her 9 inches water dish, peacefully. As she never goes far from the dish and seems to always keep the tip of a leg in it, I started to worry that she might not have got rid of her old sucking stomach during the molt. To get a peace of mind I soften the molt I had saved to check it out.
The sucking stomach was there but unfortunately as well as one of her leg.
I didn’t even noticed she was missing one (you’ll see in the picture it is quite hard to tell).
It seems she started to free the leg then got stuck and popped it in the middle of it.
Hopefully there aren’t any internal damage (she’s been looking fine for almost a month except for her unusual behavior) and I’ll document on this thread the next molt and hopefully the full recovery of her leg (might take a couple of molts). 25 years ago, back in France, my adult female T. blondi had a really bad molt and lost a few legs as well as both fangs and made a full recovery (fangs included) over 2 molts.
In the meantime, here she is as well as the bad molt. Please feel free to chime in as well, cheers.

As you can see it is not that easy to see she is missing a leg

Here is her molt. I couldn’t stretch the missing leg as the full leg is still in the molt and dried out.

Here is the missing leg she detached half way.

Now some zoomed shots for closer details as well as the sticking stomach

 

[WolfSpider]

Hey Buddy. Please share with us how you fed a T without fangs. It would be very educational, including for me! How long was it before a molt saved you and your blonde?

Thanks in advance.

 

[DustyD]

I am glad you are doing this. It is good to document the ups and downs of tarantula keeping. I am sure that this will be of help to others in the future.

 

[Oursapoil]

Hey Buddy. Please share with us how you fed a T without fangs. It would be very educational, including for me! How long was it before a molt saved you and your blonde?

Thanks in advance.

My blondi was a very very big girl and I would usually feed her dubias, locusts and during the summer I would grab from time to time the night geicos that would come to eat bugs by the porch light. Once she lost both fangs and I was done panicking, I could think of a way for her to eat dubias or locust because of their carapaces. The following part is true love!
I started hunting lizards that I would kill then cut in segments. I would also sliced each segment open for as much flesh to be exposed rather than the lizard’s skin. I would offer her a piece a day. It seems she would put some digestive fluid on it and would suck the top layers. Keep in mind that it would get a funky smell extremely fast so I would have to remove it and give a new one daily.
Disclaimer: As many of you know, I do not mind if my Ts have a fat bottom and the blondi had the largest abdomen I’ve ever witnessed to date on a T. This is likely what also helped as I believe she would have made it even without the lizards but I trust the additional nutriments drastically helped speed up the process. The next molt came up extremely fast, I would say maybe a month and a half to 2 months after. Tiny (polio style) legs came back as well as half length fangs to replace the stumps. The fangs were wide at the base and rounded up at the end. On the next molt (I think about 3 months later) they were almost back to full length and the tips were starting to look pointy.
I sadly had to give her away, with 16 other Ts when I decided to come to NY.

 

[DustyD]

Just curious, do you think their bodies speed up the premolting process when there are repairs to be made? I believe heat and extra feedings by humans can speed up the growth process, but wasn't sure if nature did this as well.

 

[Oursapoil]

Just curious, do you think their bodies speed up the premolting process when there are repairs to be made? I believe heat and extra feedings by humans can speed up the growth process, but wasn't sure if nature did this as well.

Most definitely!

 

[Oursapoil]

Hi Family,
Here is the latest update.
The big girl is still living by her water dish, still in the same corner and still with the tip of a leg always in the water…..but great news today as she finally ate for the first time since her bad molt. Going to select the finest and juiciest adult dubias for her as she is working on creating a new leg

 

[octanejunkie]

Hi Family,
Here is the latest update.
The big girl is still living by her water dish, still in the same corner and still with the tip of a leg always in the water…..but great news today as she finally ate for the first time since her bad molt. Going to select the finest and juiciest adult dubias for her as she is working on creating a new leg
View attachment 63027

That's great news, really happy to hear that. Additionally, this is fantastic picture. Great work, Enzo!

 

[Oursapoil]

Today’s update!
The lady finally departed from her swimming pool and went back to live in her hide at the beginning of the week (which we see as a good sign). In order to help her out with the upcoming “fast” molt to start replacing her missing leg, I provided her with an adult mouse (pre-killed) yesterday at the entrance of her burrow.
It was nice to see that this morning she was still working on it, with half of it already gone

 

[WolfSpider]

Are the rest of the legs properly formed ?

 

[Oursapoil]

The mashing machine is on.
As I went to grab mice yesterday for her I grabbed a few more for the big Ts.
Below is the LP I am stuffing before pairing her as the last time she tried to snack on the male
P.S: Except for specific purpose I would not recommend mice as a regular method to feed Ts and when I do I pre kill them as they could easily hurt or even kill your Ts.
Cheers.

 

[Oursapoil]

Are the rest of the legs properly formed ?

Yes,
Everything else is well, just one leg that never came out of the molt and that the T detached when molting.

 

[WolfSpider]

Perfect!. Clownie told me once, and darn if he wasn't right: I had a GBB with a bad molt, lost two legs and had a flail leg she kept--she became evil if I tried to mess with it. Anyway, next molt, her whole backside got stuck and she died a day later.
I am grateful that everything else is OK for your beautiful monster. (I wish I had clipped that flail leg)

 

[Vermis]

Here is the missing leg she detached half way.

Holy moley, it looks like something Rob Bottin worked on.

 

[Oursapoil]

She is all set and had her fill!
How do I know this? She was raised right (thanks @Arachnoclown ) and took out the trash once done

P.S: if you ever feed a mouse or a lizard to any of your Ts, make sure to remove the rest the second they are done. With digestive liquids all over them it gets funky very fast

 

[Vermis]

That's some sight to walk in on. At least it's contained!

 

[Oursapoil]

Hello T family,
Some good news today
My lady molted and we have a brand new leg!!!!!
This kind of confirm my theory that when in need to replace a limb and with sufficient food, a T can speed up the time between molts. She lost her leg in the bad molt explained in the thread above just 5 months ago and for a T that size I would say the new molt came very fast.
@Arachnoclown

Chers!

 

[Oursapoil]

Amazing what 5 months can do
The white board is 10 inches in diameter. Looking forward to the next molt with the new leg to complete the set.