Hi all,
I'm fairly new to tarantulas but now have 8 and learn a lot from this forum.
I've read that after a T molts you should remove the old body to prevent mites, contamination, etc. I've done that several times but sometimes it is a challenge. Last week a Green Bottle Blue finished a molt and today I had to be quite invasive to get to it, pulling up a piece of cork bark which is the GBB's hide, working with 2 very long pair of tweezers to get through the webbing. I only had 2 small vents open at the top of the terrarium, but she freaked out and actually jumped through one of those vents. Then I freaked out as it disappeared into my cabinets. I went into overdrive, grabbing an aquarium net. I found and caught her, but fear I've damaged her newly-molted legs in the process. Still waiting to see if she survives and feeling very bummed about putting her through that trauma.
Therefore, I'm questioning whether it is worth disrupting their hides to remove the molt body. A Mexican Fireleg molted a while back and I've never seen the old body. And I don't plan to pull up her cork bark hide in order to get it.
Has anyone had a bad experience from leaving the old molted exoskeleton in the terrarium? I'm thinking I will just leave them because the disruption I cause is more harmful to the T than if I just let it deteriorate naturally. So I need to know how real the threat of contamination or parasites is if the old molt stays in their terrariums.
Thanks for any advice.
I'm fairly new to tarantulas but now have 8 and learn a lot from this forum.
I've read that after a T molts you should remove the old body to prevent mites, contamination, etc. I've done that several times but sometimes it is a challenge. Last week a Green Bottle Blue finished a molt and today I had to be quite invasive to get to it, pulling up a piece of cork bark which is the GBB's hide, working with 2 very long pair of tweezers to get through the webbing. I only had 2 small vents open at the top of the terrarium, but she freaked out and actually jumped through one of those vents. Then I freaked out as it disappeared into my cabinets. I went into overdrive, grabbing an aquarium net. I found and caught her, but fear I've damaged her newly-molted legs in the process. Still waiting to see if she survives and feeling very bummed about putting her through that trauma.
Therefore, I'm questioning whether it is worth disrupting their hides to remove the molt body. A Mexican Fireleg molted a while back and I've never seen the old body. And I don't plan to pull up her cork bark hide in order to get it.
Has anyone had a bad experience from leaving the old molted exoskeleton in the terrarium? I'm thinking I will just leave them because the disruption I cause is more harmful to the T than if I just let it deteriorate naturally. So I need to know how real the threat of contamination or parasites is if the old molt stays in their terrariums.
Thanks for any advice.
