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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Stan Schultz" data-source="post: 236835" data-attributes="member: 28438">Have you ever been to a gymnasium where serious amateur and semiprofessional athletes train? Before they start to do any serious training they go through all sorts stretches, gyrations and contortions before putting their bodies through tough, potentially dangerous training exercises.THIS IS NOT WHAT YOUR TARANTULA IS DOING! I just mentioned it as a sort of "compare and contrast" lesson. The athlete is stretching ligaments, muscles and tendons so that later, during actual training those tissues will be much more elastic and a lot less likely to be torn or otherwise damaged during extreme exercise.However, your tarantula seldom, if ever, does extreme calisthenics (for instance). In fact, about the only time you'll catch your little eight legged buddy doing weird things is right after it molts. You see, it just grew a completely new set of body armor INSIDE the previous one. Therefore the new exoskeleton had to be either smaller or somehow "scrunched-up" in order to fit inside the older exoskeleton. Not only that, whenever a tarantula molts it grows, it doesn't shrink. For tiny, young spiders, this growth rate can be perceptibly large. But, as the tarantula grows and ages, its growth rate slows so that a 40 year old Brachypelma emelia (Mexican redleg), as an example, will only grow almost imperceptibly with each molt. But, it's still growing!So, while the athlete stretches and gyrates to prevent strained, popped, torn, and otherwise damaged tendons, ligaments, muscles, and joints from extreme exercise, your little eight legged buddy is doing its best to stretch and properly form its new exoskeleton in preparation for the coming battles with prospective meals. This makes one wonder if the human race really has its priorities properly arranged in the first place, no?</blockquote>

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