Sling - crusty bit on abdomen still there after molt

[gingerlucy]

Hi everyone,

I have an A. Chalcodes sling that I got about 3 weeks ago. She is quite small - maybe 1/2" at most. When I got her home I realized that she had a crusty piece on the back of her abdomen, so I have been trying to keep humidity up and thought it would be shed in the next molt. I'm keeping her in dram vial about 1.5" tall with some Biodude substrate and just a bit of sphagnum. I'm using a syringe with a needle to keep the bottom layer moist and drip some water around the perimeter and onto the sphagnum every few days or so.

Well, yesterday I checked on her and saw that she was standing upright with her carapace popped up. That made me a little nervous and when I checked back a few hours later I could her walking around with a lot of difficulty because she seemed to be dragging her molt beneath her. I interfered then, and used a tiny wet paintbrush and some fine tweezers to pull the molt away. It looks to me like she successfully got all her legs out. I left her alone after that and saw her walking around and grooming a bit, so she seems okay.

However, she still has the crust on the back of her abdomen. I did try to go in with the wet paintbrush again to see if I could wipe it off, but no luck. She is so small that I am not sure I have the manual dexterity to try and grab the crust with tweezers. I just got a clip-on macro lens for my phone camera, so I can get a picture, but it's extremely hard to see otherwise. I've attached a picture with the pre-molt (top) and post-molt (bottom), as well as a pre-molt photo of the crust from the side.

Can anyone recommend what I should do here? I don't want to stress her more.

 

[regalspottedbeast]

If it's not obstructing the sling's anus, I'd just leave it and it'll probably come off with the next molt. If it is blocking the anus, you can try to use a damp q-tip to gently remove it. But I'd only attempt that if you absolutely must- it's easy to accidentally injure or kill a sling that tiny.

 

[timc]

I had this happen last year with my B. klassi when she was still small, I was also too worried about my abilities to intervene, so I didn’t. Kept hydrated, she eventually dropped it and went on as if it never happened. As said, if she’s still pooping, eating and drinking on occasion, all should be well.

 

[gingerlucy]

Thanks very much to you both. I ended up going back in with my small wet paintbrush very carefully and got most of it off the top because it looked like it might have been wrapping around to the underside. I just can't tell if there's anything left on her bottom, so I've got my fingers crossed now. I don't want to risk messing with her anymore. She was very unhappy with me

 

[timc]

Glad to hear you got a lot off! You should spot clean as much poop as you can then keep an eye out for fresh dropping, that’s one way to figure out if there’s any blockage.