The End

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My tarantula recently went through a pretty bad molt. I don't know if it was her old age or my fault, but it all started last week.

I had a day off from work and went to the pet store for some crickets. Put a few in for her, gave her water, then left for the day. When I came back a few hours later, I saw that she was beginning to molt. Unusually, she was right side up this time. So I carefully had to remove all the live crickets and try and let her do her thing. Made sure there was water.

Only the next morning, she hadn't made much progress at all so I tried increasing the humidity. Added more water to her bowl as well. But another day passed and it seemed apparent that she was stuck in her old skin. I was even afraid she had died, but a slight poke got her moving again and she was clearly struggling to remove the legs. So I tried helping her out. Very gently I was able to free her legs, the old skin slid off like a sock.

But unfortunately her new legs didn't set in right. They are angled very oddly and don't seem fully formed. Now she has difficulty moving around at all, and I've woken up to find her upside down because she cannot move properly and ends up rolling over. I'm not sure how long she will survive. Maybe I shouldn't have intervened, but she had made pretty quick progress with the head and body, then 0 progress with the legs for two days. If anything, what can I even do at this point? I've had her for 7 years and she was already an adult when I got her, so I'd hate to see her die over this.

 

[MassExodus]

My tarantula recently went through a pretty bad molt. I don't know if it was her old age or my fault, but it all started last week.

I had a day off from work and went to the pet store for some crickets. Put a few in for her, gave her water, then left for the day. When I came back a few hours later, I saw that she was beginning to molt. Unusually, she was right side up this time. So I carefully had to remove all the live crickets and try and let her do her thing. Made sure there was water.

Only the next morning, she hadn't made much progress at all so I tried increasing the humidity. Added more water to her bowl as well. But another day passed and it seemed apparent that she was stuck in her old skin. I was even afraid she had died, but a slight poke got her moving again and she was clearly struggling to remove the legs. So I tried helping her out. Very gently I was able to free her legs, the old skin slid off like a sock.

But unfortunately her new legs didn't set in right. They are angled very oddly and don't seem fully formed. Now she has difficulty moving around at all, and I've woken up to find her upside down because she cannot move properly and ends up rolling over. I'm not sure how long she will survive. Maybe I shouldn't have intervened, but she had made pretty quick progress with the head and body, then 0 progress with the legs for two days. If anything, what can I even do at this point? I've had her for 7 years and she was already an adult when I got her, so I'd hate to see her die over this.

Go to youtube and search for Greg Rice. He has a few videos of giving a tarantula water while it waited to molt. It had been stung by a pepsis wasp. That sounds like what will be required here. I'd message the guy asap. I'm not sure if you can keep it alive without food though, right after a molt, but he might be able to help. I have no experience with this kind of thing or I'd offer what advice I could, sorry..Maybe pre kill a cricket and offer it with tongs, see if she'll eat? Wait a minute...try spidersfromtroom on youtube as well..he had a B arautum with a horrible molt as well I believe...and search arachnoboards for the topic..

 

[MassExodus]

octoplegic...I remember a thread called octoplegic, search that as well..

 

[Zeirath]

Just watched the youtube videos of the paralyzed spider, she molted and completely recovered that's so awesome! She would have definitely died if he didn't have the patience to nurse her until she molted.

 

[MassExodus]

Just watched the youtube videos of the paralyzed spider, she molted and completely recovered that's so awesome! She would have definitely died if he didn't have the patience to nurse her until she molted.

Yeah, the kid made a fan out of me with that one..really cool story.

 

[Kymura]

Also have seen a few posts here and there of folks feeding them mealworm soup, trying to find it now, basically though it was crushed mealworms in a few drops of water that they fed to it via dropper .