Because bugs aren't just for breakfast anymore...

Molting

Two pictures of an adult Lasiodora parahybana female molting. On the left you see the dark female on her back, struggling to free her legs from the more tan/brown molt that is being pushed away in the foreground. To the right we see the same female, still on her back, with the shed molt removed. Note the ivory chelicerae. Freshly molted tarantulas often remain on their backs for a considerable time while their legs hardened sufficiently to support them. Upon righting themselves, they may be observed to stretch themselves for up to a few weeks afterwards. 

For many people, the molting process is a process preceded by much worry, and filled with much fear. It needn't be. Molting is a miraculous thing to witness, and for the most part, molts go quite smoothly. Often the first clue that a tarantula is going to molt is that it stops feeding. Quite often this evokes a panicked post to a message board along the lines of,'HELP! MY ROSEHAIR WON'T EAT! WHAT DO I DO?', the answer to which is absolutely nothing. Some Chilean roses (there is technically no such things as a 'Rosehair') won't eat for six months prior to a molt, and are none the worse for wear because of it. You see, to us at least, part of the enjoyment of tarantulas and other invertebrates is not deciding from past experience with dogs, cats, other pets or people how we believe they should act and trying to get them to do it. Rather, the enjoyment comes in emptying ourselves of expectations, observing what it is that the invertebrates do, and then adjusting our understanding accordingly. This doesn't mean that any person wouldn't panic if their pet did not eat for six months and they did not know it was possible, but if you didn't, now you do, so relax.

Many tarantulas, especially New World types which shed 'hairs' more properly known as urticating bristles, develop pink (yes, tarantula skin is often as pink as a baby's bottom) bald patches on their behinds. We call this the 'window to the soul' of such tarantulas. The reason we say this is that as a molt is impending, one will often notice a gray stripe appear in the middle of the 'window'. Slowly and surely this patch will enlarge to take up the entire window. Shortly thereafter, the window itself will become black. This color means that the molt is VERY near, and is the result of the tarantula growing a new skin, along with an entirely new set of bristles, beneath the existing one. The blackness you see are the new bristles yet to be uncovered. Most, but not all tarantulas are soon to be found flipped over onto their backs, the typical molting position. Very few tarantulas are ever found dead upside down, so don't let this position fool you into thinking that your tarantula has gone 'belly up' and into prodding it at a time when it is very delicate. Prodding a tarantula at molting time can be as if someone were prodding your internal organs directly. The tarantula gets its support ordinarily from its exoskeleton, and since that exoskeleton is soft in the course of a molt, the only source of support is internal pressure, like that which keeps a water balloon round! The tarantula will not only shed its skin, it will also shed the lining of its digestive and reproductive tracts, and even the covering of its eyes. Upon completion of a molt, many tarantulas are very dark in color with ivory chelicerae (fangs), perhaps much as denim cloth looks darker when wet. One should not feed a tarantula after a molt until the chelicerae have returned to normal color, indicating that they have sufficiently hardened. Failure to wait a sufficient interval can result in damaged to broken chelicerae. The chelicerae of spiderlings often harden much more quickly, perhaps as a result of their relative thinness, much as a thin coat of paint dries faster than a thick one. 

Spiderlings molt too and more often. Tarantulas typically molt more frequently the younger they are. Below are two movies of a spiderling Brachypelma vagans molting as captured through the lens of a microscope, This particular molt was problematic. Likely due to slight dehydration, the spiderling had difficulty in extracting one leg, which was cleanly pinched off with minimal loss of fluid. If you watch the second movie, be sure to look to the right to see the 'pulse' on the severed leg, which apparently does not know that it is severed, and continues to attempt to molt! WARNING! You may only wish to view these movies if you have a high speed internet connection as they are sizeable and could take a long time to load. 

Click here to watch the first movie.

Click here to watch the second movie.