Tarantula molts ought to at all times be faraway from the cage if doable.
If a tarantula molt is left within the cage for too lengthy it not solely seems to be ugly, however extra importantly it might entice mites. Mites in a tarantula cage are at all times unhealthy information, so it’s faster and easier to simply take away a molt when doable.
Certainly, the removing of a tarantula molt must be thought-about part-and-parcel of your routine tarantula upkeep routine.
When Ought to You Take away a Tarantula Molt?
Whereas most tarantula keepers agree that sloughed skins must be eliminated, fairly when to take away the molt is quite extra contentious.
Molting is a really troublesome time to your pet tarantula. It requires an enormous quantity of effort, and the freshly-molted tarantula is sort of helpless till their new exoskeleton hardens.
Because of this, it’s best to not disturb your tarantula quickly after a molt. Allow them to do their factor for some time.
For my part, the most effective time to take away a molt is as soon as your tarantula is again to their previous self and has began to feed as soon as once more. This sometimes means per week or two after a molt.
It’s fascinating to notice that lots of my tarantulas that molt in a cork bark disguise or down a burrow will carry the previous molt out by themselves and dump it in a single nook of the cage.
Whether or not that’s for hygiene functions, or to maximise area of their disguise is open to debate. Both means, it might make eradicating the previous molt quite simple certainly if you happen to’re keen to be affected person.
How Do I Take away My Tarantulas Molt?
Eradicating a tarantula molt is generally very simple certainly. I personally choose to make use of lengthy forceps (mine are about 30cm in size) as I wish to attempt to hold my fingers away from my tarantulas as a lot as doable. This reduces the probabilities of a nip, particularly from a hungry tarantula that won’t have eaten for some weeks.
Simply as importantly, the skinny building of the forceps permits me to achieve into tight areas which my fingers may not efficiently attain.
Whereas I discussed above that lots of my tarantulas rigorously eliminate their skins after a molt, fairly a number of others don’t. Consequently it might be essential to stay your forceps slowly and gently right into a cork bark disguise to extract the previous exoskeleton. Forceps make this a lot simpler and decrease disturbance to your spider.
What To Do With a Eliminated Molt
Presumably the most effective factor to do with a tarantula molt that you just’ve eliminated is to intercourse it. The pores and skin is soaked to melt it, and may then be checked out beneath a microscope or magnifying lens. In the event you’re new to sexing tarantulas from skins then it might take a while to get snug with the method; errors on gender could be simply made.
Solely with observe, nonetheless, will you get higher on the course of. So the earlier you get began, the earlier you’ll handle to hone your abilities.
There are after all different issues that may be carried out with a tarantula molt you’ve faraway from the cage. It’s doable to “set” the molt so it makes a lovely function in your house. You would possibly select to maintain the molt in a labeled bag so you possibly can see how a lot your tarantula grows over time.
Or worse case merely throw the molt away in your family garbage.
Personally I fairly like so as to add them to my compost heap, the place they’ll slowly decompose, placing vitamins again into my backyard.
How Do You Soften a Tarantula Molt?
If you wish to intercourse or mount a tarantula molt the method may be very easy certainly. Primarily it wants soaking in water for a brief time period. Don’t fear concerning the temperature of the water; I’ve discovered that chilly water works simply in addition to heat water.
The one problem with softening a tarantula molt in water is that they usually float on the floor of the water, and due to this fact fail to correctly absorb sufficient water. That is simply solved by including a number of drops of dish cleaning soap to the water.
Personally I keep a row of previous glass jars full with water and dish cleaning soap. Every one is lidded. As I do my routine tarantula checks, molted skins are slowly added to the jars. The lids are screwed on, and the jars are given a delicate shake. The skins then absorb the water and are prepared for sexing or mounting a short time later.