What is happening? Why is my Tarantula getting dark on the abdomen?

Usumbara1 wrote: What is happening? Why is my Tarantula getting dark on the abdomen?

She's preparing to molt. The bald patches on her abdomen (more properly called an "opisthosoma," but few will try to pronounce it for fear of getting slapped by the girl in the next seat!) show the somewhat transparent skin under her bristles. As a new exoskeleton is formed beneath the old, and new bristles are grown and darken from their inherent pigment, these patches turn dark.

At this point do not touch her. Do not even disturb her, beyond removing any live prey that may still be in the cage with her. Go away and leave her alone. (You may watch from a distance, but if you touch the cage one of us is likely to come over there and slap your wrists! :laugh: ) Within the next week or ten days she'll roll over onto her back (And, NO SHE ISN'T DYING!) and complete her molt. Ninety-nine percent of the time you need not do anything but be amazed. Get back to us if there seems to be a problem.

Molting occurs about once a year in most sub-adult to adult tarantulas. Get used to it. Having said that, the fact that you didn't know what such a common and well known phenomenon was strongly suggests that you're a newbie. Therefore, I extremely strongly urge you to read Stan's Rant . Pay particular attention to the parts about believing your local pet shop (LPS) too much, and about believing what you read in Internet care sheets too much.

I also extremely strongly urge you to read the four books that are mentioned. Note that I didn't say you should go out and buy them! (Although you certainly can if you wish.) Get to know your friendly, neighborhood, public library instead. The chances are good that they have one or two of the titles on their shelves even as you read this. They can always get any of them you need through the Interlibrary Loan System, as well.

In a perfect world you would read them in the order they are presented, do so if they are all available. If not, read them in any order you can.

Do not order all of them at once! There's far too much reading and you don't want to break your brain. (Breene's Quick and Easy Tarantula Care is only 64 pages long, but The Tarantula Keeper's Guide has 384 pages!) One at a time is best.

And especially, read the part about not trusting pet shop advice at least twice!

Ditto, about not trusting Internet care sheets to much!

Also, learn to use the <Search> function on this and any other forum you're a member of. Look in the gray bar across the top of this page. Virtually every question you could dream up plus a lot you couldn't even guess at have been asked and answered in this forum.

And of course, if you can't find the answer to some particular question using <Search>, we encourage you to ask us here. Remember:

1. The only really dumb questions are the ones you don't ask.

2. Dumb questions are a lot easier to deal with than dumb mistakes!


Lastly, has anyone told you of the tarantula enthusiast's lament?

LIKE THOSE POTATO CHIPS, YOU CAN'T HAVE JUST ONE!

You've been warned!