Hi everybody,

I'm new to this and I need advice from you. According to the guy I bought the tarantula it must have mould already. I did not find any mould in enclosure. He/she is a spiderling. Spun an web very small in the enclosure of +- 70mm x 70mm 2x heat mats average temperature 15C is that why he or she does not mould?

John

Welcome JohnB

Ok your Scientific name for your spider is Lasiodora parahybana

Can you maybe post a picture of it's setup?
What is the size of the tarantula?
Why do you have 2 heating pads?

You need not worry, your spider will molt when it is ready to.
You can only guess more or less when it will molt but can never be sure of the time and date when it will molt.
As long as your spider has got enough moisture in he's enclosure he will be fine. also try not to disturb him to much, if he is going to molt you don't want to stress him out to much.

JohnB wrote: Hi everybody,

I'm new to this and I need advice from you. According to the guy I bought the tarantula it must have mould already. I did not find any mould in enclosure. He/she is a spiderling. Spun an web very small in the enclosure of +- 70mm x 70mm 2x heat mats average temperature 15C is that why he or she does not mould?

John

Please forgive me for being so ignorant, but there may be a cultural or language issue I'm having trouble with. By "mould" do you mean "molt" (a.k.a.: ecdysis or shedding one's skin. Could also be "moult" in parts of the former British Empire.), or "mold" (a.k.a.: fungus, mycelium. Could also be "mould" in the former British Empire.)?

Stanley A. Schultz wrote:

JohnB wrote: Hi everybody,

I'm new to this and I need advice from you. According to the guy I bought the tarantula it must have mould already. I did not find any mould in enclosure. He/she is a spiderling. Spun an web very small in the enclosure of +- 70mm x 70mm 2x heat mats average temperature 15C is that why he or she does not mould?

John

Please forgive me for being so ignorant, but there may be a cultural or language issue I'm having trouble with. By "mould" do you mean "molt" (a.k.a.: ecdysis or shedding one's skin. Could also be "moult" in parts of the former British Empire.), or "mold" (a.k.a.: fungus, mycelium. Could also be "mould" in the former British Empire.)?

Hi Stan!

Thanx for the visit!

Yes its a languge thing, alot of the afrikaans speeking people say 'molding' or even 'moulding' but they are referring to the shedding of the exosceleton or molting!

Thanx

fangs wrote: ... Yes its a languge thing, alot of the afrikaans speeking people say 'molding' or even 'moulding' but they are referring to the shedding of the exosceleton or molting! ...

Thanks for clearing that up. Now I can go back and help this chap.

JohnB wrote: Hi everybody,

I'm new to this and I need advice from you. According to the guy I bought the tarantula it must have mould already. I did not find any mould in enclosure. He/she is a spiderling. Spun an web very small in the enclosure of +- 70mm x 70mm 2x heat mats average temperature 15C is that why he or she does not mould?

John

First, as a newbie you have a lot to learn about these amazing creatures. If you visit Stan's Rant you'll see four books recommended. I urge you to read all four. 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 too much!

Next, you state that you have a spiderling, and someone else claims that you have a Lasiodora parahybana. I would have chosen a different tarantula than this for a newbie, but now that you have it, we'll go with it.

Baby and spiderling tarantulas less than 3.5 cm diagonal leg span (the distance from the tip of one front leg to the tip of the rear leg on the opposite side when the tarantula is resting in a "normal" posture. Also called DLS.) must usually be kept in smaller containers with little ventilation and on about 2 cm of damp substrate. The two kinds of substrate most commonly used in the hobby are peat (a.k.a., peat moss, black peat, Canadian peat, sphagnum peat, but NOT sphagnum moss), and shredded coconut husk (various trade names). Peat is usually much less expensive and available from garden, landscaping and horticultural supply stores. Shredded coconut husk is readily available from pets shops, but more expensive. Each has their advantages and disadvantages, but on the whole they're about equal. Here is a photo of what I mean. (Click the thumbnail for a larger version.)

(Uploaded with ImageShack.us )

From a leg span of about 4 cm and larger almost all tarantulas may be kept in a bone dry cage with a water dish. It's not a bad idea to cover all the open areas of the cage somehow to reduce ventilation. Here is a photo of what I mean. The white stripe down the length of the cover is actually a strip of Magic Disappearing Tape that didn't disappear in the camera's flash. It's holding the ends of a sheet of plastic food wrap, wrapped around the cover, together. (Brachypelma emilia)

(Uploaded with ImageShack.us )

Between these two sizes (i.e., between about 3.5 to 4 cm leg span) the spiderling's container should be allowed to dry out slowly over two or three molts. That will give it plenty of time to adjust to the drier conditions.

Next, very tiny, baby tarantulas will molt as often as ever three or four weeks. As they grow their molting frequency diminishes so that by the time they are two-thirds grown they're usually only molting once a year. However, having said that, there is a lot of individual variation and you'll get to know your tarantula's idiosyncrasies as time progresses.

Thus, it almost surely did recently molt for the person who sold it to you, and it surely will molt for you again, but probably not for some weeks to some months. In the meantime, you need to feed that tarantula as much as it will eat. Lasiodora parahybana are among the largest tarantulas in the world, and if cared for properly it may quite likely reach a DLS of 28 cm! "Cared for properly" boils down to meaning, "Feed it as much as it will eat!"

Again, you need to read those books as soon as possible, and you need to search this and other Internet forums to learn as much as you can about this species.

Enjoy your 8-legged behemoth!