C. Crawshayi moult..

[Greg Edwards]

Hi there. I've been reading this forum for several months and this is my first post.

I purchased a small juvenile C.Crawshayi in July last year. After eating the first cricket i ever fed it, it then decided to stop eating. For months it refused food. I understand this is a slow growing species and i assumed it was in a long pre-moult stage. I started to worry when it reached January and still no moult or feeding. It decided to seal up its burrow, so i assumed it was finally going to moult. Today i got back in to find it had moulted and was dragging the exuvium around its burrow.

I thought great and FINALLY! However i just took a glance and it is in a very strange position. It is lying down on its side with the abdomen curled in, but it's moving the legs on one side in the air quite fast.

I have witnessed many moults with my other spiders and have never observed this position before. I assumed it would have completed the stretching out process (if that is what it is doing) earlier on in the day before it was up and moving around.

Has any1 seen their t's in this position before? And is it normal? Thanks

[benmaffin]

Spider Gymnastics

Hi There,

My spids have done all sorts of things. I have spotted my curly hair spiderling lying on it's side moving it's legs about. I thought it was going to die or something so I left it and then went back a while later. It was still doing the same thing - I opened the lid and it shot off into it's burrow.

I've no idea why the spids do these things. Has yours moved at all?

Kind Regards,
Ben.

[Greg Edwards]

Yeah it seems fine now. I was just a little concerned considering the length of time it had gone without feeding leading up to the moult. So seeing it curled up like that had me worrying a bit. Will be glad when it unplugs the burrow and starts feeding again!

It's been a crazy week for moults for my spiders. Had 2 P. Murinus moult and my H. Lividum moulted as well!