Rapid Moulting and House Keeping query.

[Kevin Girling]

Hi

I'm new to the hobby of keeping Tarantulas. I have a B.Smithi that I bought from Swallow Aquatics in Norfolk about 2 months ago. Everything appears to be well at the mo....the spider has undergone two moults so far, growing considerably with each moult. The colours are more akin to the adult now and it measures about 4 cm business end to spinnerett!

I was surprised as it moulted for the second time about 2 weeks after the first moulting. I was unprepared for the rapidity, but am assuming it had some catching up to do or something, perhaps due to the length of time it was kept in a small tub in the pet shop (I found no evidence of food waste in the container) and it eats like a horse!!!.

Also I have noticed it collecting up waste matter (ex-cricket parcels) into a heap and burying them in the corner of the tank where it usually lives....the parcels appear to have been fully processed (i.e. they are not freshly killed) so I do not think they are 'for later'.

I will clean them out of the tank tomorrow as I do not want them rotting.

Any views on the two points above.

Cheers.

Kev

[Neil Martin]

Kevin, I posted recently on the forum under the title "Tank Cleaning" asking for advice as I had an overwhelming smell in there, caused by my red knee burying bits of cricket around where I couldn't see them.

It has been OK since (the smell) but it (the spider) has only taken 3 crickets since and seems to have lost interest. Only the other day I saw it make a half-hearted lunge at a cricket in strike range and "missed".

[sarah Smith]

As soon as your T has finished with its food and has dumped the remains( if there are any ) you should remove them to prevent build up of waste and mould. The rapid moulting is normal for young T's and will carry on untill it reaches about 2 or 3 inchs at which point it will start to slow down but will not slow down to the 6 monthly or once a year stage moult till it is adult or almost adult in size.

[Kevin Girling]

Many thanks for your help

[sarah Smith]

no problem glad I could help out.