Moulting G rosea

[Jim Carolan]

Hi everyone,
I am a novice that just got my first spider a G. rosea just under 2 week ago. Last weekend it webbed itself into its shelter and has been there since. I was told it was probably molting and to leave it alone.
It looks like it has molted as I had a quick look into the shelter with a torch last night and seen what looked like two spiders. I was also relieved to see movement as I thought it may have been dead.
The guy in the pet shop told me to remove the old exoskeleton as it will begin to rot but I dont want to disturbe the web or the spider if unnecessary.
Is this normal behaviour...what should I do?

[Colin D Wilson]

Leave it for a bit, the spider needs to "harden up" for a while as just after moulting the exoskeleton is still quite soft and pliable. when it feels 100% it will start to stroll around again. then you can get the moult, it may even throw it out for you itself.
as for rotting, we keep all our old moults for our records and when they're dried out they don't rot at all, if you kept it damp then it would probably go mouldy and start to disintegrate over a period of time but i'm not 100% sure of this as a fact.
G Rosea's like their environment a bit on the dry side so the moult will usually dry out nicely on its own.

[Jim Carolan]

Thanks for that advice Colin. However should I try feeding it or just wait until it appears again? Its over a week now since it fed last.

[Colin D Wilson]

It probably wont eat for a while so i'd be still inclined to wait a while yet.
My daughters hasn't eaten yet after moulting 3 - 4 weeks ago.
Roseas go on these little hunger strikes (some last months though !!) as long as there's clean fresh water available she'll be ok.