Is he or she anywhere near coming up for a moult?

[patsyking]

Here is a pic of my little B.smithi. I was wondering if he/she looks anywhere near coming up for a moult. I've had him/her since 2nd January. His hide is a film canister.

[jason holland]

thats a film canister! my god he's tiny

its hard to tell, cos you cant really tell if that darkening, or just the colour of hairs on its rear...

has it stopped eating?

[patsyking]

It last ate on Monday. My daughter ( who lives opposite me) also has a B.smithi baby but hers is ever so slightly bigger than mine and hers ate one day and moulted two days after. I always thought they went off their food for a while before moulting.Its just that I've had it seven weeks now and I thought they moult evey 6 to 8 weeks?

[Colin D Wilson]

Looks to me like a moults due, when they're small the time scales for fasting and moulting are quite close together from my experience.

[Richard Shah]

Here is a pic of my little B.smithi. I was wondering if he/she looks anywhere near coming up for a moult. I've had him/her since 2nd January. His hide is a film canister.

Wassup wid the third leg on the left side, if u dnt mind me asking?

[Andrew Ferguson]

It could just be the angle that the photo was taken from that makes it look stumpy.

[Richard Shah]

It could just be the angle that the photo was taken from that makes it look stumpy.

Yh that's what I thought was a possibilty, but I find it interesting how tarantulas have the ability to regrow their leg during moulting, I do not see how though!

[Leanne King-Smith]

Yh that's what I thought was a possibilty, but I find it interesting how tarantulas have the ability to regrow their leg during moulting, I do not see how though!

Patsy's my mum and her B.Smithi only had 7 legs when she bought it. I noticed it the day after she got it.

Here is a pic of my B.Smithi, El Guapo, who hasn't moulted for 10 1/2 weeks. He is about 1cm at the mo

Moderators note: The BTS has a non-handling policy and does not encourage the handling of tarantulas, for the safety of the tarantula and the owner. We also understand that people have different opinions on this subject and from time to time handling may be necessary and /or accidental.
This image shows the handling of an early stage spiderling and danger of invenomation is virtually impossible, the spider appears safe so the image will remain.

[Richard Shah]

Patsy's my mum and her B.Smithi only had 7 legs when she bought it. I noticed it the day after she got it.

Here is a pic of my B.Smithi, El Guapo, who hasn't moulted for 10 1/2 weeks. He is about 1cm at the mo

Moderators note: The BTS has a non-handling policy and does not encourage the handling of tarantulas, for the safety of the tarantula and the owner. We also understand that people have different opinions on this subject and from time to time handling may be necessary and /or accidental.
This image shows the handling of an early stage spiderling and danger of invenomation is virtually impossible, the spider appears safe so the image will remain.

Lol kl; I just had a look at the first thread posted by your mum and saw that she did mention that earlier!
B. Smithis look unappealing when they are young, but I still can't wait to get my juvenile! It'll be so sick!!
10 1/2 weeks?? That's crazy; go check on him now and I bet you'll find him/her on its back! Cuz that is a long time for a sling to not moult (from what I've read!).
I can't wait to get my B Smithi! Your mum's will regenerate its leg bit by bit; and I would love to see my T's regenerate, but I'd never want it to lose a limb though!

[Kate Arbon]

They don't regenerate their legs bit by bit, they get the whole thing back in one go. It might be a bit skinnier than the others, but probably not noticeably so on a sling, and the next time it moults it should be normal. I had a B. smithi sling regrow a leg last time it molted, and now I have another sling which only has 7 legs (same species). They seem to be pretty clumsy when they're tiny, losing legs all over the place.

[Richard Shah]

They don't regenerate their legs bit by bit, they get the whole thing back in one go. It might be a bit skinnier than the others, but probably not noticeably so on a sling, and the next time it moults it should be normal. I had a B. smithi sling regrow a leg last time it molted, and now I have another sling which only has 7 legs (same species). They seem to be pretty clumsy when they're tiny, losing legs all over the place.

Kool ! ! !

[Pam Turner]

Patsy, the closer a molt gets, the darker that baby's entire body will get, not just the abdomen. The abdomen will start first though. I think the dark area we are seeing is the same as I said about your daughter's kiddo, in that it is the urticating patch. I can still clearly see the heart outline on yours, so I think you have a while yet. If you look at the two pics, you will see how much darker her kiddo is than yours.

[patsyking]

Yes,looking at the two photos I can see the difference in colour between the two of them. Guess I'm just going to have to be patient. I hope he comes through his next moult ok, I'd be gutted if anything happened to him!