Woke up this morning - feeling fine!

[Tracy Sherwood-Farnfield]

Ruby was still on her back when we went to bed last night.

Got up this morning and saw an eeire silhouette of legs bunched together protruding from her retreat.....

Turned on the light to find the 'legs' were those which were no longer required and a 'new' Ruby was huddled up between her water bowl and her retreat - her own 'attached' legs drawn up over her head.

Once she has relaxed and streched out it will be exciting to see how much bigger she is. I have entrusted my husband (who is home on half term) to try and get some pics today, I shall remove the shed skin when I get home tonight (I didn't want to wake her this morning).

So there we go, first moult (with us) down.

I must admit it was so difficult to resist the urge to get in there and hold a leg and speak words of encouragement
"come on Ruby, push those fangs back - remember what we learnt in ante-moulting classes" bless.

I was also suprised how mich like the 'old' Ruby her discarded legs look, I don't know why I expected them to be more transparent and fragile looking.

Learn something new everyday!

[Colin D Wilson]

Well from the title i thought you were going to burst into song

Woke up this morning feeling fine
I've got something special on my mind
Last night I met a new girl in the neighborhood
Something tells me I'm into something good.

All went well then, which is good.
If you've never seen a moult up close before then i'd take some time and have a good look at it before it hardens up fully. Look in the area where all the legs join the body and you'll see a little "spiggot" type thing at the front, thats the pumping stomach that it moulted as well. all interesting stuff !!!
If you can spread the abdominal "skin" out so you can see inside between the top pair of book lungs, take a good quality close up picture and we'll have a go at sexing if you don't already know.

This is what you're looking at for a female (it may not be as well formed on a juvenile spider.

[Tracy Sherwood-Farnfield]

Well from the title i thought you were going to burst into song

Woke up this morning feeling fine
I've got something special on my mind
Last night I met a new girl in the neighborhood
Something tells me I'm into something good.

It was indeed going through my mind as I typed! Perhaps I could re-write it from Ruby's point of view...

Wloke up this morning feeling fine
I'm like a new spider on the outside
Last night I shed my skin like I knew I should
Now I'm glad I'm out and I'm feeling good

LOL - perhaps I won't give uo the day job just yet.....

[Peter Lacey]

Congrats Tracy
I took my G. rosea exuvium from her hide on Wed nt. She wasn't impressed, maybe she thought it was a friend That was well over 1 week from her molt.
I'd be careful not to disturb her yet as it takes a good week for the new skin and fangs to harden.

[andy hood]

congratulations on a successfull moult tracy

[Pam Turner]

Congrats Tracy!! I'm sure her new clothes are gorgeous.

[Andrew Ferguson]

Good job that song lyric wasn't by Vinnie Pauleone. That goes

Woke up this morning
Got yourself a gun

I understand moults can be traumatic, but that's going too far. By the way, that's from the theme tune to the Sopranos.

Great news on the moult, I would guess sleeping was cut short to get up early to see if everything went ok. I'm sure my little smithi will be doing the same thing soon. Don't know why, just a gut feeling.

[scotttaylor]

well done on the molt i rember how much i worred bout my chiles first molt Ts look so cool brand new wish i could do it and get my hair back lol

[Tracy Sherwood-Farnfield]

Thanks guys,

Just to update, she is doing fine. A quiet weekend - well quietish I was spring claening! She spent most of her time huddled against the warm side of the tank just relaxing with the odd stretch of the legs (to check they are still working okay I presume lol.) Today she was stitting more openly which was great, her carapace is really pink now and so much bigger than before and her legs are definatley a good bit longer!

Just wondering.....
her abdomen is quite small and I guess this would be due to the absence of a decent meal for nigh on a month (waiting until the weekend - just in case) is that why they do not eat before moulting - to shrink the stomach and make the process easier?

I removed the skin on Saturday, it is fascinating and the 'furry' bits for want of a better description are so much softer than I expected.

Now a technical Q - how is the moult actually triggered, I am assuming hormonal/chemical following some sort of receptor engagement, is this triggered by time/conditions/recent feeding etc. Just curious, it is the scientist in me!

[James Box]

sorry just to interupt, i can't resist putting up Weird Al's genius lyrics any longer!

i woke up this morning,
then i went back to bed.
i said i woke up this morning,
then i went right back to bed.
i've got this funny kinda feelin'
like i got broken glass in my underpants
and a herd of wild pigs is tryin' to chew off my head

well that's certainly how i felt this morning, without the option of going back to bed
Tracy, i'll be you're at least partially right about why they don't eat coming up to a moult...it would make sense to slim down a bit.
but yeah, i've also had fat spiders moult into really skinny ones...and then they tend to get quite hungry soon after i guess it just takes alot of energy to prepare the new skin underneath...