imminent molt.

[vincent winyard]

hi there everyone i just need some advice on my young smithi who im sure is going to molt sometime soon. the last time she ate was two weeks ago. i did try her last week but she wasn,t interested. what i want to know is how long should i leave her before offering food again. she has fresh water every other day and the tank,s lightly misted every other day i also lay a damp cloth on top of the tank to keep the humidity right .

[jason holland]

just try a cricket every couple of days... leave it in for an hour or 2. if nothing.. take it out. sounds like a moult wud be coming up tho

[vincent winyard]

hi jason thanks for your advice i,ll give it a go and i,ll let you know how she gets on cheers mate.

[Craig Mackay]

If its coming up for a moult I wouldn't put any food in there to minimise stress and the risk of a cricket taking a chomp out of the T. She may be about to moult or she may just be fasting. What signs of a moult are showing? If it's just that she's gone off her food then she may just be fasting and you could offer food once a week. If she's showing other signs of moulting like a dark patch on her abdomen I wouldn't offer her any food until shes moulted because she won't take it anyway. If she is going to moult don't worry about her taking her time. Sometimes they go off their food for weeks or months before moulting.

[vincent winyard]

hi craig she does have a dark bald patch on her abdomen but i wasn,t sure how long i should leave her without offering her food. now i know she can go without food for some time that,s put my mind to rest. also craig i have an adult chilli rose female i,ve had her for two weeks now and i,ve been feeding her crickets. i want to try her on locusts for a varied diet but is there anything i have to do with the locust before offering them to her. i ask this because i,ve heard you have to feed them fresh greens for a week to clear there systums before there offered to any spider is this right thanks craig.

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Vincent, I'll answer that one for Craig, yeah it is a well to clean their gut out. Personally, I think locusts are a waste of money, they do well on crickets and try roaches, more food value, or wax worms.

[vincent winyard]

OK thanks for that linda I'll give it a go