C. marshalli

[David Blair]

Thought I would tell you about my C. marshalli, after the last molt 12/09 I
couldn't find the carapace anywhere and assumed he/she had totally
distroyed it until later when I got a few pics I could see that the eyes
looked white almost like an old skin.

This got me wondering about the molt and whether the carapace could
have remained attatched(which is the reason I couldnt find it), but I
thought if it had surely it would have given him/her some troubles and
he/she seemed fine, webbing up the enclosure and eating as normal but
not too aggressive.

Well I checked this morning to find it had molted again so i carefully
removed the old skin and boy was he/she defensive, almost flipped on its
back.
So I checked the molt and sure enough there is 2 carapaces attatched.
Thought I would tell you about it as I have never heard of it happening
before, I am just amazed that he/she managed a to get to the next molt
with no problems. I can see now why it wasn't overly agrressive, it must
have been virtually blind due to the old carapace still being attatched.

showing both sets of eyes

[Mrs Linda Street]

That's very interesting David, we've never seen anything like that happen before, and luckily gotten through another moult without difficulty, and two excellent pics to show it.

[Craig Mackay]

I had read about someone else experiencing this before. The story I'd read the guy could see that there was a second carapace as it hadn't fully detached and that T came through it's moult fine aswell and shed both carapaces. Its quite crazy, you would expect it to cause major problems. Luckily not

[Peter Lacey]

wow!
I currently have a G. rosea that has its old abdomen still attached.

[Phil Rea]

That's amazing

It is the transparent lens that is shed with the carapace, so I would think that despite the old carapace still being attached, the spider would still have been able to see in the limited way that they can anyway. It is interesting that whatever problem that caused the carapace to remain stuck has cleared up with another moult.

Yet another surprise from these incredible creatures!