My chilean rose molted on May 19, finishing at about 11:00 PM. It moulted on the dry side of the cage, so I stayed up late misting it as lightly as I could. Good news, through the ordeal, I sexed it and its female. Now, how long should I wait before I handle or feed it. I have heard two theories, 1. Feed it when it seems hungry and 2. Wait a set time, about a week. Which "theory" seems more reliable to prevent stress.
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Just Molted
hamsterboy121
May 20, 2007 12:41 PM
Replies (1)
TheVez2
May 21, 2007 07:28 AM
The minimum time to wait is as long as it takes for the exoskeleton to fully harden. You'll notice when the T molts that the fangs are white. As they harden they turn black. You need to wait at least a couple days after they turn black. If you don't then the T could break a fang when it tries to eat. This usually takes about a week in adult tarantulas, and that is where that metric came from.
I always wait a week for adults, some people wait even longer. You T will do just fine without food, so don't worry about waiting too long to feed it. You could wait a month or more and be fine.
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KJ Vezino
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