Humidity is a general important part of caring for our T's, but so is adequate hydration. Remember our T's use their body fluids/blood (hemolymph) to move and moult ...

Our T's use their muscles to move their legs inward, but they dont have muscles to extend them back out again.

They have to force their bodily fluids(mainly blood) into their legs to make them move outward (think of hydrolic pressure). A dehydrated T can't move their legs back out, and that is why we see them typically "curled up" with their legs beneath them. When we put them in ICU and hydrate them again they can extend their legs and move again

In moulting our T's secrete a fluid between the old and the new skin, allowing the new skin (exoskeleton) to form. When its time to moult they actually absorb the fluid back into their bodies leaving a "gap" between the old and the new skin which is what allows it to "seperate" during moulting.

To get out of the old skin and moult, it has to do a "jailbreak" It literally bursts out of its seams! It pushes up its heart rate to pump a lot of their blood (hemolymph)from their abdomen into their first body "segment"(cephalothorax) This pressure expands the old skin (exoskeleton) until it cracks - then its merely a case of our T's doing a bit of pumping iron to slip out of their old skin

I hope this explains why hydration BEFORE a moult is so important! I personally dont believe that merely spraying the tank while the T is moulting is going to help any if it was previously dehydrated - note this is my personal opinion!!

Having said that - some T's just seem to have a natural tendency to moult strangely. I have a P Cancerides that was stuck/lost a limb during each and every moult ...since it was about 1cm big :blink: i was half expecting it to die with every moult. It has finally "outgrown" that problem now and at 6cm is moulting perfectly.

Some stuck moult has never bothered my T's - unless it inteferes with their feeding. I would definately try what cascade said and moisten the piece of stuck skin gently.

Let us know how it goes!

ps: sorry if my 2c worth just became 5c

Thanx for the info Raven!

I check on the T again this morning and he/she was dragging the exuvium around. Checked again about 20min ago and it had dropped of!! :laugh:

Hi Raven

I think your advice and additional info is much more than 5c

I think T keeping is one of the few placing where being obsessed isn't necessarily a bad thing. checking up on the Ts regularly and making sure the subtrate is damp enough, the water bowls (those that use them) have water, old food items are removed,etc. makes the life of the T much easier in the long run by making sure they have an ideal environment to grow up.

Humidity is the one thing that is hard to measure (without an hydrometer of course), and gets even harder to do in a small enclosure where the stick on types wont fit.

In my personal experience, spraying the enclosure isn't very effective. Doesn't last long before the damp is completely gone, especially with heating close to the enclosures. I take a syringe and "inject" the water into the subtrate. Lasts much longer this way.

Excellent news Nero. Glad it is OK

Hi Guys,

I upped the humidity plenty and also tried the wet earbud to wet his butt, but still the piece of old exuvium is stuck on the patch where the urticating bristles usually are.

I hope it doesn't cause hassles, and that he makes it... Rio is the very first T I ever bought...

HS

This happened to one of my B. vagans when it was still a small sling. I just left it, because it wasn't bothering the sling and with the next moult the piece of old exuvium came off.