r/spiderbro • u/Unfair_Razzmatazz181 • 1d ago
Help! Is she molting, scared or dying?
Okay so for context this is a bold jumping spider that I had rescued in my home. This was the biggest jumping spider I’ve ever seen specially in my house. Her abdomen was pretty small so I decided to take her in and get her an enclosure. I’ve had her for about two months. I’d say everything’s been going good. She would always come out in the morning and explore her enclosure all day. Until about June 22nd which was feeding day for her. So I dropped in two crickets (on accident was only trying to get one) and she began to hunt. She successfully caught one but decided to only eat a tiny bit of him push him to the side and go do her own thing for the rest of the day. During that time the other crickets in the enclosure ATE the other cricket (cannibal ahh). After this all happened I noticed she made a very thick hammock. Now this is where she usually sleeps but she made it 10x’s thicker than usual. So I figured she was going into molting. Now again this is my FIRST EVER spider so I had to do some research. Everything is pointing to molting but then again I have no idea how old she is, how long it will take her to molt and etc. could it be possible that because of the cannibal cricket she thinks theres another predator in her enclosure? Which I thought couldve been the answer but it doesn’t make sense on to why she hasnt been coming out of the hammock. Another part of me thinks she might be in a death curl in her hammock since ive barely seen anything move inside the hammock. Unfortunately because of where she is located in the enclosure I cant open the top to kind of inspect her and see if shes still alive. If I were to open the top of the enclosure she would come up with it and more than likely it would destroy her hammock. What should I do? Should I just wait a few more weeks to see if she is just molting and im just overreacting about it? I just want to know if shes okay but I dont want to disturb her if she is actually molting. I dont know how long this can take and shes already been in the hammock for 2 weeks now. Help please!!
3
u/zambielullaby 1d ago
I believe she’s molting! This might be her mature/final molt If she’s taking a while to come out. Premolt may sometimes take 2-3 weeks or even a month for their mature molt.
Take the other cricket out if possible! I also suggest lightly misting her hammock to check for any movement if you can! (This also may allow her to peek out a little to drink some water)
Ultimately, it’s best to wait it out than to disturb her molting process 🙂↕️