Tarantula Molting

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Part of the video series: Pet Tarantula Care

Summary: Tarantulas molt to remove old skin from the outside of the body in order to grow larger. Learn more about tarantula molting with tips from an exotic animal expert in this free video on pet spiders.

Views: 686 | Tags: care, pet, pets, exotic, tarantula, spiders, tarantulas

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About the Expert

Mary Ann Hamilton Mary Ann Hamilton graduated from Texas A&M University with a double major in Bioenvironmental Science and Entomology. She works in the curatorial department o... read more

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Video Transcript

Tarantula Molting

In this clip we're going to talk about tarantula molting. Tarantulas have exoskeletons, which means that their bones are on the outside of their body, so in order for a tarantula to grow, they must remove their old skin from the outside of their body. They do this by opening up their old skin, almost peeling off their old skin, laying upside down, pulling their bodies out and leaving behind an exact replica of their body. When tarantulas molt, they remove all of their exterior exoskeleton. That means that they even molt their fangs. Now when your tarantula has molted, it's very important to look for a couple of signs or if it's about to molt, you need to look for some signs, too. When your tarantula is ready to molt, it's going to turn a very dark color and become very lethargic. It's very important to not feed your tarantula during this time, because it's saving all its energy for the molting process. Once the tarantula has molted you will find a molt inside your tank, and it will look like you have two tarantulas, but you don't. Remove that molting and leave your tarantula alone. Don't feed your tarantula for up to two weeks but make sure that it has plenty of water. Feeding the tarantula during this time can be detrimental to the tarantula's health because the new exoskeleton is quite thin and very soft so the tarantula will need a couple of weeks for the new exoskeleton to harden properly.