I just bought a Rose Hair not too long ago, about 1 month ago..wow time flies lol and I think she's getting ready to molt, but I'm not positive and I've been looking for various places for help, websites, the pet store where I got her from (very helpful people) and then I found this place so I figured I'd give it a try. Her names Azrael and she's 6 months old..well 7 now I guess and like I said before I think she's getting ready to molt...This saturday will have been two weeks since she ate 12 crickets and then 2 the following day(Total of 14 crickets). After that she ate two crickets on Thursday(14th) ahd then on Sunday(17th) she went for a cricket, got it, but then let it go and wouldn't go after it again and it eventually died of poisons lol. My pet guy said by this Saturday she should have molted, and if not drop some crickets in. I'm just wondering if anyones ever had a similar issure where it took a long time for their Tarantula to molt. I'm kinda new to this whole Tarantula(hence the Rose Hair) thing too so I don't wanna hurt her and I wanna make sure she has a nice long life. Any comments and tips are more then welcome. Oh yeah, her Abdomen has like...kind of a dry spot? It's not a marking of kicking hairs, but it looks like...old skin? lol I dunno how to explain it.

They will sometimes fast for long periods. If it is gonna molt, the abdomen will usually get dark. It took my Rosey a couple months before she finally molted.

When a T's about to molt they flip over on their backs. When this happens, make sure you leave her alone, and remove any live crickets in the cage. Boosting the humidity may be a good idea too. Depending on the size of the crickets, you may be feeding her too much. I feed my Ts a few crickets a week, usually between 2 and 5 at the most.

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I know about the whole leaving em alone when they molt. I don't keep crickets in her thing anyways. I also forgot to mention that she's made a little patch of web in the corner of the Tank where she stays for most of the day and then when evening comes around she goes wherever.

Tarantulas can go off their food for up to 4 weeks before a molt.. They will also go darker in colouration and can develop a bald spot on their abdomens. If you have tried her with food and she refused leave her a few days. if she still hasn't molted try her again with a cricket and if she doesn't take it leave her alone again.

Adults will molt much less often than younger Ts, and it actually may just be that she is not hungry - 14 crickets in a couple of days is too much food for a T. They only require a few crickets per week, we feed one cricket or locust every 2-3 days, and occasionally offer a pinkie mouse/rat pup.

If she is in molt, then as Matt said, when she actually molts she will turn on her back (see the T forum for a thread on T molting with pics of the process), when she will appear to have fallen on her back, don't be alarmed as it is a startling sight. Don't touch or go near the T while she is going through this process, and leave her alone for a week after - do not feed for a week as she needs time to allow her exoskeleton to harden.

Welcome to the forum, and please post pics of your animals.

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I know 14 Crickets is a lot, but she kept eating them lol and I know about the Turning on their back sides lol..I read up on that way before hand and I'm glad I did otherwise I'd have cried lol. She hasn't really gotten darke persay...but then again mind you she does look a lot darker then most other Rose Hairs that I have seen. Speaking of going on their backs...how exactly is it that they go on their backs? And from which way do they get out of their old shell? And! How long should I wait before I take the molting out? Here's a pic(kind of a bad one) of the cutey

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RoseHairs are known o fast for LOOOOOOONG periods of time. The longest mine went was 4 months, seriously, and I offered her crickets once in a while but she would never eat. So far this year my rosie has only eaten 5 crickets. This usually freaks out new t keepers, thats why I dont recommend rosies for newbs. About 7 years ago when I got into the hobby of keeping t's, the rosie was my first tarantula and I kinda got scared because she would fast for long periods of time.

Also listen to everyones advice here about not leaving crickets in when a t is molting. My advice for you is to offer a cricket just one in a while and If she doesn't eat it within a period of time, remove the cricket.

i agree completely whith what hsa been said my first T was a rosea as well, they will fast for rediculous periods of time. mine wouldnt eat for about 4 months then would devour whatever it could then go on the same famoun. good luck!!

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Hello and welcome to HC

I have two G. Rosea and one eats like a horse and the other, well she hasnt eaten in months, well before her last molt... if I offer her a cricket she just kills it and webs it up, I have found them dangling in certain places of her viv..

The dry patch you mentioned I know what you mean, one of mine has it now but its turning darker, molt will usually be in about a month or two, that will turn to a dark shiny bald spot before molting, most Ts dont kick their hairs before a molt so its quite difficult to tell the black shiny patch, but that will split and she will be reborn from there you will have a brand new T

Lorno, when the T goes on its back to molt I'm not actually sure how it gets there But once it's there its skin will split on its abdomen and the new T will come out from that split in the skin. This process can usually take up to abour 24hours, and you can take the skin out as soon as the T is fully detached. Be careful not to touch the T though, at this stage it will probably curl up and be easily frightened as it is still very vulnerable. Here are some pics of our chile rose molting-
in the first pic you can see it has flipped onto its back ready to molt.
second you can see the tarantula (the T is the one on the right, skin on the left) coming out of its skin
Third pic shows the view from the other side, where the T is the one with the white fangs, freshly molted.
And last, the T is out of its skin - T on the left still on its back, skin on the right. The T turned back onto its front a short while later, after resting for a bit, and its exoskeleton hardened after about a week. Fascinating process.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004