When we think about a tarantula molting, a lot of us tarantula owners get very nervous. Molting is one of the most nerve wracking things that our tarantula can do, and it gets especially worrisome in the cases of an elderly tarantula or a very young tarantula due to their vulnerability and fragile nature.

Unfortunately, it’s really common for tarantulas to have issues during the molting process and many tarantula pass on during this. There are a variety of reasons this could happen, from old age to a molting complication to a disturbance in the process to not having the right environmental circumstances. There are so many factors that could impact a tarantula molting and sometimes it’s of no fault of the owner that a tarantula has a complication and cannot be saved.

While we can’t predict what’s going to happen to our tarantula once they start the molting process, there are things we can do to help them out and make sure that we’ve provided the best conditions for our tarantula. So in this post, I’ll give a few tips that will increase the possibility that your spider will have tarantula molting success.

Nutrition

This one is pretty important. Feeding your tarantula a good diet will keep them healthy overall, but it will also help them through the molting process. Crickets and roaches have generally been thought to provide great nutrition for tarantulas. Worms such as superworms and mealworms are also a good food however are more often regarded as treats because they are quite fatty. Other foods such as mice have been said to interfere with the molting process due to the calcium in the bones. While this cannot be proven and is even dispelled by many tarantula owners, it is worth noting because some have said that feeding their Ts mice may cause molting issues for tarantulas. Something to think about. Generally, bugs like roaches and crickets are safest and if you want to increase the nutrition these items offer to your tarantulas, you can gut load them by feeding the bugs a good diet. This way, your tarantula benefits from the nutrients that its prey have already absorbed in their digestive tract.

Water and humidity

One of the biggest predictors of tarantula molting success depends a lot on water and humidity. Tarantulas always need a water dish in their enclosure no matter what – even if you never see them drinking, I assure you they are doing it in privacy when you are sleeping. For many tarantulas, a full water dish provides more than enough humidity for molting – tarantulas need a certain degree of moisture in the air to make the molting process easy for them. However, many exotic species need more humidity and have more particular requirements so make sure to read up on your species to ensure the conditions of the enclosure are just right.

Clear all food items out of the tank

This is pretty well known but I should mention it anyway because there are so many beginners on my website and channel. If your tarantula has not eaten its food in 12-24 hours, remove the food. And definitely do NOT put any food in your tarantula’s enclosure if you notice them making a thick white mat, also known as the molting mat. This is a sign your tarantula will molt soon and having prey in the tank could kill them while they are molting.

Be aware of how to help

Even if you provide all the right conditions, your tarantula could still run into issues. In case this does happen, you should already be well versed in knowing your options for tarantula first aid, as well as how to help your tarantula get through a bad molt if you have to. This includes knowing what tools to use, how to use them, and having them on hand. I covered this extensively here, and I talk about tarantula first aid extensively in my tarantula guide.

Know when and when not to interfere

One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is interrupting a tarantula molting. You must educate yourself on the signs that a tarantula is in trouble, because interfering with a molting tarantula could kill the spider. I can’t tell you how many times I see beginners running to tarantula groups because they thought their tarantula was dying when in fact it was simply on its back because it was molting, and by moving or bothering the T they compromised the molting process. So you must educate yourself on what a bad molt looks like and how long a molt for your spider’s age should take so you can gauge what is normal and what is not. This allows you to make an educated choice about when to leave your tarantula alone and allow it to continue its business or intervene and help them out. Your decision could greatly impact your tarantula’s life, so it’s very important that you are well educated on the molting process.

And in the case that the molt has gone terribly wrong and your tarantula is dying, you should already know all of the options for tarantula euthanasia (putting your tarantula down).

I hope this helps, guys! Hopefully this will help you be more prepared as well as allow your tarantulas to have beautiful healthy molts in the future!