This is pretty much every tarantula owner’s nightmare: you notice your tarantula molting and get super excited, especially if it’s your first time witnessing your tarantula go through the process or are a brand new tarantula owner. You sit there waiting and watching for quite a while and realize this is a really slow process. Hours go by, and you keep checking back. Until you realize that it’s been almost a whole day. This is taking a long time. Too long maybe. You start freaking out and frantically googling “Is my tarantula stuck in its molt?!” and feel absolutely helpless and terrified that your pet may be dying and you’re the only hope it has.

You’re not alone. Many tarantula owners find themselves in this position during their tarantula keeping journey and it’s such a hard position to be in, it’s hard to judge someone for making any type of call. On one hand, acting too soon could ruin a perfectly good molt and on the other, refusing to act could cost you a spider you might have been able to save. Here’s what you need to know:

There’s a few things you should know before deciding to intervene. One, is that a tarantula molting upright is not necessarily a death sentence. True, tarantulas usually molt on their backs, but many have successfully molted in very strange positions and in tight quarters. Of course this isn’t ideal, but it’s happened and these tarantulas have gone on to live like it never happened. The second important thing to consider is your tarantula’s age. This is SUPER critical to know because it’s not rare for an older tarantula to take over 12 hours, and if you try to “save” them in this process you might kill them. My own Spidey, my elderly Grammostola rosea, has taken almost 24 hours to finish her molt and while this is incredibly stressful for me, knowing that this long process is normal for her age has helped me allow her to go through her natural process and have successful molts.

The key is to of course consider these factors, but also know the signs of when your tarantula is getting stuck. As tarantula molting can be a slow process, it can easily look like nothing is happening and they are “stuck” even when everything is going fine.

Generally, if a molt is taking over 24 hours – ESPECIALLY if your tarantula is not significantly old, this could be a bad sign. Younger tarantulas should only take a few hours. Another sign is if the tarantula molting seemed to be moving along and then suddenly gets halted at a certain part and your tarantula isn’t making progress anymore. Sometimes you may even notice that part of your tarantula’s molt is malformed and preventing them from getting out.

Much of how you react will depend on whether or not you can see where the molt is getting stuck. Sometimes molting tarantulas are able to get themselves out of most of the molt except for one little part that gets stuck on them. In these benign cases, their molt can easily be dampened and gently pulled off, careful not to tear the new underlying exoskeleton as it will be fragile. In other cases, the molt is very stuck to the carapace or abdomen, or sometimes they cannot free all of their 8 legs from their exoskeleton. It is important to examine what is going on while doing your best not to disturb your tarantula. It’s also important to know that once you identify that your tarantula is stuck and needs your help, you should act carefully but quickly. Their soft fragile exoskeleton underneath the molt is much easier to manipulate and wiggle out of the molt if it’s fresh – once it has had the chance to harden and expand, the more chances your tarantula might be stuck to the extent that you can’t get them out.

Tarantula Molting Emergency option 1: Raise humidity

Raising the humidity in an enclosure is usually the first go-to for someone who needs to assist a tarantula molting. This can be the least invasive and risky option, and often just involves adding water to the water dish or overflowing a little water onto substrate. Humidity allows the tarantula to have an easier molt and provides it with more lubrication to move out of its exoskeleton.

Tarantula Molting Emergency option 2: Create an ICU

If you feel you want to create more humidity (and this is often a good plan), you can do this by creating an ICU. Unfortunately this is a bit riskier because it involves moving the molting tarantula to another smaller container, so you must take great care. Basically, you will be dampening some paper towels or tissues, putting them on the bottom of a container and placing your tarantula in this container before adding a lid with holes. If you don’t want to use the damp paper towels, you can add a small water dish if you have room. The damp towels/water dish in a smaller space creates more enclosed humidity. Here’s a really helpful video about this, which involves a tarantula molting emergency:

You can also provide an “ICU” without moving the tarantula from its terrarium by relocating their enclosure to a closed bathroom and running a hot shower so the steam creates humidity.

Tarantula Molting Emergency Option 3: Cut Them Out

Cutting your tarantula out of its molt is another step up from just creating humidity and is of course more risky and requires more care. In this instance, you will be taking a scalpel, exacto knife or another sharp apparatus and practically be performing surgery on your tarantula, meticulously cutting away the old molt in order to save your tarantula. Be sure that when you are doing this, you have all tools nearby including tweezers, the cutting tool, and some damp q-tips and tissues to soften the exoskeleton you are trying to remove. You should also have something to clot your tarantula’s blood in case you make a mistake or cut too much (more on this later). Here’s a very helpful video of Rob Carman operating on his big tarantula Sammy. Sammy unfortunately did not make it, but his entire series on trying to save her during this molt is a great teaching tool for those in the same position – Rob is very careful and knows his stuff.

Operating on slings can be very challenging, so here’s a good video by Tennessee Tarantulas on how this can be done:

Tarantula Molting Emergency Option 4: Amputate

In extreme circumstances where a tarantula’s leg/legs are incredibly deformed or stuck in the molt and you can’t cut the old exoskeleton away, it may be best to amputate. This sound harsh, but it may save your tarantula if they are extremely stuck. Remember, tarantulas can regenerate body parts so as long as it’s not a critical part of their body such as the abdomen and carapace, they will likely be ok if the issue is a leg. In these cases, you’ll want to take a very sharp cutting tool and make the cut at the closest joint, which will reduce bleeding and endure the cleanest regeneration. Make sure you have something to clot the tarantula’s blood such as flour or corn starch, as tarantulas do not have the ability to stop their blood from leaking out like we do. If several of your tarantulas legs need to be amputated, it’s not the end of the world – there have been a few reports of tarantulas surviving almost legless and eventually regrowing all 8 legs thanks to their caring owners. This may be a helpful video to demonstrate this point:

Tarantula Molting Emergency Option 5: Repairing Your Tarantula

Whether your tarantula has suffered an injury from its molt or now has an open wound due to being operated on and saved, you MUST close any wound because tarantula blood does not have clotting properties. To do this, you can use safe options such as corn starch or flour. You can also use spray dressing or petroleum jelly. Some have used super glue in the past, but this is now being shunned due to the chemical properties and the risk for further complication (it is still effective if you are desperate and have nothing else, though). Usually, you’ll have at least one of these things in the house already. Here’s a great account from a tarantula owner who had to repair his tarantula’s abdomen:

I hope this was helpful, guys! If you have any other tips please leave them in the comments! No matter how experienced you are, a tarantula molting problem is always stressful and all we can do is just try our best. And sometimes even when we do everything we can, sometimes there are things we cannot fix despite our best efforts. So be easy on yourselves and just do your best!