Preserving Tarantula Molts! - Reptilian Arts

One of the coolest things about keeping Tarantulas is seeing them grow, molt, and watching the amazing process happen. Tarantulas shed their exoskeleton in order to grow. This process is refereed to as molting. When tarantulas are younger they molt much more frequently since they are growing, however once a tarantula is fully grown they may only molt semi-yearly to yearly. 

I'm going to share how you can save your tarantula molts and display them. I think they make really cool display pieces, since they are so beautiful and unique. The way to persevere your tarantula molts is to get them when they are fresh. Fairly quickly(within hours) after your tarantula molts the molt will begin to harden. When it's fresh it feels very soft and is pliable. This is when you want to carefully remove it from the cage and lay it on a clean flat surface. Normally right after they molt the molt will be folded up, so you want to try to position the legs correctly so it lays flat and looks like a tarantula. Next allow it to harden like this and now you will have a beautifully displayed exoskeleton! You can place it on a shelf or store it where ever you like just be sure it's in a safe space where it won't get crushed because they are very fragile. Another further option is you can put a tiny amount of glue on the bottom of the legs and then glue it onto a board and frame it. You can buy a glass shadow box and put the molts in there as well. This will preserve the molt for much longer since it's not exposed to air.

Let me know what you do with your tarantula molts and if you keep/preserve them in any way. Thanks for reading!

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