How bizzare to think of a Tarantula with no fangs, the particular species in question was one of my Acanthoscurria geniculata, as per usual it came round to the time of moulting, out popped a vibrant fresh looking spider, and as usual I left it a week before resuming feeding.
Anyone who owns an Acanthoscurria geniculata will realise how much of an appetite they have and will eat loads and loads right up to moult time, so I was well surprised to see the cricket I placed in the tank still wandering about!
Observing the spider in action I could see it feisty as ever for food, it pounced for the cricket and held onto it but repeatedly the cricket broke free, at that time I knew something was definitely wrong.
After discovering a loss of fangs I consulted some fellow spider fans to find this was not an uncommon occurance.
My next problem was how to feed it! I followed all suggestions, squashed crickets, sliced open crickets, etc... but no joy. I decided to follow plan B keep the spider warm to speed up its metbolism and rush it through it's next moult.
Being the amazing creatures they are it moulted six weeks later with a full size set of fangs after eating no food!, below shows the moult it cast with the fangs clearly missing.
Click on the pictures for a larger image
| Acanthoscurria geniculata moult with no fangs (legspan 60mm 2½") |
 |
| Acanthoscurria geniculata moult showing clearly where the fangs are and should be. |  |
| This is a picture of an Avicularia avicularia moult that i threw in for good measure, again the fangs can be seen. |  |
| This was sent to me by Howard Pugh, a Lasiodora
Parahybana showing loss of fangs, Howard made the following comment: 'The spider came through a moult without any problems sporting a brand new set of fangs together with a newly regenerated pedipalp which was lost in transit when I originally received it through the post'. |
 |
Click here to back to the main
Tarantula page