Marina’s first brood of kids are growing up quickly in the summer warmth! I feed them all on the same schedule, so they tend to molt all at once, and I end up with a handful of exuviae like this.
the amblypygi in premolt have their soft membranes stretched taut by fat reserves and the new exoskeleton developing beneath. that pressure is used to pop off the carapace so that the animal can squeeze out and then expand the new shell. because amblypygi also fast for several weeks before molting (which itself is energetically costly), they’re extremely thin on emergence, and I feed them a big meal as soon as they harden enough to eat.
