I have been very proud of my students this year - each week a different student is in charge of feeding the animals. Some of them are willing to feed the tarantulas, but some aren't. Those who don't want to risk opening the lids of the cages ask a more daring student to help them. I think all of this exposure is helping these children become more aware and accepting of many different types of animals.
One Monday I came into the classroom and glanced at Rosa's cage. There was another spider in the container with her!! Was this a joke being played on me by a co-worker? Upon closer inspection, I realized that Rosa had molted, and her molted exoskeleton was laying beside her! I had read about this, but had never seen it. Do males not molt? Both of my males were Texas Browns - maybe they don't molt as often as Chilean Rose Hairs?
Unfortunately, we soon realized that something was wrong. Rosa seemed very weakened. She sometimes flailed her legs. I called my cousin Norman (the entomologist) for advice. He listened to the symptoms and agreed that it didn't sound good, but had no advice to offer. He said that tarantulas often seem weakened for an hour after molting, but she had been in this state for more than 8 hours. I watched her and searched the Internet for clues. I found a source on the Internet that mentioned a disease called diskinetic syndrome. I read up on it and felt that Rosa was probably suffering from that. Unfortunately she died after a day or two.
I had joined an Internet forum called "SouthTexasReptiles" and was browsing it a few days before Rosa died - suddenly I saw an ad for someone selling a Chilean Rose Haired tarantula! I contacted them and made plans to pick her up the following weekend. The guy selling the tarantula also had a Pacman frog that he wanted to sell, so I figured "the more, the merrier" and bought him too. I knew that my students would enjoy having it in the classroom as well.
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