Tarantula molts are the one of the most stressful things about tarantula keeping. I’ve been keeping my tarantulas for 7+ years and I STILL get nervous about it every time my tarantula starts making a molting mat or flips over. To make matters worse, some tarantulas don’t even molt the way they are “supposed to”. As if they couldn’t be weird enough.

When all goes well, your tarantula will make a nice little molting mat for themselves and eventually turn over their back in a nice open space in their tank where there will be very little interference and obstacles. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen.

It would be great if tarantulas were predictable and did what they are “supposed” to do every time. But tarantulas don’t care and just do whatever the hell they want. So what can you do if your tarantula starts molting upright and you’re freaking out that they’re going to die?!

Relax and enjoy the show. Seriously, that’s it. Of course, you want to be observant and keep an eye on your tarantula just in case, but surprisingly many tarantulas still manage to complete these upright molts successfully and with very little issue.

There have been many reports of tarantulas not only failing to flip over, but actually molting on their side or completely upright! There have even been some reports about tarantulas molting in cramped places and weird positions! So in many cases, we can even cause MORE issues by getting in the way of their spider stuff – sometimes we need to learn to stand back and allow nature to work its magic.

I know many of you already know this, but I think it’s really worth reassuring newer keepers that their tarantula will probably be ok, because interference and fussing too much can be deadly for your tarantula. If you need a little reassurance, here are some amazing videos of tarantulas having great upright molts:

As you can see, it’s actually pretty special to witness an upright molt because it gives you a different view and perspective of the process – and it’s pretty awesome!

However, if you do suspect that something doesn’t look right and is going wrong, be sure to check out my article on molting emergencies and how to deal with them!