A. chalcodes growth rate?

feed her roaches or crickets?

  • Roaches

    Votes: 13 65.0%

  • Crickets

    Votes: 7 35.0%
  • Total voters
    20
Galaxyblues

Galaxyblues

Arachnopeon
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How fast does the average Aphonopelma calcodes grow? I have a 3 inch female and I would like to know how long it will be until she is full grown/how many inches per year/how often they molt/how often I should feed her accordingly
 
Nightstalker47

Nightstalker47

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Very slow growers, you can expect your female to molt roughly once a year at that size. I feed my 4'' specimen around once every two weeks, and she stays nice and plump.
 
EtienneN

EtienneN

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I have one a bit bigger than 3” DLS, at that size they should moult approximately once a year. I’d honestly offer both roaches as well as crickets because for one, prey variation is nice and two, there might be one she clearly likes better over the other and you’ll never know which one she prefers unless you try both. Also, tarantula growth is tied to how often they moult but that is achieved through biological and environmental factors.
It is not advisable to “power feed” a tarantula which is a circumstance in which (usually a breeder) jacks up the temperatures in the terrarium coupled with feeding the spider as much as it can possibly eat. They do this in order to force moults to make the spider mature for breeding purposes faster. This however makes the tarantulas “burn out” faster and die younger.
Edited: Note feeding a T that size more often but without the advanced temperature control will only result in a VERY fat T that risks rupture of it’s swollen abdomen, unless it’s not a good eater to begin with (which this species isnt known for being).
 
Last edited:
Nightstalker47

Nightstalker47

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Galaxyblues said:
Do you think feeding her once a week would let her grow faster?
Click to expand...
Not with this species, other faster growing NW terrestrials would probably...but not A.chalcodes. Your more likely to just induce a very long fast.

With all that said, you dont have to feed on a set schedule. Just keep an eye on the size of the abdomen, and offer food based on that.
 
EtienneN

EtienneN

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I should also add that I feed my A. chalcodes once every ten days ish and she is plenty plump.
 
EtienneN

EtienneN

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I realise that some people don’t think that tarantulas can get fat, but if they eat too much they can potentially reach the point where their abdomens touch the ground which can cause cysts or ulcers from friction. Now considering this is a little A chalcodes it is far more likely that it’ll turn its nose up at food then eat so much it can’t hold its bum off the substrate anymore, you should have nothing to worry about.
 
The Grym Reaper

The Grym Reaper

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Galaxyblues said:
Do you think feeding her once a week would let her grow faster?
Click to expand...
Na, you'll just induce a prolonged fasting period. Tarantulas have to go for a certain amount of time (this gets longer as they grow larger) and eat a certain amount of food in order for them to grow a new exoskeleton and moult. Usually they will eat until they've consumed enough food to see them through until their next moult but if you just pile food into them too early into the moult cycle then they will just hide and fast (sometimes for in excess of a year) until they decide they need to resume feeding.

I was feeding my adult female once a fortnight and she stopped eating nearly 6 months ago, she's still plump but doesn't look even remotely close to moulting (I've had her for a year and 10 months and she's still yet to moult in my care), I'll probably cut her feeding down to once a month once she either moults or resumes feeding.
 
cold blood

cold blood

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Galaxyblues said:
Do you think feeding her once a week would let her grow faster?
Click to expand...
No. Faster input of food will merely result in a long fasting period in pre-molt.

Power feeding is a reptile term that for some reason is often used incorrectly in the t hobby. Ts molt on cycles....every t has a certain length of time it needs to be physically ready to molt, and as long as the t is plumped by then, you are maximizing growth rates the same. It's easier to lengthen this period by under feeding than it is to actually speed or shorten the period by over feeding.

Temps are the one major thing that can reduce the molt cycle...but it's effects are more dramatically seen with slings and smaller juveniles.

EtienneN said:
It is not advisable to “power feed” a tarantula which is a circumstance in which (usually a breeder) jacks up the temperatures in the terrarium coupled with feeding the spider as much as it can possibly eat. They do this in order to force moults to make the spider mature for breeding purposes faster. This however makes the tarantulas “burn out” faster and die younger.
Click to expand...
Well not exactly. As explained above, power feeding isn't an applicable term here, but the fact is, that maximizing growth rates has no negative health consequences, like with reptiles....it's negative connotations come along with the term.

But I also think you have the who's mixed up. Breeders rarely do this for breeding purposes, although manipulation can indeed occur, it's not super common. Generally those looking to maximize growth are people with just a few or small collection.

Think about raising slings from a logistical standpoint....guy a has 8 slings.....he is anxious to see his new pets eat and grow, and anxious to get them out of the fragile sling stage as fast as possible....guy b is a breeder, who has shelves of slings from various breedings.....guy b is far less concerned about how fast they grow, because feeding larger numbers is so time consuming, it's going to be done less often .

From experience I used to be guy a, back then I fed slings every 2-5 days....as guy b, I now feed every 8-15 days....because now I could care less how fast they grow, in fact, if they grow faster than they can be sold, they can take up lots more space as well when I have to re house them....so it's beneficial if they grow a little slower.

As for the making them die faster, this is true for males, as getting them to mature faster happens, which does mean a shorter lifespan...but the difference is pretty negligible when it comes to females.
 
F

Flashback

Arachnosquire
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This was a pretty informative thread. I feed my chalcodes once a week, 3 crickets. (That's what the tarantula guy at the reptile store said). I've never feed him a roach (does Petco feel those?)

Anyway, it seems like there isn't & doesn't need to be a set schedule. I think it's a male, but that's just what I was told.

Maybe I might stretch out feedings to 10 days or so......either way, it's good to know that there's variety here.
 
cold blood

cold blood

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Flashback said:
This was a pretty informative thread. I feed my chalcodes once a week, 3 crickets. (That's what the tarantula guy at the reptile store said). I've never feed him a roach (does Petco feel those?)

Anyway, it seems like there isn't & doesn't need to be a set schedule. I think it's a male, but that's just what I was told.

Maybe I might stretch out feedings to 10 days or so......either way, it's good to know that there's variety here.
Click to expand...
just feed one cricket at a time if you are feeding weekly.;)

Or like you said, stretch out the feedings...but you can stretch it to every 2 to 3 weeks with the larger meals.
 
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