Can anybody guesstimate the age of my B.Smithi by her size? Pls

[TeddyBearTarantula]

Hello Arachnoboards,

I apologise if this is a stupid question/s, however I have been watching T vids on YouTube and researching T’s for a couple of years now and yesterday I received my first B Smithi sling.
I know it’s going to be tough; my first spider a 1cm sling, but I have the commitment to give it my best shot and try to offer him/her a contented and healthy life. I’ll refer to the sling as her for now, just because I’m a girl too!
As this is my first I’m not sure exactly how many weeks/months old she is. I understand B Smithi take a few years to reach adult size, so if anybody could kindly answer a couple of questions, I’d be very grateful.

1. Guesstimating, how old is my sling likely to be? She is 1-1.5 cm in leg span length, with no solid fur patch yet, just tiny vellous hairs, more prominent on her lower abdomen.

2. Based on this answer when is her next moult likely to be? Again, I don’t know if there is a typical time pattern for this with all slings or individual circumstance dictate the moult cycle.

There is so much generic information out there but a lot of it doesn’t cover this kind of information, I found that a lot of the information kind of assumes the reader is a proficient keeper of T’s and would know this kind of stuff from experience or maybe I’m just not looking in the right place.
I’m totally addicted to this already! Thank you to Youtubers Tarantulaguy1976, TarantulaDan, TarantulaAddict, Senshii, DeadlyTarantulaGirl and The Dark Den for getting me hooked with your awesome vids.

Thank you

 

[boina]

You've posted two questions no one will actually be able to answer. How old is an 1/2" B. smithi (B. hamori?) sling? No clue. It depends on a lot of factors: How high were the temps it was kept at, how much was it fed, and even internal factors. It could be a couple of months old it could be two years old - those are extremes.

The pic shows a trio of T. cyaneolum from the same eggsac, raised under the same conditions. The one on the right is one of the larger ones, the two others are runts and all of them are about a year old at the time.



That tells you that age doesn't really mean anything. B. smithi take several years to reach maturity, yes, but how many years can vary a lot. You care for them according to size, not age.

When will it molt next? You'd need a crystal ball to find out unless it's in heavy premolt. Do you know when it molted last? Post a pic, people will at least be able to tell you if it's in premolt, but other than that? Some molt faster, some molt slower. I've a G. pulchra small juvenile that hasn't molted in 18 months, god knows why. It's sibling has molted twice during that time.

 

[BoyFromLA]

The pic shows a trio of T. cyaneolum from the same eggsac, raised under the same conditions.

No way! But yes way...

 

[Swoop]

Can we estimate the age based on size?

Short answer, no. Long answer, noooooooooooo. Hope this helps

 

[Rittdk01]

From the description I would estimate a bit under a year old. This is a Mexican red knee we are talking about, right? This is such a long lived sp a few months or even years won’t matter.

My two molted about every three months at the size you describe. They both slowed way down around when they got their adult colors.

 

[viper69]

No

 

[TeddyBearTarantula]

Hi guys,

I appreciate you all answering my questions! I had a feeling this would be the case. Those pics are great - those differences are crazy but just goes to show how ridiculous my question was! But I don’t know these things and the only way I’m gonna learn is through experience and asking experienced keepers like yourselves, so thank you.
I’ve only had my sling for four days, so I’ve no idea about how it was kept or when it last molted. I fed it a micro cricket, but she wasn’t interested so I removed it after 24 hours. She chills a lot (pet rock) but when she is up and about she’s pretty lively - so I’m not overly concerned.

One thing I noticed is when I put the food in she appeared to be scared of it, the cricket size seems okay in relation to her size so I killed it for her and dropped it in her enclosure for 24 hours and when I retrieved it, it was completely in tact.

Anyhow I have attached a pic of her - thanks x

 

[Swoop]

A sling of that size will probably not take live food for a while. And don't be concerned if it doesn't appear to eat, it doesn't take much to fill up a tiny sling so you might not notice even if it has eaten its fill.

Keep the substrate damp, keep it somewhere reasonably warm, offer it some smushed cricket once or twice a week and that's really it as far as care. These are slow growers so it might not be super interesting for a while but give it time

 

[Venom1080]

It's likely premolt then. Leave it alone and wait. Best part of spider keeping.

 

[TeddyBearTarantula]

Thank you Swoop and Venom1080. I really do appreciate the advice and I feel a little more chilled after reading your responses

I’ve just been flipping between feeling really excited about finally taking the plunge and getting a T (after much research and deliberation) and feeling worried that I’m not meeting her needs efficiently and stressing her out.

I know I just need to take it step by step and relax into the hobby. Who knows one day maybe, it’ll be me giving out advise on here!

Anyhow, thank you again for the advice guys. I really am so grateful!

Nicola

 

[Mirandarachnid]

I’ve just been flipping between feeling really excited about finally taking the plunge and getting a T (after much research and deliberation) and feeling worried that I’m not meeting her needs efficiently and stressing her out.

Nicola

You'll mellow out soon enough

I feel like keeping T's is a great way for a fretter to train themselves to relax a little in life.