GBB growth rate...

marvs08

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
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Jul 7, 2008
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I was wondering who had the experience of raising this beauties from sling to maturity and who did it with the fastest record time... One of my friends told me it took him about a year and two months to do so (power feeding it until 3"), and another in a little over two years (once a week feeding)... Thanks...
 

GootySapphire

Arachnolord
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Oct 9, 2005
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654
With any T. power feeding will speed the process up on the molting. I have had a few GBB's and the sub-adult I have now has molted fairly quickly and I really haven't power fed it, one cricket a week mainly. I rather savor the beauty of this T. than try to molt it out to its adult phase as fast as possible.
 

Drachenjager

Arachnoemperor
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hmm mine was a molt from breeding size when i got her. she molted 6 month later . so far hasnt molted again which is good since she is bred lol
 

marvs08

Arachnoknight
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Jul 7, 2008
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Thanks for the inputs guys!!! Appreciated!!! It has been really rare to see CB ones in our country so i asked... There are slings and i am trying to compute the days when they can be bred locally... Thanks again!!!
 

No One

Arachnosquire
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Mar 29, 2008
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got my first GBB sling In February Hear is his molt dates.. 2 march, 23rd April. 20th May, 23rd June, 29th July, 4th September, 15th November. I have not seen him proparly since the molt (sexed him from this molt though) so i am not sure if he is mature yet. He is over 12cm now, and bigger than the mature male i have hear. Haven't been able to see any hooks..
The second GBB i got was on the 6th april also as a sling,. hear is her Molt dates. 2nd May, 26th May, 20th June, 27th July, 31st August and 10th October. She (Sexed her on the last molt) is about 10cm so i would say next molt she will be able to mate.

Hope this helps.
 

marvs08

Arachnoknight
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Jul 7, 2008
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Thanks guys! I got 2 slings of this beautiful T!!!
@ No One- how much did you feed them and how often? Thanks again!
 

No One

Arachnosquire
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Hi. I normally feed one cricket everyday. this is how many Crickets they ate between each molt..
GBB A - 2 march 17 crickets 23rd April 14 crickets 20th May 16 crickets 23rd June 10 Crickets 29th July 24 crickets 4th September 29 crickets 15th November
GBB B - 12 crickets 2nd May 13 crickets 26th May 8 crickets 20th June 10 crickets 27th July 12 crickets 31st August 21 crickets 10th October 32 crickets up to date..
hope this helps. you can see by the gaps in time, normaly eats everyday then goes into premolt for a few awhile.
 

marvs08

Arachnoknight
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Jul 7, 2008
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Thanks man! All the best! Hope mine grows as fast... Can't wait to see adult colorations of it...
 

gbbgirl

Arachnoknight
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Apr 5, 2008
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Hey,

I'm glad to hear you're getting into GBB's! They are fabulous little creatures, not that my 6" inch female is "little".

What I've notice in this species is that male mature much more quickly than females, which is seen in most species. My first GBB was aquired at 1.5 inches in July 07 and mature into 4 inch male by March 08. He molted 5 or 6 times in that period. He lived until July, 08. Before maturity, I feed him heavily, 1-3 crix 3 times a week. It was too much fun to watch! But, I believe that the intense feeding shorten his total life span.
Females growth can be accelerated with "power feeding" but they still grow more slowly than males.
I now have 2 new GBB slings (in addition to my breeding stock), whom I am feeding 1-2times a week, 1-2 feeder items at a time. I feel this is appropreate, and they are growing at a moderate/fast rate and molting with regularity. I'm also keeping them around 76-78 degrees F. An increase in temp can also accelerate growth.

Good luck with your GBBs and have fun!
 

bareass

Arachnosquire
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Oct 9, 2008
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i've heard that the males have a much shorter lifespan then the females. i've read that males can live up to a year past maturity but females can live up to 20 years in total.... is this true? what is the average life span for each sex?
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
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Apr 11, 2007
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i've heard that the males have a much shorter lifespan then the females. i've read that males can live up to a year past maturity but females can live up to 20 years in total.... is this true? what is the average life span for each sex?

This is true of all tarantulas, all spiders in fact (not sure about other arachnids). The lifespan of individual species differs of course but with all tarantulas the mature molt is the final one for a male. There are rare occurences of a male molting again but it's quite uncommon. I had an OBT male that only lasted about 6 months after MM molt but i've heard stories of G rosea males going for 3 years or more.
 

rdmartinez

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 7, 2019
Messages
8
got my first GBB sling In February Hear is his molt dates.. 2 march, 23rd April. 20th May, 23rd June, 29th July, 4th September, 15th November. I have not seen him proparly since the molt (sexed him from this molt though) so i am not sure if he is mature yet. He is over 12cm now, and bigger than the mature male i have hear. Haven't been able to see any hooks..
The second GBB i got was on the 6th april also as a sling,. hear is her Molt dates. 2nd May, 26th May, 20th June, 27th July, 31st August and 10th October. She (Sexed her on the last molt) is about 10cm so i would say next molt she will be able to mate.

Hope this helps.
Are they power fed?
 

Colorado Ts

Arachnoangel
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Oct 16, 2019
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829
Technically Power Feeding is a Reptile thing...does not directly apply to invertebrates and spiders.
 

Goopyguy56

Arachnoangel
Joined
Nov 16, 2017
Messages
830
IME gbb grow at a medium pace. At least compared to my Psalmopoeus which grow pretty darn fast
 

rdmartinez

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 7, 2019
Messages
8
If anyone can give me tips it will be highly appreciated. I have a 0.1 GBB measuring around 3.5-4 inches. I also have a 1.0 GBB measuring 4-4.5 inches. I was thinking of pairing them up in the near future, but the male is obviously bigger than my female. Is there any method that I can apply for my two GBBs other than controlling their feeding schedule/temperature for them to reach maturity around the same time? If anything, it will be much better if my 0.1 GBB to reach maturity faster than the 1.0 GBB. And I also learned that males grow/mature faster compared to their female sac mates (not sure if this applies to all genus/species).
 

Colorado Ts

Arachnoangel
Joined
Oct 16, 2019
Messages
829
If anyone can give me tips it will be highly appreciated. I have a 0.1 GBB measuring around 3.5-4 inches. I also have a 1.0 GBB measuring 4-4.5 inches. I was thinking of pairing them up in the near future, but the male is obviously bigger than my female. Is there any method that I can apply for my two GBBs other than controlling their feeding schedule/temperature for them to reach maturity around the same time? If anything, it will be much better if my 0.1 GBB to reach maturity faster than the 1.0 GBB. And I also learned that males grow/mature faster compared to their female sac mates (not sure if this applies to all genus/species).
Raise the female at an average temperature of 79-80 degrees.

Raise the male at an average temperature of 69-70 degrees.
 
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