How old is my sling?

[WiltedRoseGold]

I recently ordered a G.porteri back in April. It’s my second sling, and the seller I ordered them from said that my sling was born summer of 2018. However, my G.porteri is about 1” across diagonally and my other sling, a B.albopilosum, is supposedly the same age. However, the B.albopilosum is about 1 1/4” diagonally. So, this leads me to believe that my B.albopilosum is significantly older, but I’m not sure. And possible answers?

 

[Killertut]

age doesn't matter and you cant tell how old a T might be.

 

[Wolfram1]

Size doesnt always correlate with age, a friend of mine recently took care of one of his associate's animal room while he was away and found some neglected forgotten birdspiders in tiny sling containers and one contained a 4 year old sibling to the L. parahybanas i got, but it was stunted and only as big as the tiny container it was in. Which is just sad. He of course adopted theses spiders right away seeing that they didnt get the care they deserved, they will probably stay stunted for the rest of their life though.

Anyway age doesn't = size and even in perfect conditions and the same feedings schedule there can be quite large differences in size, i don't speak from experience though

 

[Vanessa]

I recently ordered a G.porteri back in April. It’s my second sling, and the seller I ordered them from said that my sling was born summer of 2018. However, my G.porteri is about 1” across diagonally and my other sling, a B.albopilosum, is supposedly the same age. However, the B.albopilosum is about 1 1/4” diagonally. So, this leads me to believe that my B.albopilosum is significantly older, but I’m not sure. And possible answers?

You have two species with significantly different growth rates. Grammostola porteri are far slower growing than Brachypelma albopilosum. You just cannot compare the two.
Also, a .25" difference is negligible - that is just one moult. I have a group of Brachypelma albopilosum that I hatched myself who have more of a range of size differences than that and they are definitely all the same age.

 

[WiltedRoseGold]

You have two species with significantly different growth rates. Grammostola porteri are far slower growing than Brachypelma albopilosum. You just cannot compare the two.
Also, a .25" difference is negligible - that is just one moult. I have a group of Brachypelma albopilosum that I hatched myself who have more of a range of size differences than that and they are definitely all the same age.

Thank you

Size doesnt always correlate with age, a friend of mine recently took care of one of his associate's animal room while he was away and found some neglected forgotten birdspiders in tiny sling containers and one contained a 4 year old sibling to the L. parahybanas i got, but it was stunted and only as big as the tiny container it was in. Which is just sad. He of course adopted theses spiders right away seeing that they didnt get the care they deserved, they will probably stay stunted for the rest of their life though.

Anyway age doesn't = size and even in perfect conditions and the same feedings schedule there can be quite large differences in size, i don't speak from experience though

Okay, thanks for the info.

 

[darkness975]

birdspiders

Voegelspinnen auf Englisch heissen Tarantulas. Das Wort "Vogelspinne" klingt aber besser!

@Wolfram1 as others have said, you have two different species with two different growth rates. Additionally, different individuals within the same species (and even the same sac) grow differently depending on a myriad of factors.

In short, you will not be able to tell the exact age of your spider unless it was one that you had hatched yourself and recorded the date.

 

[Ellenantula]

You actually sort of 'got it' by mentioning size; a sling/T will always be "such and such inches old."

I base age of adults on how often they moult -- but it is a guestimate only.

There are too many factors to determine size/age (esp thinking of slings here) -- warmer temps, frequency of feedings, proper care, etc. all influence growth rate.
Unless you know the actual hatch date -- they are best 'aged' by size, ime.