Brown A. seemanni molts out bcf???

[SamuraiSid]

~5.25" DLS Molt.

~6.75" DLS


She molted 10 days ago, and made an impressive jump in size. I kind of figured she would have lightened up, but the only real difference is her white leg markings coming in more pronounced (Can someone please let me know the proper name). The blue is slightly noticeable in the pic. I came across some older threads about black colour form P. metallica, and some of the posters were saying that, that colour form is just old age females. With my lack of experience with older T's, this is making me wonder a few things, and Im looking to learn as much as possible.

Assuming she molts out in twelve months, is it safe to assume that she will be regaining some of the brown colour before that? Could the brown be a wearing down of the exoskeleton? (I guess this is a moot question if she is turned bcf).
Do older females go through more drastic, and dull, colour changes?
Generally, will older T's eventually lose some of the colour they start with, and is this wearing down of the exoskeleton?

Do you think this is bcf?

From some very trusted internet caresheets:sarcasm: A. seemani tops out at the 6" DLS mark, and from searching these boards people say they dont get that big, and only hit ~5" DLS. Based on that Im intentionally understating her size at 6.75" DLS, until I can get a good pic of her beside a ruler.

 

[wandas12]

Absolutely stunning however SHE seems to be a MM now

Edit: He looks very healthy so he could live well past a year to 18 months. As for colour form it can be tricky as some colours can alter slightly when a male matures. If you don't know for certain which colour form he is please keep him and not send him off for breeding untill you are 100% positive on his ID.

 

[SamuraiSid]

Good eye, sir. He just molted out some hooks.

Curiously, what did you see that made you think MM? Right after you said that, I re-read my post and, based upon the size increase I figured that might be an indication of gender, males having big growths with ultimate molt.

Im kinda erked that the T I purchased as MF is now MM, although I dont hold it against the original owner, and even as a male I paid pennies on the dollar for the T.


Im still very much curious about the colour change if anyone has any ideas. Id like to be certain before putting him out on breeding loan like wandas12 suggests.

 

[rockhopper]

You can see the bulbous palps there.

 

[captmarga]

I would take a couple of more photos of him from above, with and without flash, and also shine a flashlight on him. Then compare to photos of know regular color from and Blue color form seemanis.

I have a female that's supposed to be a blue, she was blue-ish at one point, but is now quite faded again. When I compared her photos to my normal, I could see the blue hint, but it wasn't screamingly BLUE.

Good luck on breeding him after a while!

Marga

 

[wandas12]

As said above the pedipalps develope the male "parts" which appear bulbous boxing glove like. I own an adult female costa rican seemanni which is normal colour which looks nothing like your boy now although looked more like the molt but darker. Some more pics could help or just to show him off. he looks a chunky fella.

---------- Post added 08-30-2012 at 10:58 PM ----------

This is my adult female 5 days after a molt and taken with flash. she looked a bit smokey but went jet black after a couple of months.

She is quite large at about 7 inches (and i'm not exaggerating)

 

[catfishrod69]

Yeah you can see they way his pedipalps are "chunky" in the pic. A. seemanni mature males will be quite black, im sure there would also be a hint of blue in there also. Im betting that you have just a normal color phase mature male. If by small chance he happens to be a blue color phase, please go back in time, and make him stay young longer, then send him to me .

 

[Philth]

I would take a couple of more photos of him from above, with and without flash, and also shine a flashlight on him. Then compare to photos of know regular color from and Blue color form seemanis.
Marga

That wouldn't be as easy as it sounds, Aphonopelma males drastically change colors when they mature so he would have to compare it to other pics of mature males of known color morphs. ( if the males even do look different). Like catfishrod69, my gut feeling is that its just a normal A. seemanni male based on what the faded old molt looks like and MM's that I've seen. But Who knows:?


Later, Tom

 

[SamuraiSid]

Thanks for all the replies. So its not a bcf, but its still male... LOL.

thanks for the info.

 

[catfishrod69]

Yeah the still male part sucks for you, but hey it happens. My very first seemanni molted into the very first mature male i ever had. He was shipped to a female, and murdered.

 

[Chris_Skeleton]

Do you not know how to recognize a mature male?

I wish I could get my hands on a male A. seemanni so I could breed my girl.