Buying LP, some questions about adult size and lifespan

[Rozwyrazowana]

I found a local listing, someone is selling supposedly adult female Lasiodora parahybana.

Info I have:
- blurry ventral photo, I posted a sexing request
- it's around 3" body length
- it molted 3 months ago.

The price is good. My questions/concerns are:
- is there any way to say if it's a young spider or an old one? I don't want to buy a T that has not much time left
- is it really a female?
- did it reach full size?

What do you think? What should I check/ask the seller about?

 

[Edan bandoot]

At 3" it can't be very old

 

[vicareux]

-There's almost no way to tell how old is the spider is. You can only estimate by its size,but even then too many variables are in play (Feeding frequency,temperature,specimen's own growth rate,etc...).
-I can't really tell from that picture,as i have not kept LP yet,but i'm leaning female.
-I think its very near its full size. We usually measure spider's size in Diagonal legspan rather than body length,but at 3 inches body length,i'd imagine that the legspan would be around 7+ inches which is about or near the adult size of Lasiodora Parahybana.

What could be really useful is if we could get a nice image of it's pedipalps. In case it is a mature male,the pedipalps would be an obvious tell.

I can't imagine somebody selling an Adult Female LP for cheap.

 

[Rozwyrazowana]

What could be really useful is if we could get a nice image of it's pedipalps. In case it is a mature male,the pedipalps would be an obvious tell.

I can't imagine somebody selling an Adult Female LP for cheap.

I can recognize a MM, so if I decide to buy it, that much I can check. At first, it was listed at an average price for an adult LP female, but after a week the seller lowered the price considerably. From what I saw they probably don't want to ship the T and the local market is very small.

 

[vicareux]

I can recognize a MM, so if I decide to buy it, that much I can check. At first, it was listed at an average price for an adult LP female, but after a week the seller lowered the price considerably. From what I saw they probably don't want to ship the T and the local market is very small.

In that case,i'd say go for it. As i can't imagine a MM LP getting much bigger than that,then it's very likely a female.
An adult female LP could live for many years,nobody can say for sure.
Ask the seller for a diagonal legspan measure. That info would be useful,as it's hard for me to imagine the size based on its body length personally

 

[Tarantuland]

An adult female LP is going to be 8 inches or so, not 3inches. That one is probably 1-2 years old. It is young and has not reached full size.If you can get a picture of its molt and post it in the sexing forums, they may be able to help, but there's no way anyone here could guess if it's a male or female without a picture.

Edit: My mistake, I thought you meant legspan. We don't use body length as often here. If you can post pictures it might be helpful, without it there's no real way to tell.

 

[Rozwyrazowana]

An adult female LP is going to be 8 inches or so, not 3inches. That one is probably 1-2 years old. It is young and has not reached full size.If you can get a picture of its molt and post it in the sexing forums, they may be able to help, but there's no way anyone here could guess if it's a male or female without a picture.

It's 3 inches body length, not DLS, from what I read around 8" it's adult DLS, not BL. The only source I found lists 4" as an adult BL, but it also had other info that was wrong.

The seller doesn't have the molt/pictures of the molt, I posted a ventral picture in the media section and I linked it in the original post. I know it's not the best quality, but it's what the seller sent me.

 

[Tarantuland]

8” body length would be insane

 

[Tarantulafeets]

My lp's body length from chelicerae to bum is about 3.5 inches, and her DLS is 6 - 7 inches so I would say to go for it. Especially if it has a chance to be female.

 

[Rozwyrazowana]

My lp's body length from chelicerae to bum is about 3.5 inches, and her DLS is 6 - 7 inches so I would say to go for it. Especially if it has a chance to be female.

Thank you for the details.

cold blood just commented on the ventral photo I posted and said it's a female, so now I think I have to buy her.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

- is there any way to say if it's a young spider or an old one? I don't want to buy a T that has not much time left

Nope, you won't know for sure unless you know when it hatched.

You could ask how big it was when they got it and how long they've had it for, if they got it as a spiderling or juvie and have only had it a few years (they take about 3 or so years to hit adult size IIRC) then it's likely still got a good while left in it yet.

- is it really a female?

The photo you linked is clear enough to confirm that it's a female.

- did it reach full size?

At 8" it's not going to get much bigger (if at all), the vast majority max out at 7-8 inches, you get the odd one that reaches 9" or so but that's pretty uncommon, the biggest moult I've seen was 9.5" at full stretch.

 

[Rozwyrazowana]

Nope, you won't know for sure unless you know when it hatched.

You could ask how big it was when they got it and how long they've had it for, if they got it as a spiderling or juvie and have only had it a few years (they take about 3 or so years to hit adult size IIRC) then it's likely still got a good while left in it yet.

I asked again today. The problem is the seller bought it a year ago, but don't know the age really. All he knows is that it molted twice during last year. Previous and the first owner told the seller they had her from an i2 sling and it molted around 12 times in their care. I decided to buy it. I hope it has few years to live. I found an old post here, listing molts dates for an LP sling, and it molted 10 times in 3 years. So I'm guesstimating it can be around 5 years old.

At 8" it's not going to get much bigger (if at all), the vast majority max out at 7-8 inches, you get the odd one that reaches 9" or so but that's pretty uncommon, the biggest moult I've seen was 9.5" at full stretch.

I don't know how big it is. Even though I asked seller gave me only body length, not DLS. Its body length is 3". @Tarantulafeets commented that their LP at around 3,5" body length has about 6-7" DLS. I'm not fixated on it growing huge. I hoped that the size can help determine if it's old or young. As I said, I've already decided to get her, I'm picking her up on Friday.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

I don't know how big it is. Even though I asked seller gave me only body length, not DLS. Its body length is 3". @Tarantulafeets commented that their LP at around 3,5" body length has about 6-7" DLS. I'm not fixated on it growing huge. I hoped that the size can help determine if it's old or young. As I said, I've already decided to get her, I'm picking her up on Friday.

My bad, I thought I read 8" somewhere in the thread although it was still early when I replied so I'll blame that on not being fully awake. My A. geniculata female (similar build to an LP) is about 3.5" BL and her DLS is 7.5" at full stretch.

 

[Rozwyrazowana]

I got her, she is stunning, for the record, her DLS is around 7" at full stretch.