Can you tell the age of your T by size?

[jesstarantula<3]

I have a female 4.75" Grammostola rosea and the pet store I bought her from new nothing about her so just kinda curious as to about how old she is.

 

[Terry D]

Jess, No. If the temps are up and fed frequently they can molt frequently and grow much faster. You'll likely find more than you need on this subject by using the search function. Good luck and welcome aboard.



Terry

P.S. I wouldn't have a clue of the age of your spider in years. However, if you are certain of size and sex it does sound like an adult female to me.

 

[redrumpslump]

All you have to do is lift her up and look on the bottom of her abdomen and count how many rings there is on it. Each ring is a year.....hahah I'm just joking but Terry pretty much nailed it on the head

 

[jesstarantula<3]

Yeah I sexed her myself and even took a fresh molt to my school zoology teacher for a second opinion and she is deff. a female. but thanks for the help.

 

[Vespula]

Umm... I don't think size is a good indicator of age. Some t's can live for a long time, and are slow growers, this means they could be 5-10 yrs old and only a few inches.

 

[Anubis77]

If it's wild caught, you could approximate using the lowest estimate on when females of that species mature in the wild. Going off the estimate that Aphonopelma spp. in the Southwest mature around 7-10 years, I can reasonably say that the adult females I've caught are ~10 years at the least. 5 probably not, 20+ doubtful, but possible, given that they're wild.

That's completely excluding possible variations in their environments, like an abnormally long monsoon season that increases prey availability. Something like periodical cicadas would throw off the estimate completely wherever their range overlaps tarantulas' every 17 years.

 

[Redneck]

I still have some G. rosea slings that I hatched out back in October... Almost a year later.. They are not even 1" yet.. I powerfeed them to.. As much as they want.. Keep them at 80-90 degrees F... Growing super slow... SUPERRRR SLOOOOWW......

 

[joshuai]

I have a pseudhapalopus sp. blue that is about one and a quarter inch and i have had it for about two years at eighty degrees give or take and it is by far the slowest grower i have seen!