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avocadoflavo

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 21, 2007
Messages
14
Grammastola Aureostritum
6 months old
Legspan about 3 inches
Most probably female

-Has stopped eating her crickets 7 days ago
-No changes to her ways
-Has molted 1 month and a half ago

It has been a week now and I'd like to know what to think :confused:
 

ShadowBlade

Planeswalker
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Apr 1, 2006
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Make sure she has a full water dish, and offer food in another week. No need for worry, fasting is quite normal.
Is her abdomen a good size? And she is much older then 6 months I'm sure. ;)

-Sean
 

Slash

Arachnosquire
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Apr 21, 2007
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Make sure she has a full water dish, and offer food in another week. No need for worry, fasting is quite normal.
Is her abdomen a good size? And she is much older then 6 months I'm sure. ;)

-Sean
Couldn't have said it better. If it is indeed 6 months old and its been a month and a half, it might be appraoching pre-molt. Either way, no need to worry. Whenever any of my T's act this way, I make sure everything's OK, then I just leave it alone for a couple days.
 

Mushroom Spore

Arachnoemperor
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Oct 14, 2005
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Legspan about 3 inches

-Has stopped eating her crickets 7 days ago
How often are you feeding it? That you seem concerned your tarantula went a week without eating indicates you're feeding it multiple times a week. It's probably just FULL! {D Cut back to 1-2 crickets a week and you may notice a difference. Also it's healthier for the tarantula, blah blah powerfeeding blah shortened lifespan blah obesity blah blah increased damage from falls blah.
 

Stylopidae

Arachnoking
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Grammostola aureostriata

Give it a waterdish, try again next week with different prey.
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
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At 3" i don't think it's out of the question that a chaco could be approaching another molt after 6 weeks, especially if you're feeding heavy and moreso if it's living with higher temps. Add another 2 weeks of fasting to that and you're at 2 months between molts. Is that really so early? I think my lil girl was around 2 months out when she molted to her current size of about 3.5". Am i off base on this, dear experts?
 

Mina

Arachnoking
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Grammastola Aureostritum
6 months old
Legspan about 3 inches
Most probably female

-Has stopped eating her crickets 7 days ago
-No changes to her ways
-Has molted 1 month and a half ago

It has been a week now and I'd like to know what to think :confused:
With the slow rate of growth in the Grammostola genus, I seriously doubt that a 3 inch T is 6 months old. I have a G. rosea sling that is nearing 3 years old and is just a little over an inch and a G. pulchra juvie that is 2 inches after 2 years in my care. My G. aureostriata is about 2 1/2 inches and is around 2 years old.
I agree with everyone else, how often do you feed? With a T that size you should be feeding 1 time a week, 1 possibly 2 large crickets.
As already stated, you must be feeding way more than needed if the T hasn't eaten in 7 days and you are worried.
Grammostolas don't grow quickly, which means they don't expend a lot of energy on growth, which means they don't have the appetite of, for example, an L. parahybaba juvie..
 

harrypei

Arachnoknight
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G.aureostriata at 3'' after 6 month? the largest one of my group is about 1.75'', and they are a year old. boy all this time i thought i was feeding them a lot...lol

re-check the legspan...
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
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OK, i'm confused... Am i the only one here who has a G aureo that grows like crazy? Sure, i feed it a little more than my regular t's (maybe 3-4 crix per week) but as soon as the abdomen starts getting fat i'll scale back. She's not obese at this time. In two molts over 4-5 months my chaco has gone from about 1.5" to 3.5". I don't call that slow growing. What am i missing here?

Also, i'm 99% sure she's female and 100% that she is indeed G. aureostriata.

P.S. sorry to hijack but i think this is sorta relevant to the discussion.
 
Last edited:

By-Tor

Arachnosquire
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Jun 18, 2006
Messages
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I got a 1/4" G. aureo at the begining of this summer, and in my room it's about 80 degrees all the time(which sucks for me). I think it's molted about once a month 3 times now and It's barley hitting the 1/2"-3/4" mark.

Are y'alls just incredibly leggy?
 

wicked

Arachnobaron
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Your G aureo is six months old, or did you mean you have had it for six months?
It sounds like it could be getting ready for another molt, if it is six months, but that seems like an extreme growth rate to be at 3" ? :eek:
What size was it when you got it? Please post pictures if you have them. :)


I don't personally have G euro, but I have several Brachypelma sp and two other Grammostola species. I think my B smithi would be similar in growth rate to a G euro.
This is my record for Speck, a B smithi I purchased at .5", he molted about every two months.


I had a female B smithi go from 1.5" to 3.25" in two molts within a year, but she was already a year and a half old at the 1.5" mark.

Anyway, it doesn't sound like you have anything to worry about, try feeding again next week, if she gets hungry she will eat. Seven days without eating is nothing to worry about as long as she seems healthy otherwise.
 

avocadoflavo

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 21, 2007
Messages
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Wow, thank you all for responding so carefully ! :-D

About her age.. I am not quite sure because I received 4 months from 1 person and 1 year from another.. I had it since the beginning of july this year. I guess its about a year old. About how much she eats, well i was told 1-3 crickets every 2 days is fine. So.. she ate in average 2 adult crickets every 2 days until she started to fast. She looks quite healthy. I guess shes gonna molt before the end of august. For now I am leaving her alone, I'll just change the water. I think she will be alright.

Good job!
 

Scott C.

Arachnofloater
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That's a lot of food dude. It'd live just fine off 2 crickets per week.
 

Mina

Arachnoking
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OK, i'm confused... Am i the only one here who has a G aureo that grows like crazy? Sure, i feed it a little more than my regular t's (maybe 3-4 crix per week) but as soon as the abdomen starts getting fat i'll scale back. She's not obese at this time. In two molts over 4-5 months my chaco has gone from about 1.5" to 3.5". I don't call that slow growing. What am i missing here?

Also, i'm 99% sure she's female and 100% that she is indeed G. aureostriata.

P.S. sorry to hijack but i think this is sorta relevant to the discussion.
etown, no not really. I've noticed with mine that when they are small, as in from eggs with legs to somewhere in the 2 to 2 1/2 inch range, they grow quickly, then they just seem to stop. My bigger one grew really quickly for the first year I had her then she moulted on 2/20/06, and not again until 1/13/07. Are you keeping yours at a higher temperature? Other wise I'm not really sure why yours is growing fast and mine isn't.

But back to the original thread questions, yes, you are over feeding. Just pull it back to 1 to 2 crickets once a week, your T will eat better and it will be much easier on you!!! :D
 

Arachnophiliac

Arachnosquire
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Messages
128
etown, no not really. I've noticed with mine that when they are small, as in from eggs with legs to somewhere in the 2 to 2 1/2 inch range, they grow quickly, then they just seem to stop. My bigger one grew really quickly for the first year I had her then she moulted on 2/20/06, and not again until 1/13/07. Are you keeping yours at a higher temperature? Other wise I'm not really sure why yours is growing fast and mine isn't.
There are an incredible number of factors that affect tarantula growth rates including temperature, food, type of soil, humidity and of course, maturity. G. aureostriata can, like most tarantulas, mature in as little as a year. It's possible that something has changed in her environment that you haven't noticed, but she has. As long as she eats well, and looks healthy, I wouldn't let it bother you. She is big enough to appreciate and doesn't need to grow fast anyhow. If you really want to see if you can speed her growth up, check to see if there have been any visible changes in her environment. If not, try changing her soil. Cheers,
Bruce
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
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There are an incredible number of factors that affect tarantula growth rates including temperature, food, type of soil, humidity and of course, maturity. G. aureostriata can, like most tarantulas, mature in as little as a year. It's possible that something has changed in her environment that you haven't noticed, but she has. As long as she eats well, and looks healthy, I wouldn't let it bother you. She is big enough to appreciate and doesn't need to grow fast anyhow. If you really want to see if you can speed her growth up, check to see if there have been any visible changes in her environment. If not, try changing her soil. Cheers,
Bruce

It's not like this is something that i'm really worried about. It just seems atrange. I keep reading about Chaco's being slow growers but that's not my experience. I have been keeping her on the warm side. It gets over 80deg every day and sometimes pushes 90 in that room during the summer. She eats a lot but not crazy out of control. About 3-4 crix a week, some of them are pretty small too. I've also been varying the diet a bit with mealworms, superworms and one big darkling beetle from a superworm. She's on a 90/10peat/vermiculite mix that is kept dry w/ very occasional misting only when it seems dusty in there.

I just hope she doesn't die early as a result of her fast growth.
 

Rochelle

Arachnoprince
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Not the only one...

We have 4 aureos and the size is no suprise to us... we keep ours at aprox. 80-85deg and feed twice weekly with B. dubia and crickets for "treats" occasionally. Sounds like another oncoming moult to us... Also we have not experienced shortened lifespans nor obesity... when tended carefully - you get to know your individual T's very well and their individual habits, too! We have seen this exponential growth rate with our T's and are not alarmed. No losses and everyone seems healthy and happy. Was she CB or WC? No sign of parasites? Please post pics!;)
 

Arachnophiliac

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
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Messages
128
It's not like this is something that i'm really worried about. It just seems atrange. I keep reading about Chaco's being slow growers but that's not my experience. I have been keeping her on the warm side. It gets over 80deg every day and sometimes pushes 90 in that room during the summer. She eats a lot but not crazy out of control. About 3-4 crix a week, some of them are pretty small too. I've also been varying the diet a bit with mealworms, superworms and one big darkling beetle from a superworm. She's on a 90/10peat/vermiculite mix that is kept dry w/ very occasional misting only when it seems dusty in there.

I just hope she doesn't die early as a result of her fast growth.
Fast growth will somewhat shorten overall lifespan, but with Gramastolas, we are still looking at 20 years! I do find that peat often does slow growth, especially over time. I never use it, due to its high acidity, prefering a less sterile arrangement with soil combined with mulch. This has consistently yielded good results for me, even with no cleaning for many years! Cheers,
Bruce
 

avocadoflavo

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 21, 2007
Messages
14
I bought her from a store

We have 4 aureos and the size is no suprise to us... we keep ours at aprox. 80-85deg and feed twice weekly with B. dubia and crickets for "treats" occasionally. Sounds like another oncoming moult to us... Also we have not experienced shortened lifespans nor obesity... when tended carefully - you get to know your individual T's very well and their individual habits, too! We have seen this exponential growth rate with our T's and are not alarmed. No losses and everyone seems healthy and happy. Was she CB or WC? No sign of parasites? Please post pics!;)
I believe shes a CB :)
 
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