G. porteri: Mine is still around four inches after around seven years of ownership

[Scolopendra1989]

She eats perfectly, always good, literally never a problem with this girl, she's just still fairly small and visibly not the parameters of a typical adult specimen. She was already well past the sling stage, perhaps late juvenile-early subadult stages(?) when I got her back in 2016. Her enclosure is around ten gallons and she eats like a champ. Sheila is a confirmed female from her molt.

TL;DR: my G. porteri is just kinda small despite having her as a subadult for like 7 years. She molts and eats and functions perfectly and I never stress or mess with her in any way and I am very careful to never disturb her besides tank maintenance.She is awesome, I actually love her species so much, but does anyone relate to my situation or have an explanation? Thanks in advance. This is the most recent photograph of her on this computer, but she has not changed so much except gotten a bit bigger over time. She's molted around three times for me over the years, typically during December.

 

[cold blood]

at 4" she would absolutely be an adult.....they grow crazy slow, especially when larger...perfectly normal.

 

[Matt Man]

my grammastola is growing slow........says everyone

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

She eats perfectly, always good, literally never a problem with this girl, she's just still fairly small and visibly not the parameters of a typical adult specimen. She was already well past the sling stage, perhaps late juvenile-early subadult stages(?) when I got her back in 2016. Her enclosure is around ten gallons and she eats like a champ. Sheila is a confirmed female from her molt.

TL;DR: my G. porteri is just kinda small despite having her as a subadult for like 7 years. She molts and eats and functions perfectly and I never stress or mess with her in any way and I am very careful to never disturb her besides tank maintenance.She is awesome, I actually love her species so much, but does anyone relate to my situation or have an explanation? Thanks in advance. This is the most recent photograph of her on this computer, but she has not changed so much except gotten a bit bigger over time. She's molted around three times for me over the years, typically during December. View attachment 446545

Sub adult would be 2-3” , 4”-6” is around adult size so yours is fine and normal . I had a big 5.5-6” female(wc probably) for 16 years just died last year was my favorite spider . I gotta get another one eventually! That one I got at full adult size so it could had been 10-15 years old when I got it.

 

[ScolopendraTheraphosa]

Sub adult would be 2-3” , 4”-6” is around adult size so yours is fine and normal . I had a big 5.5-6” female(wc probably) for 16 years just died last year was my favorite spider . I gotta get another one eventually! That one I got at full adult size so it could had been 10-15 years old when I got it.

Will a four inch G. porteri get any bigger? Their lifespans are impressive!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Will a four inch G. porteri get any bigger? Their lifespans are impressive!

Hard or say , they continue to grow each molt but not much after a certain size . Very possible to grow more though being 4” on the smaller side , they are very stocky . I’m still waiting on my l klugi to get bigger it’s only 4.5-5” or so who knows when they’re done. My porteri was larger then most my current spiders , Except the phampho. Klugi is around the same size, and my lp 5.5” prob . It’s just a waiting game too see how big they get molting is slow once you hit 4-5” mark .

 

[cold blood]

Will a four inch G. porteri get any bigger? Their lifespans are impressive!

of course...adult does NOT mean max size......adult means capable of breediing.

Their lifespans are impressive...I am personally convinced they can live to 50. 24 years ago I got my first t, a G. porteri...she was already max size and molting on a long 5 year schedule. Knowing that to get to max size would take likely close to 20 years given the molt lengths and small size increases with those molts, I can safely estimate that my porteri is easily over 40 years old, it would be almost inconceivable for her to be much younger...but more likely she would actually be older....that t is still with me, molting on the same 5 year cycle and acts and reacts no different than they day I acquired her over 2 decades ago,

 

[Jesse607]

It seems that some (or many) species have a degree of variability in adult max sizes. It could be genetic or environmental (likely both). I have two long term captive adult female G. rosea and one is noticeably larger than the other and neither seem to grow after molts anymore. In other species I've observed significant size difference among adult males.

 

[viper69]

She eats perfectly, always good, literally never a problem with this girl, she's just still fairly small and visibly not the parameters of a typical adult specimen. She was already well past the sling stage, perhaps late juvenile-early subadult stages(?) when I got her back in 2016. Her enclosure is around ten gallons and she eats like a champ. Sheila is a confirmed female from her molt.

TL;DR: my G. porteri is just kinda small despite having her as a subadult for like 7 years. She molts and eats and functions perfectly and I never stress or mess with her in any way and I am very careful to never disturb her besides tank maintenance.She is awesome, I actually love her species so much, but does anyone relate to my situation or have an explanation? Thanks in advance. This is the most recent photograph of her on this computer, but she has not changed so much except gotten a bit bigger over time. She's molted around three times for me over the years, typically during December. View attachment 446545

Slow growing species, but you haven't provided any meaningful information. And before you ask what you left out learn what factors affect growth and report back.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Slow growing species, but you haven't provided any meaningful information. And before you ask what you left out learn what factors affect growth and report back.

Yeah they do grow really slow I bet I’ve yet to raise a sling rarely see them for sale .

 

[viper69]

Yeah they do grow really slow I bet I’ve yet to raise a sling rarely see them for sale .

Used to see them allll the time