Heterothele villosella lifespan?

[kevin88]

I have been searching and searching and can't seem to find out the lifespan of Heterothele villosella. Does anyone happen to know roughly how long adult females live? Im also kind of curious how often a mature female would molt?

Thanks
Kevin

 

[Bill S]

I don't have an answer to your question - in fact, I'll be watching here to see if someone does post an answer. But, in case you are planning on breeding the species there's a good paper called Keeping and Breeding Heterothele villosella Strand, 1907, (Theraphosidae: Ischnocolinae) by Timo Raab and Bastian Drolshagen. I found it online and downloaded the PDF. I don't remember where I downloaded it from or I'd post the link, but search engines ought to find it for you.

I got a few of these guys from Ken the Bug Guy back in July, and I'm hoping to eventually set up a communal/colonial/group a cage of them.

 

[AbraxasComplex]

I have been searching and searching and can't seem to find out the lifespan of Heterothele villosella. Does anyone happen to know roughly how long adult females live? Im also kind of curious how often a mature female would molt?

Thanks
Kevin

I can't give you information on how long they live, but so far I have several females that are nearing the 3 year range. So it's safe to say at least 3 years.

As for molting mine tend to do so about twice a year, but do not noticeably grow in size. I do feed them quite a bit though since they are in communal set ups.

 

[kevin88]

hmmm thanks for the responses ! I have a 1 year old unsexed specimen about 2".....which Im guessing is female based on size. Just kind of curious since there doesn't seem to be a ton of info on them. It last molted in February so im just kinda waiting to see what happens

Kevin