Forgive me if this has been covered before and I missed it. I am new to this hobby and have just purchased my first T.,a B. Smithi. It is doing great, it eats 2 or 3 small crickets a day.I bought it un-sexed its about 2 inches long.I have read that females of this species can live in excess of twenty years,how long do male smithi live.And for that matter males of other types.If a males life span is drastically shorter would I be better off paying the extra cash for sexed females?Right now I do not envision myself breeding them.
How Long do they live ?
- Thread starter jeff1962
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If you are looking for a long time pet that will be there for a really really really really long time yes dolling out the extra money for a confirmed female is a must. But males can make it 5-7+ years as well, so it's all a matter of what you want. Some people are ok with 5-7 year pets. But if money is no object and you want something that is going to live longer, female is the way to go.
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Keep this up and your T isn't going to live as long at all. Try two or three small crickets per *week*. Tarantulas' aging process is measured in molts (which are determined by food/temperature and NOT by time alone), and extreme overfeeding makes them molt faster. And obesity isn't good for any animal.
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I'd like to say that I am skeptical of the dangers of overfeeding a T. Granted, there are certain individuals who have succeeded in making their T's extremely obese. But in terms of lifespan, temperature does the same thing as feeding more regularly when increased to the level at which most tropical spiders would be normally experiencing in the wild. To me, that is an argument against overfeeding which doesn't hold that much water because this only significantly shortens the spider's life when it is immature and molting often.
Also, I suspect that some spiders are more proned to this than others. My B. vagans would probably make a good candidate for a possible fatty, since it will take food whenever offered. This, in my humble experience, it a less common trait among T's. Most of mine have been finicky about when they are willing to accept food, and I couldn't overfeed them if I had tried.
You also have to keep in mind that spiderlings will eat more often than adults or juveniles. At 2 inches, 2 or 3 meals a day is way way too much. That's more than a spiderling should even eat. Your T could definitely be a candidate for fat camp from the sound of it, so I'd definitely back off on the feeding.
Before anyone blasts me for this post, I'd like to qualify it by saying that I am not contesting the idea that feeding shortens molt intervals or that obesity in T's is a bad thing. All I'm saying is that I don't think the majority of T's are willing to accept food often enough to say that there is a real danger for most of them in terms of obesity. If I remember correctly, the Schultz's state in the Bible that in their experience there is no such thing as an overfed T. I'm paraphrasing of course and could be mistaken, as I haven't read the book cover to cover in over a year. My point is that with most spiders, it isn't that big of a concern unless they're being way overfed...like in this case lol.
Also, I suspect that some spiders are more proned to this than others. My B. vagans would probably make a good candidate for a possible fatty, since it will take food whenever offered. This, in my humble experience, it a less common trait among T's. Most of mine have been finicky about when they are willing to accept food, and I couldn't overfeed them if I had tried.
You also have to keep in mind that spiderlings will eat more often than adults or juveniles. At 2 inches, 2 or 3 meals a day is way way too much. That's more than a spiderling should even eat. Your T could definitely be a candidate for fat camp from the sound of it, so I'd definitely back off on the feeding.
Before anyone blasts me for this post, I'd like to qualify it by saying that I am not contesting the idea that feeding shortens molt intervals or that obesity in T's is a bad thing. All I'm saying is that I don't think the majority of T's are willing to accept food often enough to say that there is a real danger for most of them in terms of obesity. If I remember correctly, the Schultz's state in the Bible that in their experience there is no such thing as an overfed T. I'm paraphrasing of course and could be mistaken, as I haven't read the book cover to cover in over a year. My point is that with most spiders, it isn't that big of a concern unless they're being way overfed...like in this case lol.
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I'll steer away from the overfeeding subject cuz i think that's been covered. I just have a story about lifespan:
When i was in 4th grade (almost 25 years ago) my teacher who was also a friend of the family had a G rosea as a pet along with some other interesting inverts. I was pretty scared of it at the time but still thought it was cool. We moved away from that area a couple of years after. My mother recently re-established communication with this guy and informed me that the tarantula had died only a couple of months ago! With what i now know about t's this wasn't a surprise but it's still cool to see it illustrated in such a tangible way.
Just goes to show how long some genus' can live. I have friends who've grown up, gone to college, married, had kids, divorced, remarried and had more kids in that time period.
When i was in 4th grade (almost 25 years ago) my teacher who was also a friend of the family had a G rosea as a pet along with some other interesting inverts. I was pretty scared of it at the time but still thought it was cool. We moved away from that area a couple of years after. My mother recently re-established communication with this guy and informed me that the tarantula had died only a couple of months ago! With what i now know about t's this wasn't a surprise but it's still cool to see it illustrated in such a tangible way.
Just goes to show how long some genus' can live. I have friends who've grown up, gone to college, married, had kids, divorced, remarried and had more kids in that time period.