megaphobema robustum, how large?

[treeweta]

I have a couple of roughly 2 year old females. The last moults for each just under 5 inches. until the last moult they grew as id expect for juvenile spiders with a noticable growth increment. This last moult however provided a much smaller growth increment, im suggesting that this means the spiders are now young adults at (an estimated) 5 1/4-5/12 inches. these are long legged spiders so the carapace size is still rather small. Ive always assumed these spiders to be rather a large species, of course they will get bigger with each moult over years but it seems they will never be 8 inch giants. Can anybody confirm their adult sizes from moults or even estimates??

 

[Talkenlate04]

Biggest one I have ever seen in person was about 8.5". But that seems to be very uncommon to see that in peoples collections. They will get that big though if you have patience and a good setup.

 

[treeweta]

Biggest one I have ever seen in person was about 8.5". But that seems to be very uncommon to see that in peoples collections. They will get that big though if you have patience and a good setup.

i guess they are one of those species that can get big but rather slowly over time, rather like a king baboon or even the red knee, my female is in her 20th year and has a measured legspan of 7 1/4 inches.

 

[David_F]

Thank whoever came up with the "giant" part of the common name.

Sorry, I'm on an anti-common-name-based-on-dealer-description bandwagon right now.

 

[Talkenlate04]

her 20th year and has a measured legspan of 7 1/4 inches.

Which one the crawshayi or the smithi?

 

[treeweta]

Which one the crawshayi or the smithi?

the smithi!

 

[treeweta]

Thank whoever came up with the "giant" part of the common name.

Sorry, I'm on an anti-common-name-based-on-dealer-description bandwagon right now.

andrew smiths first t guide suggested that robustum is the largest species in colombia, could be erronous of course. Im not sure the name giant is really appropriate, esp when species like blondi, parahybana and xenesthis (ive seen them (xenesthis)almost blondi size) are around!

 

[Talkenlate04]

You have a 7 and 1/4" B. Smithi? Can I see a picture by a ruler please?

 

[bushbuster]

I received my M robustum in Oct. 2006, at approx. 3". She molted on Jan 2nd2007, and again on June 1st 2007. Shes getting ready to molt again, I estimate her to be around 6.5" right now, so maybe with this molt she will reach 7". She didn't have that much of a size increase with her last molt, although her body is massive, and legs not overly long.

 

[treeweta]

You have a 7 and 1/4" B. Smithi? Can I see a picture by a ruler please?

a skeptic, and rightly so, i am also they type of person who likes evidence. the said spider and skins are in the UK (im living in the USA now) , i cannot bring even the skins in without doing CITES paperwork. however heres my best evidence as of now:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/member.php?u=6706

thats an older skin (note the missing end to right front leg, not sure how that happened), shes moulted around 3 times since then, if you 'impose' the ruler over the spider skin you can see she easily exceeds the 6 inch mark, by a significant fraction, anyway over xmas i will get a decent overhead shot of her last skin. her carapace last year was about 33mm making her more like a pamphobeteus!! again i can verify with my post xmas pictures. note the picture of the spider proper (taken last xmas) doesnt work as well, the angle of the shot makes the spider appear smaller but if you do some mental superimposition of the ruler you get the idea that she is not the 5.5 inch spider as oft quoted for smithi size!

 

[treeweta]

I received my M robustum in Oct. 2006, at approx. 3". She molted on Jan 2nd2007, and again on June 1st 2007. Shes getting ready to molt again, I estimate her to be around 6.5" right now, so maybe with this molt she will reach 7". She didn't have that much of a size increase with her last molt, although her body is massive, and legs not overly long.

the carapace and leg thickness increase relative to legspan as they get bigger, your 6.5 to my 5.5 ish spiders is probably a much bigger looking beast!!

 

[AubZ]

Biggest one I have ever seen in person was about 8.5". But that seems to be very uncommon to see that in peoples collections. They will get that big though if you have patience and a good setup.

Would you mind explaining/detailing a good setup? Thanks Ryan.

 

[AubZ]

That is one HUGE smithi. But then again, after 20Yrs, what do you expect.

 

[treeweta]

That is one HUGE smithi. But then again, after 20Yrs, what do you expect.

they take time for sure. I bought her as a recently hatched spiderling in 1988, around 1995 she was a typical size, about 5.5 inches but then slowly but surely grew a bit with each moult! shes also a nice chunky build. i remember seeing a smithi that was 22 years old around 1987 so my memory may not serve me well but that one was the largest ive ever seen sofar. hopefully i may get a few more moults from mine to get her just that little bit bigger. lets imagine that mine could get to 7.5 if it makes another 3-4 moults, id be (VERY) suprised if i own the biggest potential smithi in the world, so its just possible a genetically large and very old smithi could get to 8 inches.

heres a pic i found of a nice big one, no scale but it looks big!

http://mirukashihime.cool.ne.jp/image/smithi29.JPG

 

[AubZ]

I think the ques should be, does anyone else have a Smithi that old and what's her size.

 

[treeweta]

interestingly i owned a long lived B.emilia and that didnt seem to grow atall with each moult.

 

[treeweta]

I think the ques should be, does anyone else have a Smithi that old and what's her size.

when it comes to spiders and size a photo with a scale is the only evidence i can trust. the vast majority of size estimates are way over, funny how people with blondis have 11 inch spiders and even the average grammostola spatulata owner has an 8 inch spider!

 

[AubZ]

Hehe. True True. Obviously though if you claim it, you must back it up.
I've seen ppl been called on the ruler in pic. Some how though we never do see the pic.

 

[bushbuster]

the carapace and leg thickness increase relative to legspan as they get bigger, your 6.5 to my 5.5 ish spiders is probably a much bigger looking beast!!

Yeah, shes pretty intimidating, lol...shes always in her burrow, tho...I was tryin to get some junk out of there once and I was using a little strand of wire...man she come unglued and attacked that wire with a vengence, made me jump, lol. I don't think there was enough room for her to do the spinning back kick tho, so she opted to use her fangs, lol.

 

[Pink-Poodle88]

a skeptic, and rightly so, i am also they type of person who likes evidence. the said spider and skins are in the UK (im living in the USA now) , i cannot bring even the skins in without doing CITES paperwork. however heres my best evidence as of now:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/member.php?u=6706

thats an older skin (note the missing end to right front leg, not sure how that happened), shes moulted around 3 times since then, if you 'impose' the ruler over the spider skin you can see she easily exceeds the 6 inch mark, by a significant fraction, anyway over xmas i will get a decent overhead shot of her last skin. her carapace last year was about 33mm making her more like a pamphobeteus!! again i can verify with my post xmas pictures. note the picture of the spider proper (taken last xmas) doesnt work as well, the angle of the shot makes the spider appear smaller but if you do some mental superimposition of the ruler you get the idea that she is not the 5.5 inch spider as oft quoted for smithi size!

NICE b.smithi specimen, seriously. Older than me as well, that's awesome.

Exactly how do you set up their tank/cage/etc. personally speaking?