Pink Toe (A. Avicularia) Question.

[SandWormTrain]

Hello everyone i have a question that I'm sure had no definite answer but i would still very much appreciate a little help. i have about a 3 month old A Avic that i got from a local pet store. He has been webbing plenty but he just refuses to eat and its been nearly 5 weeks now. he even webbed more last night but still just wont friggin eat!!! BBQSAUCE. would love to hear anything you guys/gals got, this is my first tarantula and id like to do it right. Thanks for reading

 

[rob0t]

Spunds like its probably getting ready to molt. Leave it alone and give it some time to relax and do it's thing.

Also how big is this avic? Unless it's a fairly knowledgable pet store they probably have no clue on the age.

 

[SandWormTrain]

Thanks for the quick response, i love this site, everyone seems to get at least gets 1 answer. The guy who sold it to me said they received it as a sling and his estimate was just about 2 months by the time i got to it. so with the additional time its only 3 months old id imagine . but as for size its about 2 inches maybe just over. im a beginner so i cant really tell how the coloring and hair loss changes when they are ready to molt but still appreciate hearing anything you've experienced on your end. Thanks again rob0t ~beep-boop~

 

[Trial]

Thanks for the quick response, i love this site, everyone seems to get at least gets 1 answer. The guy who sold it to me said they received it as a sling and his estimate was just about 2 months by the time i got to it. so with the additional time its only 3 months old id imagine . but as for size its about 2 inches maybe just over. im a beginner so i cant really tell how the coloring and hair loss changes when they are ready to molt but still appreciate hearing anything you've experienced on your end. Thanks again rob0t ~beep-boop~

2 inches? There is no way it is only 3 months old. All my slings at that age are much less than one inch.

 

[SandWormTrain]

Well than i believe i was misinformed. Thought a family business would be a little bit better at that sort of stuff but i guess not. Anyways how old would u estimate a pink toe of that size to be?

 

[rob0t]

No way to really know the age, but as Trial pointed out, definitely not three months old if its a couple inches already. They take a few years to mature around the 4-5" mark.

 

[Arienette]

Well than i believe i was misinformed. Thought a family business would be a little bit better at that sort of stuff but i guess not. Anyways how old would u estimate a pink toe of that size to be?

about 2"old
that's honestly the best you can get for age.

 

[SandWormTrain]

Okay thanks for the responses.

 

[Tarac]

Does indeed sound like premolt. Is the abdomen really large relative to the rest of the body?

It isn't 3 months old, or very unlikely anyway. But it also doesn't mean that your LPS purposely tried to deceive you, could be what they were told and as you can gather from our responses there really is no way to know exactly how old a tarantula is judging from size. I wouldn't hold it against them. The fact that they even sell slings at all is a pretty good sign- usually "bad" pet store tarantula dealers have only adults because they are WC or someone else's collection that was donated IME. These guys sound like they have CB stock which is a big step in the right direction.

Example: I have two B. boehmei that are sac mates. One is about an inch or something and the other is a speck, way less that 1/2" and they are both over a year old. They grow very slowly so don't compare the size of mine to the size of your's which is a much faster growing species. However, what it demonstrates is that some tarantulas, even of the same species and from the same genetic pool, grow at very disparate rates.

 

[poisoned]

Example: I have two B. boehmei that are sac mates. One is about an inch or something and the other is a speck, way less that 1/2" and they are both over a year old. They grow very slowly so don't compare the size of mine to the size of your's which is a much faster growing species. However, what it demonstrates is that some tarantulas, even of the same species and from the same genetic pool, grow at very disparate rates.

Even avics can be really slow growers. I bought my A. versi as 2i last May. It's still under 1" now.

 

[MarkmD]

Yeah it's hard to determine the age just by size, unless you have brought them up from the egg sac or first few instars, so if I don't know the age but know the DLS size then I just say, in your case, makes 2" old, 100% sense without a date. but she/he could be in pre-molt, my A,minatrix hasn't eaten in just over 2 weeks wich is unusual but no signs of being in pre-molt, has a plump abdomen so guessing not hungry or possibly in early pre-molt, Avics tend to lose colour on their legs/abdomen other's all over there body, since mine has orange legs makes it easy to spot when they get dark.

 

[Zeph]

5 weeks isn't long for an Avic to refuse food. Just make sure the abdomen isn't too tiny!

 

[Marijan2]

Average avic will be at around 1/2-1 inch at 3 months, so this one is between 6 and 18 months. It's very rough estimate so don't take it for granted. And as other told you, it is very likely s/he is in pre moult state and will do the moulting soon.