Signs of an old tarantula

[dopamine]

Bought a mature female tarantula from an lps last week (probably WC)
and was just wondering how to tell if she may be a bit 'over the hill' and how often this must happen when buying adult Ts from, well, anywhere really.
Do most people just rely on a seller's word regarding age of their adult spiders?

 

[Trenor]

Bought a mature female tarantula from an lps last week (probably WC)
and was just wondering how to tell if she may be a bit 'over the hill' and how often this must happen when buying adult Ts from, well, anywhere really.
Do most people just rely on a seller's word regarding age of their adult spiders?

If it was mature when it was WC there is no way to know and any seller that gives you an age is just guessing like everyone else.

What species is it?

 

[cold blood]

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[cold blood]

IME tarantulas dont show the typical signs of old age. I have a very old porteri that acts as she did 16 years ago. And when i got her she was full grown and already molting on a 5 year cycle. Shes gotta be at least 30 by now...if not older....not likely to be much younger though.

 

[Ungoliant]

My elderly Avicularia avicularia (10 years if the previous owner was right about her age) has started to look a little "scruffy," and her abdomen is not as plump as it used to be despite regular feedings. She also seems to have a little less agility than she did in her prime.

 

[KezyGLA]

I think deteriorate a little towards the end but not that easy to spot.

Although having a WC specimen you are never sure what age it was when it is imported and sold.

I have bought a WC B. boehmei about 10 years ago and it was very large and scruffy. It improved after one moult my care, then after the next moult a couple of years ago she slowed right down, wasnt as fast with her feeding response and didnt eat as much, abdomen didnt shrivel it only got a little smaller. She didnt look scruffy, she looked fine.

I thought she was alive and well when I found her dead. I gave her a gentle prod as she was sitting on top of her hide(fav spot) for couple of weeks without moving. She had passed.

I had old vagans and chalcodes act in similar manner before passing.

The chalcodes I bought from someone recently but seemed old. They bought it as WC. I think they knew it was nearing the end before selling to me. It was big for its sp. though I didnt notice its behaviour until a while after I got it. I thought it was being a typical Aphono with its eating habits. It molted in my care then gradually stopped eating died not long after. This annoyed me as the previous owner told me it had moulted not long before she sold it to me.

Note: Always by CB if poss.

 

[dopamine]

What species is it?

It's the C. vonwirthi I made a thread about last week. It could be post molt lethargy, but she really doesn't have much 'pep' and just kind of sits slumped in a webbed up corner all day.

 

[Venom1080]

Sh

It's the C. vonwirthi I made a thread about last week. It could be post molt lethargy, but she really doesn't have much 'pep' and just kind of sits slumped in a webbed up corner all day.

She did just molt, give her some time to recover.

 

[dopamine]

Do you guys see what i'm saying though? Most of if not all the adult T's being sold by dealers/pet stores have to be wild caught. I doubt these businesses were just sitting on these spiders for years while they matured. So how often must it happen that someone buys an older tarantula that ends up croaking a year or two down the road?

 

[Czech prime]

in my opinion the only ones that show old age are species that darken with age (like P. metallica or H. pulchripes)

 

[Paiige]

I mean, smaller local pet stores are likely to keep Ts regardless of age IMO... the store I bought my GBB had a B vagans sling when I first went in and no one wanted it. It's now a large juvenile. If a place doesn't specialize in Ts, they may just see it as a 'cool' animal regardless of age and may not be aware that keepers often want to start with slings.