Tarantula age?

[Amimia]

Hello there!
I was given a Rose Hair (G. Rosea) in early June, the owner before knew nothing about the tarantula, just it's species. Well the college I'm taking a few classes at has a biology professor that studies tarantulas, so I brought the molt up to him (my tarantula molted last week) and this morning he got back to me and said that she is definitely a female and looks to be a young adult. So here's my question: what age (in years) would a G. Rosea young adult female roughly be?
Thanks everyone

 

[ratluvr76]

I don't really know, I'm kind of new to the tarantula world myself but I know G. rosea females can live up to 18 to 20 years.. or so I'm told. Not sure if that helps.

 

[Formerphobe]

A tarantula is as old as its leg span. Since husbandry plays a huge part in growth and maturation rates, age is really of no consequence in tarantulas. I know the age of many of my tarantulas and will sometimes include the age when labeling them in pictures, but it's more because I'm human and chronological age seems to mean something to us humans.

If definition of 'young' is that the female's spermathacae are starting to sclerotize but aren't fully there yet, then a young G. rosea could be anywhere from 3 to 15 years old.

 

[cold blood]

Actually the species can live much longer than that...I've seen speculation that they may be able to reach 40. There's no way to know age for sure, you can only guesstimate as there are many factors that can effect growth, and sometimes even spiders with the same husbandry still have significantly different growth rates. To guesstimate, I figure that to become a full grown adult will take anywhere from 8-12 years. Yours being a "young adult", I would guess could be anywhere from5-10 years old. Time between molts can also help as it appears that once they are full grown a 3-5 year molt cycle appears to be the norm.

I got mine 14 years ago as a full grown adult, already in the 4 year cycle that it has remained in to this day. I guess she had to be at least 12, plus the 14 I have had her and my guesstimate is about 26....but she could theoretically be much older, although not likely too much younger....its really only a guessing game.

 

[Ashton]

I bred my rose hair a while back and she's gravid. I hope I can squeeze that max life out of a few babies if they are fertile. I may be 60 when I have the results so we should hope Arachnoboards is very relevant. Even so, people will provably know by then anyway

 

[darkness975]

As others have said even individuals kept in the same housing can grow at different rates. Age for tarantulas, especially slow growing ones like G rosea, is really a guessing game unless you have bred it yourself and know its exact age (in human time measurement) from egg sac spiderling to the time in question.

 

[edgeofthefreak]

A tarantula is as old as its leg span.

This is the right way to think. For example, I have a 4½" old B. albopilosum, and an E. "sp" Red that is hopefully, sometime soon, coming up to her 1" birthday!

 

[pyro fiend]

This is the right way to think. For example, I have a 4½" old B. albopilosum, and an E. "sp" Red that is hopefully, sometime soon, coming up to her 1" birthday!

iv always seen it as humorous when people measure i tliek that XD especially considering that albo may just be done growing. so you may have a 4 1/2" old albo for 10 more years XD ofc you probably wont but its always possible. my coworkers daugter who knows nothing of T's has a tosea in a well done cage [her mom did it] fed every month and never refuses even during premolt.and when i said she looked good and asked her age she said "oh shes like 4 inches old. i got her when i was 12 as a baby dot, but she hasnt grown in a long time" [was ewl now maybe 3.75 4 tops] iw as like uhm.. arnt you in your thirtys? "oh im 36.." so shes apparently had a 4" old T a while lmao

well all aside, give her an extra large meal for her 1" birthday XD