telling the age of your T?

skadiwolf

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say, i was just curious if there's any way to tell age from the size of a T. at what point/size do they leave s'ling and become adolescent/adult?

i've got a G. rosea. any information would be greatly appreciated! :)
 

Mendi

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If your G.rosea happenes to be a WC adult, there really is no way to tell it's age, could be anywhere from 4-20+ years. As for when to call them a juv, I normally start thinking of them as that when they reach about a $.50 coin in legspan. The spiderlings are extremely slow growers. I got a ½" captive bred from Swift's last January, and I doubt that she has barely gotten over a $.25 coin legspan. She's as slow growing as most the Aphonopelma spp that I've got, and from what I'm seeing they will be juvs in 10 years if they keep this rate up
 

veronyka

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Now how about the same question for, say, a T. Blondi!=D
 

skadiwolf

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okay, well my G. rosea is like 3 inches including leg width...lol. so, um, yeah, definitely an adult. :)

see? learn something new every day...thanks!
 

Professor T

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Originally posted by skadiwolf
okay, well my G. rosea is like 3 inches including leg width...lol. so, um, yeah, definitely an adult. :)

see? learn something new every day...thanks!
A 3" G. rosea could still be a sub-adult. They can grow over 5". They are easy to care for, here are a few tips:

They don't like it too moist. A full water bowl is all the humidity they will need. A substrate of sphagnum peat moss, vermiculite, or a 50/50 mix will do well. Don't be alarmed if they go through a period of not eating and not being very active...they fast for long periods.
 

Mendi

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Originally posted by veronyka
Now how about the same question for, say, a T. Blondi!=D
Well, not all that fast, least my female isn't growing in leaps and bounds, but my male T.apophysis is getting to be that largest T I've got and his feet are still pink...
 

skadiwolf

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okay then, let's say my 3 inch G. rosea is a sub-adult...any age guesses here?
 

Arachnopuppy

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Originally posted by skadiwolf
okay then, let's say my 3 inch G. rosea is a sub-adult...any age guesses here?
The problem is that different individual tarantulas have different growth rate. You can make them grow really fast by power feeding them or you can make them grow really slow by feeding them like once a month or somethin'.
 

skadiwolf

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sounds just like a snake. :) okay, thanks. that makes sense...usually with snakes though you can give some kind of rough estimate of a possible age.

like, if it's 3ft and a king it's at least 'blah' age.

anything like that possible with them? (i know, i can't let it go but i'm honestly REALLY curious)
 

Buspirone

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Originally posted by skadiwolf
sounds just like a snake. :) okay, thanks. that makes sense...usually with snakes though you can give some kind of rough estimate of a possible age.

like, if it's 3ft and a king it's at least 'blah' age.

anything like that possible with them? (i know, i can't let it go but i'm honestly REALLY curious)
No, there isn't any possible way to tell just by looking at them. If you power feed and keep them at the high end of their temperature range they will grow faster than if you kept them at the low end of their temp. range and kept them on a survival feeding schedule. You could take 2 slings of the same size and gender from the same egg sack of a fast growing species and keep one at high temps with as much food as it will eat and the other at low temps and feed it enough to live. In a years time they would look like spiders of very different ages even though they are the same age. The high temp power fed spider would be 2, 3 or maybe more times as large as the low temp survival fed spider.
 

Alias

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you can try the tree method...slice the spider and count the annual rings :D
 

sunnymarcie

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................you can try the tree method...slice the spider and count the annual rings.............:(

GROSS! not funny Alias ;)
 

Lopez

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Originally posted by Buspirone
No, there isn't any possible way to tell just by looking at them. If you power feed and keep them at the high end of their temperature range they will grow faster than if you kept them at the low end of their temp. range and kept them on a survival feeding schedule. You could take 2 slings of the same size and gender from the same egg sack of a fast growing species and keep one at high temps with as much food as it will eat and the other at low temps and feed it enough to live. In a years time they would look like spiders of very different ages even though they are the same age. The high temp power fed spider would be 2, 3 or maybe more times as large as the low temp survival fed spider.
I've just spent the last 2 months looking into this exact subject

http://www.arachnopets.com/arachnoboards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8369
:)
 

skadiwolf

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wonderful. :) thanks for all the helpful and honest replies guys. i definitely appreciated the complete lack of 'what are you, stupid?' kinds of responses.

i guess i'll just never know. :p

hmmm...sounds like a good excuse, er...reason rather -cough- to get a s'ling. ;P
 
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