Lol, considering mine has trained me to tong feed it. Mine is a web cocoon lover and never wants to leave it. Leaving feeders in is pointless it just will not go after them.
Some of the Brachypelma species sure do grow at a glacial pace, that's for sure. I got my B. auratum at just under .5in last year and now it's about 0.75in a year later. How big is yours? I've heard that B. albiceps has one of the slowest growth rates in the genus.
I got it last June, it was less than half an inch. Here going on 9 months later it might be...half an inch lol. On the same order I got boehmei, hamorii, smithi plus a klassi sling I got a month before. All of them were roughly the same size and now they’re all at least over an inch. Blowing the albiceps out of the water lol. Nice little spider, not the most exciting, but like I said, I wouldn’t start over lol
I can see why! Some of these grow at a glacial pace.
Yeah it’s insane how slow growing they are. Good luck with the auratum, hopefully you have an adult before you retire lol
Whenever these types of posts happen, it is my job to defend H. macs. Mine doesn’t even have a burrow or hide. She is fast but not overly skittish. And she has a very interesting personality. Her behavior at times definitely resembles “curiosity” or “intelligence”. If a prey item freezes before she can locate it, she will slap the ground with her front legs to startle it into moving. And she very quickly learned that the lid opening means food is coming. Back when she was younger and still had a burrow, she would get startled by the lid opening and hide. She always had this response, but after not long at all would come back to the burrow entrance and hang her feet out waiting for the food.
Honestly, until I saw this thread, I had NEVER heard someone say they didn't like H Macs lol
I'm feeling the same on this one. I bought one at 1/2" last August. It molted soon after I got it. It buried itself in October and has not molted or come up since. I know that because the burrow is right along the side of the enclosure, so I can see it. But it has not eaten or done anything but sit in that burrow for going on six months, and this is just a little sling.
I can't afford it. I'm a college student for Christ's sake haha
I think a lot of it comes down to the individual specimen though, too. Some are extremely reclusive, but others tend to be out and visible more often. And when they are, it's incredible. But I've known people who've only seen theirs a handful of times, so it can vary!
Out of curiosity how many have you owned and if multiples do you notice a pattern of behavior?
Definitely. I also think a lot of it has to do with expectations too. It's entirely possible that some simply aren't aware of how shy they can be when they get one. I can understand how one would be rather disappointed when they get an animal they expect to see a lot, only to go long periods of time without catching a glimpse of it. The Juvenile that I have is rather secretive, as I don't see it very often during the day. But I don't mind the fact that I don't see it a whole lot, simply because I was aware of the fact when I got him/her....
Ok, to be fair I’ve only had one. Maybe I just got a totally weird individual.
Well be thankful you got such a jem! I hope to hear from more people like you saying the same thing. Right now though the ratio of people who have ones that are a pain in the butt are much higher
I would but I just get "all your Ts are broken"
B. albiceps are by far the slowest growers out of the genus, the rest of the genus can hit 1.5" - 2" within a year, I've had my albiceps for over three and a half years and she's not much over 2".
