Oh no.....legs all curled up.

[Andrew Ferguson]

I went to check on my smithi this morning. Looked inside the plant pot and my worst tarantula fear was there before me. Its legs were all curled up. Oh well, these things happen.
So I decided to clean out the tank and started with removing the plant pot. A huge tarantula ran out, really fast and hid under the plastic plant with just its rear end sticking out. I was really confused. Then in a flash, I realised the rump was rather small. The legs were longer and more hairy than before. Gloria had moulted!!! But where was the shed skin? It appears that had been removed and thrown away. I have the carapace from the first moult (whilst in my ownership) and this latest is a lot bigger. But what really surprised me is the size of the one on Gloria now. Its really big. I think that once she has stretched and hardened, I could be looking at a inch and a half to two inch body length.
I guess the two remaining crickets I have will just be horses duvets! We can start her on something bigger now.

pics to follow btw.

[jason holland]

cool. lucky then i dunno why people say smithis are slow growers... cos they dont half have big growth spirts. mine similarly grew 1 1/2 inches in 1 moult...

[matthew spooner]

cool. lucky then i dunno why people say smithis are slow growers... cos they dont half have big growth spirts. mine similarly grew 1 1/2 inches in 1 moult...

dont forget that with any species, a male has a much shorter life span, and therefore matures quicker. if you have a T that appears to be growing very quickly in comparison to the normal expectations, chances are that you have a male. it also depends how much you feed the T as the more it eats, the bigger it gets, so if you over feed it, it will grow much quicker but at the same time you will shorten its life span

[Nicola Dolby]

Congratulations on the moult. Its a stressful time for all tarantula keepers, wait until you find the little critter on her back in the process of it!

[SylviRigden]

My smithi grew quite fast. But now she is a 5" sub adult I think she will only molt once a year and grow slowly. My emilia are very very slow growing, though not as slow as Julies Euathlus vulpinus - I think she is growing that for her grandchildren.

[Andrew Ferguson]

dont forget that with any species, a male has a much shorter life span, and therefore matures quicker. if you have a T that appears to be growing very quickly in comparison to the normal expectations, chances are that you have a male. it also depends how much you feed the T as the more it eats, the bigger it gets, so if you over feed it, it will grow much quicker but at the same time you will shorten its life span

I had some members take a look at a ventral view for me and they confirmed she was a girl. As for the overfeeding, she was fed smaller crickets than she was able to take at a rate of one a week.
I managed to measure her body length and she is almost bang on 30mm. I wasn't able to measure her leg span though. I just think she may be grower bigger than was expected only as I have nothing else to judge her by. As well as reports that smithis were slow growers. So perhaps her growth rate is normal. Well here's hoping so anyway.