Hysterocrates Gigas moult surprise...............

[wayne balcombe]

Hi all,

just found that my female H.Gigas moulted sometime over the last few days.

she was the standard rusty red colour befor the molt but an amazing transformation has occured, she is now a dark metalic grey almost gunmetal silver coulour overall with long reddish setae on the legs (i will upload a pic if i can get one that does her justice), i've seen darker brown and almost black varients but never one quite like this.

has anyone heard of similar varients and does anyone know how or why this occurs? are there a common group of varients or is this rare?

[Colin D Wilson]

The one i have here has a slate grey appearence when moulted, this is a sling i kept and raised from the original pair i had a few years back who were more "dark chocolate" when freshly moulted, all of them have been kept on the same composition substrate at the same temp & humidity and fed the same food items, There certainly seems to be other factors that come into play with colour varients between species.

[paul fleming]

Hi all,

just found that my female H.Gigas moulted sometime over the last few days.

she was the standard rusty red colour befor the molt but an amazing transformation has occured, she is now a dark metalic grey almost gunmetal silver coulour overall with long reddish setae on the legs (i will upload a pic if i can get one that does her justice), i've seen darker brown and almost black varients but never one quite like this.

has anyone heard of similar varients and does anyone know how or why this occurs? are there a common group of varients or is this rare?

Hi Wayne,
Any chance of pictures mate ?
I will post pics of my MM and AF H.gigas so we can compare.
Paul

[wayne balcombe]

hi paul,

i'll put some pictures of her on in a bit once i've put them on the computer, i look forward to seein yours.

[wayne balcombe]

here are 2 pictures of her in her new threads! i took the oppertunity of her being out to change her substrata, this is the first time i've seen her in months.

[paul fleming]

I will probably have to wait until later to get some snaps......they only come out late at night.
Your one looks beautiful by the way.
I am sure my ones are just a dirty brown colour but we will see.The male is anyway.

[wayne balcombe]

thanks paul.

i was surprised when i saw her, had to take a second look, she looked like a different spider.

it will be interesting to see if she stays this colour after her next molt.

[paul fleming]

Here she is....just shot 3 crix in for her and she was straight out.They will be all be eaten rather quickly.
She is a wild caught specimen approx. 7" LS.......pretty big girl.
I will try to get the male later mate.
Paul

[wayne balcombe]

she's a good lookin spider mate nice chocolate brown colour, very stocky, she looks like she could be due a molt soon too.

i bought mine as wild caught, she was about 6.5 inch when i got her and i assume this is her maturing molt as she's about 7-7.5 inch now, if not she will be a monster when she matures. my C. Crawshayi adult female is still bigger though, she's about 7.5 - 8inch

[paul fleming]

How long do the AF's live for wayne.....I thought it could be 15 to 20 years ?
I know kings are very long lived.
Paul

[wayne balcombe]

they are very long lived as far as spiders go, average lifespan of A/F's is about 12 years but they have been known to live to about 18-22 years though care sheets have been published that suggest a lifespan of as much as 30 years, i'm not convinced of this and i dont know of anyone who has had one that long to confirm it. Females take about 5 years to mature so they are very slow growing.