A.chalcodes advice please

[Tony Hammond]

Hi Folks,

at the BTS Show I bought an AF A.chalcodes, marked as CB, from the German dealer who was in the middle of the big hall facing the entry door.

It & my A.seemanni have both eaten 8 cickets since then but the A.chalcodes has a very rounded & enlarged abdomen compaired to the A.seemanni's flatter, oval one. She attacks all crickets put in within seconds & is happy having 2 on her fangs at once. They looked the same size in all ways on purchase. The other spids (B.smthi, E.truculentus, A.biocolouratum & G.pulchra) of similar size have abdomens like the A.seemanni.

My questions are, Is a rounded abdomen normal? or Is she over fed? or Could she be gravid? Any thoughts or comments please.

Cheers,

[Mandy Clinch]

Sorry i can't be much help otherthan to tell you that you got her from Michael Scheller. He is a member here tooand i am sure he (or someone else) will be able to help you. My g.pulchra sling i got from him has fed a few times but she is looking very round andi am expecting a molt fairly soon.
No advice sorry Tony, but i am sure someone else will be on soon with something useful to add!

Mandy x

PS, your list of t's is my wish list! Have the g.rosea and the g.pulchra, but want a b.smithi, a.bicolaratum, a.seemani and another g.pulchra!

[Christian Elowsky]

Could you post an image? More details might be helpful as well, such as size? A captive born A. chalcodes which is 4" could very easily be 10 years old. If you have access to the breeder, you might ask regarding age and previous diet. I've had spiderlings which were two years old and were only 1" tops. As I am in the US, I don't know the dealer, but DO have a few of this species or some close facsimile (the group is a real mess!) in my collection.

[Joanna Pendleton]

I have an A. chalcodes and all I can say is well done on the eating! Mine is very unpredictable, though she did recently molt, so am hoping she will eat more when I start feeding her again! To be honest as long as she's not dragging her abdomen along the ground then she's not over fed, as I understand it. (I could be wrong but I have heard this said by others!).

I would say for an adult T, 8 crickets since the show is fine though, doesnt sound over-fed to me. My A. chalcodes is my only Aphonopelma, so Im afraid im not sure what other Aphonopelma's are like in comparison!

I would imagine if she had been mated that Michael would have told you that when you bought her though.

Sorry I couldnt be of more help!
x

[Tony Hammond]

Hi Christian, I'll try to put up a picture over the weekend (need to get a camera), no history I'm afraid.

Thanks Joanna, a relief that I'm not pushing the crickets too often. So far her feeding hasn't been an issue, maybe she's getting ready for a moult as suggested by someone on another forum.

Just a daft add on, my crickets have bred

[James Box]

rounded abdomen, did he say it had been mated?
chalcodes to my understanding have seasons of plenty and seasons of famine...this means that they stock up on food when it's there and then go digest for months after. this is fairly common for slow growing species that come from dry regions, i believe.
what that means to you is that she's probably only going to eat til she's full and then fast for some time.
if you're concerned, or her abdomen is so big she's dragging it, just don't feed her. she won't die from starvation even after months of no food. if she's fat, it means she has alot stored away. i believe some have gone without food for over a year before with no harm being done!
in my experience, A. seemanni, to contrast, has a much quicker life cycle and will burn through food alot faster, and thus lose weight and require feeding more often.

[Christian Elowsky]

I believe there is quite some contention of if A. seemanni is actually A. seemanni, or if A. chalcodes is even Aphonopelma! Regardless, being from completely different ecosystems, how they deal with food and lack of it is completely different, of course. James is correct, a healthy A. chalcodes can easily go months without food, and often will. I swear it's just to frustrate keepers! I'm joking of course, but I have learned to not worry about them, they're tough as nails, and if you visit the Sonoran desert, you'd see why!

I'm looking forward to those pictures.

Christian

[James Box]

I believe there is quite some contention of if A. seemanni is actually A. seemanni, or if A. chalcodes is even Aphonopelma! Regardless, being from completely different ecosystems, how they deal with food and lack of it is completely different, of course. James is correct, a healthy A. chalcodes can easily go months without food, and often will. I swear it's just to frustrate keepers! I'm joking of course, but I have learned to not worry about them, they're tough as nails, and if you visit the Sonoran desert, you'd see why!

I'm looking forward to those pictures.

Christian

aye, i've heard of those taxonomic contentions as well...but the scientists are on the case. if chalcodes ends up not being Aphonopelma, i'll be disappointed as i like the sound of the name!
and seemanni is another challenge that's being worked on! whatever they are, they're great spiders, though!
i'd love to see the pictures too!

[Tony Hammond]

Sorry for the delay, these are all I could do until I get a real camera

[James Box]

lovely collection mate!!!!

[Tony Hammond]

Thanks James, & it's just the collection I said I'd put together when we spoke at the lectures.

[Christian Elowsky]

Tony,

The images are just fine without a "real" camera, but I am not sure I see what you're talking about with the abdomen being a different shape. Maybe it's the angle of the picture?

Christian

[Tony Hammond]

Hi Christian, funnily enough I thought the same on seeing the picture. I need to get a side on shot if she plays ball with me & doesn't make a run for it. From what's been said I am now more inclined to think she is stocking up & a time of safety (from her at least heehee) is coming for my crickets.