Hello and Two Little Questions

[Deborah Richardson]

Hello

After a couple of months of intense reading and research, I have finally realised a very long ambition and am now the very proud owner of a beautiful Brachypelma smithi. I have named her Marjory.

She is only about 2.5 to 3 inches diagonally from toe tip to toe tip, her body (minus legs) is 2.5 inches (and I am assuming she is female, there may need to be a quick name change, heh)

Question 1 - I have looked and looked but can not find any sort of 'size to age' type table for this (or any sort of spider). Could anyone give me some approximate guess at her age? Does it take weeks, months or years for her to have gotten to this size? Is this even possible to answer really?

Question 2 - I joined the BTS this morning! Already read a few of the journal back-issues are fascinated by them. Tarantulas are so amazing and there is SO much to learn, brilliant! Straight after joining, my next port of call was back to the eShop to get a couple of BTS related things!

Erm, but there aren't any at all? Can I not get a badge with the cool BTS logo on? Or a sew-on patch? Or anything? I am really surprised at this.

I had realised that the site is undergoing a bit of a rebuild, as there are a few broken links etc. But hey guys, I want to shop, hehe! Are there any BTS 'things' available?

[Peter Roach]

She is only about 2.5 to 3 inches diagonally from toe tip to toe tip, her body (minus legs) is 2.5 inches (and I am assuming she is female, there may need to be a quick name change, heh)

Question 1 - I have looked and looked but can not find any sort of 'size to age' type table for this (or any sort of spider). Could anyone give me some approximate guess at her age? Does it take weeks, months or years for her to have gotten to this size? Is this even possible to answer really?

How long is a piece of string ?

A lot depends on how the smithi has been fed, temperature kept etc before you got it. The growth rate can also depend on its sex as males usually grow quicker than females. I have raised several smithi's from slings so i going by how i fed mine and their growth rates, I would guess that it is probably around 3-4 years old.

[Lee Corless]

Here is Lisa, My 9 year old... She is 5 inch from toe to toe.



here is Mindy, 18month old and 1.25 inch toe to toe.



But as Peter said, different environments will lead to different growth rates... Just enjoy her, She will give you years and years of pleasure.