Emilia growth.....

[Richard Horrigan]

.....or lack of it! I got an Emilia sling back in April which had molted in its vial during transit, it has molted once more since then in August. It is kept in the mid to upper 70s and eats like a horse, sometimes I don't feed it for a week or two as it is so fat! It just doesn't seem to be growing...........is this normal?

[Christopher Smallman]

As long as she is eating and as you say she is fat she will take her own sweet time

Upper 70's is also ok so dont worry my little one molted mid week (30/11/11) and doesnt seem to have gained much in size.

Here are her molt dates ~ 30/4/10 ~ 4/6/10 ~ 12/7/10 ~ 20/8/10 ~ 30/9/10 ~ 7/12/10 ~ 8/3/11 ~ 8/9/11 ~ 30/11/11.

I think she could still fit in a cricket carton quite easily.

[Richard Horrigan]

Woohoo! After 5 and a half months "she" has molted! put on a good bit of size and I can see colour coming through. No more worrys!

[K Smith]

My smithi and auratum slings are both the same. Eat absolutely fine but only moulted twice last year. I was bit unsure if this was ok but if your emilia is like that i wont worry. Iv recently upped the temp in the room to 27c constant so ill see if that makes a difference to growth rates.

[Christopher Smallman]

My 3 inch Brachypelma klassi moulted over a week ago 10 months after its last one and still not put on any size.

ChrisS.

[K Smith]

Cheers Chris, I wont worry then

Was just a bit of a difference compared to my hatian brown juvis for example, that has put on two inches leg span in a year. My Brachypelma's are probably the slowest growing T's iv got. Theres no rushing them...

[Peter Roach]

I bought quite a few Brachypelma slings just before and at the BTS last May.

1.5 cm x 2 emilia. . . . . Now 2 inches (male) and 1 1/2 inches (female)
2cm x 3 smithi. . . . . . .Now 2.5 inches (1 male, 2 female)
1cm x 6 albiceps. . . . . Now 1.3/4 to 2 inches
0.5cm x 40 albop. . . . .Now 1.1/2 inches average
1cm x 3 schreoderi. . .. Now 1.1/4 inches
1.5cm x 6 boehmei . . . Now 2 to 2.1/2 inches (2 male, 4 female)
2cm x 2 vagans . . . . . .Now 2.1/2 inches (2 males)

All are kept in the high 70's and are fed once weekly on roaches.
Every spider in the list above is growing just as expected.


Richard, what are you feeding your T's and more importantly what are you feeding your prey insects ?

[Richard Horrigan]

I feed my T's crickets and small mealworms which I keep with the bran in the containers they arrive in and feed a mix of dried cereal and fruit, small pieces of fresh fruit and veg, and dog biscuits or treats!

[Peter Roach]

While feeding the spiders today I found (forgot i had them ) 6 x smithi slings. I bought them last October at AES Kempton Park at 1 cm and they are now 2cm and looking like they are coming up for a moult in the near future.
All of my spiders are kept in the high 70's and are fed once a week on roaches (havent used crickets in years). Almost all are fed on red runners, which are fed a high protein diet. I use ground up kitten crunchies which as far as I've found out, have a higher protein content than adult cat crunchies and a much higher content than dried dog food. So all of my roaches are packed full of high protein when fed to the spiders.

I always use ground up crunches as the roaches can eat it much easier than whole crunchies. Although they can and do eat whole crunchies, roaches mouth parts are not made to eat hard foods like this and which is why I never give them the whole crunchie. They can go through a whole box of powdered crunchies in a week where it would take them a lot longer (2-3 weeks) if i gave them the whole crunchie.

I started with approx 70 adult red runners bought last May at the BTS and at a guess I use between 500 to 700 per week. The adults have all died and I am left with several thousand juveniles of various sizes.

I firmly believe in that old saying "You are what you eat" and the growth rates on most of my tarantulas (and roaches growth and breeding rate) seem to comfirm this.

I took this video in mid October after a clean out of the their tub.

This is my Dubia colony taken a few weeks ago after a clean out. I think i started with 25-30 adults last May.

[Richard Horrigan]

Nice! I may start a colony of roaches in the near future, its something I've been thinking about for a while. Do they smell much? the mealworms i grow myself mostly as its easy, and I feed the dog treats as a form of protein but i thought to much protein was bad for spiders that's why only the occasional pinky mouse is advised for adults!