T Stirmi moulted at last!

[Aragorn Davies]

Well after him going into pre-moult nearly 2 months ago he finally got round to climbing out of his old exuvium. And much to my surprise it only took 3hrs from flipping onto his back to righting himself! I think that is a record for him, I measured the leg span on the old exuvium and it was 5.1" I have the last 2 exo's I think if they are good enough I will measure the leg spans on all and start a growth chart, I have done this for my L klugi but from a much earlier age so will get better data for its growth rate. If I can get some I will post a picture of his new vibrant buff looking body, lol it looks like he has defo had a growth spurt lol, can't wait to get an estimate for his new body size and leg span.!!

[Aragorn Davies]

Well i got round to producing a growth chart for him and its incredible to 1, compare the old Exuviums visually and 2 see how the data looks on a chart...using the chart to extrapolate his current growth rate he should be around the 6.88" mark now...the time interval from the last moult was longer but his growth ratio was also higher, so even though his moult frequency is slowing down his growth in-between those molts is larger, also the fast period was longer, i also noticed that his opisthosoma swelled significantly right before this moult and that he feed veraciously right up to the pre moult cycle, i have to confess i was concerned that due to the size of his opisthosoma before he went into pre moult, from what i have read, he may struggle to complete the moult, i kept the humidity high..and he done fine...i shall feed him a small mouse (dead of course) as i do just after the moult to help gain his strength and then back to the normal diet of crickets, roaches and Locust....

It must be noted that i have changed his environment and housing before this moult, which also included a temperature increase, i think its possible that the increase in his temp has contributed to the growth and feeding, thus facilitating his recent growth spurt, off course the only real way to be sure is to see how the data pans out over the next few months, on the flip side is this may reduce his life span, as i understand it, the conditions may contribute to him reaching maturity earlier! even though the temps are closer to the natural ambient temp of the area he would have originated from.

Its just a shame i wasn't able to take these kind of measurements from earlier in his life, and i am interested to compare this T Stirmi growth rate and moult frequency to the L Klugi...which even at an early age is a gargantuan feeder...Next thing...get some scales!!!