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LP growth in pictures

HungryGhost

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
755
Location
Lower Hudson River Valley NY
Hello. I too have an LP that went from 1 1/4 about 7 months ago to 5 - 6 " DLS now. Can you tell me, please, how long does yours take to eat post molt now that it is getting older? Mine molted again about 2 weeks ago and has refused food since. His abdomen is getting too thin for my liking. Thanks in advance and WONDERFUL idea for a thread! :)
I've always offered mine food 7 days after a molt and he's never refused food. I'm hoping for another molt soon, he hasn't molted in 4 months now.
 

Lady Lilith

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
167
Location
CNY
I've always offered mine food 7 days after a molt and he's never refused food. I'm hoping for another molt soon, he hasn't molted in 4 months now.

i noticed that you live in Hudson Valley, NY. I, too, live in NY, and with all the snow and cold snaps lately I'm wondering if the slow eating and molting might be a result. I try to keep my temps up, but last month, no kidding, my NYSEG bill was over $500. I now have an IR bulb suspended 8 inches over the tank to provide supplemental heat and my house is between 62-65. I mist more often to compensate for any air drying out. Hope yours molts again soon. Wish mine would eat :(P
 

HungryGhost

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
755
Location
Lower Hudson River Valley NY
i noticed that you live in Hudson Valley, NY. I, too, live in NY, and with all the snow and cold snaps lately I'm wondering if the slow eating and molting might be a result. I try to keep my temps up, but last month, no kidding, my NYSEG bill was over $500. I now have an IR bulb suspended 8 inches over the tank to provide supplemental heat and my house is between 62-65. I mist more often to compensate for any air drying out. Hope yours molts again soon. Wish mine would eat :(P
This winter has been hell. My house is pretty warm in the winter because I heat with wood as much as I can. This year I used all 7 cords by March 1st so it's back to a cooler house. I also use heat mats in the winter for my T's. Heat mats are tricky and I don't recommend them nor give advice on their use. Here's to spring!
 

Lady Lilith

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
167
Location
CNY
This winter has been hell. My house is pretty warm in the winter because I heat with wood as much as I can. This year I used all 7 cords by March 1st so it's back to a cooler house. I also use heat mats in the winter for my T's. Heat mats are tricky and I don't recommend them nor give advice on their use. Here's to spring!

I get your troubles with the wood! I have a wood pellet stove myself, and by the second week of February, there were no pellets to be had anywhere! The house got quite chilly, hence the IR light. Most freak out about that, and I know the risks, but truly I do keep it above only one side of the enclosure, which is a 20 gal tank filled with about a foot of substrate it seems and a hide he can crawl into should he choose to, a water dish, a piece of drift wood to stretch out on, and screen lid, although I am now hearing plexi is better for a lid. Any thoughts on that? Uploading pictures now
 

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Dave Jay

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1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
1,079
Location
Mt Barker South Australia
I was trying to tell my wife that buying 5 slings of each species was wise as in a years time they have grown so much that I could sell the excess and more than get my money back, because of this thread she believes me!
Now, what's for sale this week? Lol!
Great looking Tarantula!
 

Whitelightning777

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1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
2,565
Location
Baltimore MD
My L Klugi was purchased last year and was about 2". Now she's about 5 inches and I've had to rehouse her once from a 3 gallon enclosure to a 5 gallon one.

I set the temps at 80 to average, hot side being about 83 and the cold side is 74 to 76 degrees. She parks herself where the temps are 80 right on the nose.

Still, be careful with heat!! No hot spots. I use a point and shoot thermometer to literally go over every inch and every object in the cage BEFORE placing the spider inside!!

Heat is a very controversial subject and with good reason, but if you never go over 90 anywhere in the enclosure, inside or outside you'll be just fine.

My place is kept at 68 to 70 degrees because my ex girlfriend/roommate has fibromyalgia which means she can't stand it hotter.

Of course, never add a heat source underneath the spider. I'd post a how to video on this but I don't want to kick the hornet's nest!!



L Klugi ultimate pic 1.jpg
L Klugi Justina 1-22-18.jpg
Justina angle 1 1-8.jpg
 

Whitelightning777

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1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
2,565
Location
Baltimore MD
Damn I live in a desert and my LP I got on 6/9/17 only went from 1/2" to about 2.5" front foot to back foot not stretched.

Try keeping it at 80 degrees and feeding 2 or 3 times per week. Vary the diet, roaches, crickets, mealworm, super worm and yes the occasional Earth worm, once a month.

Having said that, each is an individual with it's own unique traits.
 

NukaMedia Exotics

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
591
Location
California
Try keeping it at 80 degrees and feeding 2 or 3 times per week. Vary the diet, roaches, crickets, mealworm, super worm and yes the occasional Earth worm, once a month.

Having said that, each is an individual with it's own unique traits.
The only feeders I've used on my T's really are crickets and mealworms, rarely roaches. Not enough variety?
 

Whitelightning777

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
2,565
Location
Baltimore MD
Roaches are considered to be there most nutritious type of feeder because they are larger and you can gut load them better. Like anything else, more variety is better. In nature, tarantulas consume hundreds of different species over a lifetime. They are generalists in predation.
 

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