A versicolor just took a big leap in growth

[nasty bugger]

Don't know if it was just time or what, but I fed a small roach last week and some flies this week and it seems like he put alot of body mass on, and I don't see any molt.

I suppose the flies and roach were just meatier and juicier, maybe...

Seems like he almost doubled in size in the last week, and his web is alot heavier. He had little whispy web before, and now he's webbed the top of the enclosure, a vial, very heavily, with seemingly thicker strands of webbing, as well as layers and density.

I wonder if he was just lacking nutrition, or if it was just that time.

 

[Peter Clausen]

Hi Nasty Bugger,

It sounds to me like your T might be getting ready to molt. Often they'll plump up a bit and start webbing up in preparation. That's an arboreal species so it will molt right in the web tunnel.

Following the molt, the legspan will be larger but the abdomen will actually be thinner. Of course, it will also appear for a brief second like you either have two spiders or one huge sixteen-legged one (because of the nearby exuvium).

 

[Katnapper]

Following the molt, the legspan will be larger but the abdomen will actually be thinner. Of course, it will also appear for a brief second like you either have two spiders or one huge sixteen-legged one (because of the nearby exuvium).

Oh, the visions this produces.... Run away!! Run away!!!

 

[nasty bugger]

That's what happened Peter. It molted, and it has been getting bigger much faster, or so it seems. When I gave if fruit flies and small crickets it was just staying about the same, but when I started giving it flies and roaches it seemed to grow almost daily. Maybe it was just coincidence, or that time, but it seems to respond well to the other food types.

My big paysoni seems to be getting bigger now, and it also molted. The small one doesn't seem to eat, and hides in the soil all the time.

I've seen a glimpse of my red rump flying back into his burrow, but that's all I've seen of him since putting enough soil in for him to burrow, but any insect I put in there is gone the next day.