So my B. smithi female molted June 23. It looks like she grew by about an inch (leg span). Her legs are longer and thicker now. Her abdomen is also quite small compared to the rest of her body; she looks a lot like a male spider! Is this normal for postmolt? I'm assuming she will fill out again once she starts eating...she was very round and robust before her molt.
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Is this normal?
- Thread starter Sabeth
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- 2,364
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- Arizona USA
Normal. Unless, it is a 4" +(mature) Smithi they are not sexually dimorphic.
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- 399
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- Airdrie, Alberta
Pretty easy to tell the difference though! Does it have boxing gloves? 
June 23rd is only a week ago, I assume you haven't fed it yet and if you have it's probably only eaten once? It takes a few meals for it to fully get her size back. Feeder her a couple times this week so she can get her strength back up and plump up as well. Best of luck! Everything seems fine. T's will always have smaller abdomens after a molt.
June 23rd is only a week ago, I assume you haven't fed it yet and if you have it's probably only eaten once? It takes a few meals for it to fully get her size back. Feeder her a couple times this week so she can get her strength back up and plump up as well. Best of luck! Everything seems fine. T's will always have smaller abdomens after a molt.
No, I haven't fed her yet. I will probably get some crickets tonight. Her pedipalps are quite nice and tapered. Thanks to both of you! Btw, are 3/4-inch crickets an okay size for spiderlings that are just under 1 inch? I'm hoping I'll be able to get some smaller but our Petco didn't have any crickets much smaller than that last I looked.
Thanks to both of you! Btw, are 3/4-inch crickets an okay size for spiderlings that are just under 1 inch? I'm hoping I'll be able to get some smaller but our Petco didn't have any crickets much smaller than that last I looked.
- Messages
- 399
- Location
- Airdrie, Alberta
Should be fine if you pre kill them or cut them in half and feed one to two slings. I'd probably cut it in half, squish the head and throw one half in with one and the other half in with another. Most of my slings don't get live crickets until past 1 inch. Because I can't get small crickets
That size of cricket should be fine, I didn't bother with cutting up the crickets for my obt, because she was a beast and the shop I got her from was feeding her much larger crickets (at least the same size of the spider) than I was with no issues. My other slings were fed pin head crickets with no issues, though they were smaller than the crickets you are feeding, so you may want to squish the heads (or cut them up as Kurt suggested) just to be on the safe side. Another thing you could do is see if there is a reptile shop or a smaller mom/pop pet shop, they seem to have smaller crickets than the chain store.
