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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MBullock" data-source="post: 202043" data-attributes="member: 33994">Biologically, there are 5 stages-  Ova, Spiderling, Immature, Penultimate and ultimate.  6 if you count the post-ultimate males that survive the molt but that's a reach..However, hobby-wise there's no clear distinction- kinda like people arguing over whether or not a tomato is a vegetable.  culinary we consider it like a veggie but it's botanically a fruit.  IMO, though, it's unwise to call a 3-4" tarantula sub-adult unless it's an aphonopelma species, which tend to mature around 3" in legspan excluding dwarf species in most cases (exceptions being larger dwarves like peloncillo or vorhiesi).   It's really wise to record your molt histories for your spiders for this specific reason.  that's why you see some of the more 'advanced' hobbyists with actual notepads/clipboards on each enclosure/fixture to record size and age.  You dont wanna sell someone a 'sub-adult' only for it to spend 5 years in that stage only to become an even larger immature.  alot of people also write down the molt-history on a piece of paper and include it with the slings they sell.</blockquote>