Oh yes, from what I read it’s going to take quite a long time for it to grow. But I’m okay with waiting and growing with it!
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Well, I think another rehousing is in my near future, because I just went to check on Pixie the curly hair and found her flipped over on her back to molt. She was already borderline too big for her current enclosure, so she’ll definitely be ready for a bigger abode once she’s molted.
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Very nice! How big? Looks like a pretty decent size, as it’s already starting to show some adult colours.
I have a G. pulchripes (another slow-growing genus), and while growth is indeed slow, it still happens. For mine, her molts are pretty few and far between, but she puts on a decent amount of size with each molt. In about two years, she’s gone from roughly a 1.5" leg span to maybe 4"-ish. She’s still nowhere near fully grown, but she’s getting to be a decent-sized spider. And I feed quite conservatively; I’m sure she would have grown faster if I fed her more often, I just prefer to avoid over-feeding.
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As I have a few rehousings to do the end of the week, I shall endeavor to provide some new photographs of some of my arachnids.
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I may have just purchased a lava spider. I know I’ve been saying that my next T was going to be arboreal…but I’ve loved the look of Davus sp. panama (lava spider) for years, and the only thing that stopped me from pulling the trigger on getting one was their high price tag.
But a certain tarantula vendor is having a Halloween sale, and they had lava spiders on sale for the same price I paid for my G. pulchripes, which was just too good a deal to pass up. Very excited! 
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super jealous about that one!!
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The black swallowtail caterpillar I brought in never emerged from her chrysalis, and I was pretty bummed, but it turns out late season caterpillars often cocoon up and just wait out the winter to be the first butterflies of the next warm season.
Considering my apartment is warm, I’m not sure if this is what happened (maybe they choose based on light?) - but now I’ll be keeping this mason jar with Schroedinger’s Butterfly until at least June 2025 
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So…I just added an Avicularia purperea to my order. Damn this sale.
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By the way, if anyone is interested in this vendor’s Halloween sale, DM me. I’ve avoided naming them so I don’t run afoul of the forum rules against recommending one vendor over another (I don’t think this vendor sells on MM, but I don’t think that matters). But I’d be happy to point you in their direction via DM for anyone who is interested.
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On an unrelated note, here’s a mantis I found by the elevator at work yesterday. I moved him out to the orchard, because he seemed confused as to why he couldn’t climb the glass and metal wall he was next to.
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I’m being tempted by this sale lol. It’s a good thing they’re always out of stock when i check otherwise i’d be broke 
. I would get the Avicularia purperea but i would rather have terrestrial than arboreal so im holding off. I did get my first two tarantulas from them so i am inclined to order again for some more if they have a good terrestrial on sale.
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The purperea is still in stock…just sayin’. 
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I’m gonna hold off, simply because I really don’t have the time or patience to take care of 1/8 to 1/4 inch slings!
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Yeah, they are going to be pretty bitty. But neither of the two I’ve gotten so far are especially slow-growing. I’d hesitate to get something like an Aphonopelma or Grammostola at such a tiny size, but my curly hair was only about 1/4" when I got her. She grew pretty quickly, so I’m okay with getting tiny slings, so long as they don’t stay tiny for years.
Edit: And at least the two species I got are pretty as slings! As I understand it, lava spiders start out with that awesome orange and black colouration that gives them their name, and Avics typically have a very pretty sling/juvie phase before they get their adult colours.
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For those of you who have raised up arboreal slings, specifically Avicularia…do they burrow at all when they’re tiny? I know many Ts will burrow as babies even if they’re terrestrial or arboreal as adults. I plan to add some substrate to the sling enclosure to at least help with humidity, but I’m wondering if I should give them enough to burrow in. Obviously am going to add a piece of vertical cork bark, just wondering how much substrate to use.
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My GBB? I think? and my Versicolor were slings and neither of them ever burrowed that I remember……
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My Avicularia and Versicolor would web up on things near the floor, and made little tarantula hammocks up above but never burrowed.
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Awesome, thanks @caron and @wrai. None of the care guides I’ve read mentioned burrowing as slings for Avics, but I just wanted to make sure.
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Well, the Halloween sale ends today at midnight. I opted to pass on the last two offerings (they were old worlds I just didn’t quite feel prepared to take on), so now I get to pick out a freebie before everything ships on Monday. Trying to decide between a millipede or some isopods (there are several isopod species to choose from). Also considering adding a red-legged vinegaroon to my order, as those things look pretty awesome, and they’re CBB. Still a bit on the fence about that one, though.
It’s been a while since I added any new critters to my menagerie, so I’m more than a little excited.
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Sadly the vinegaroons were sold out. 
But that’s okay, I’ll just have to branch out into other arachnids at a later date.
I ended up choosing a P. reduncus (Costa Rican orange mouth tarantula) as my freebie. They’re supposed to be really fast, so I’m slightly terrified, but also excited. Maybe I’ll feel ready to get into old worlds after wrestling with this little guy for a year or so. That also means that I’ll have two arboreals in this order (plus the terrestrial lava spider), which will help balance out how terrestrial-heavy my small collection is currently.
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