Euathlus sp. "red" / "fire" - MM in 3 years

Greetings fellow hobbyists!

As many of you are aware, I got 4 lovely Euathlus sp. "red" slings back in 2011. They were part of the first captive-bred sac over here in Germany for this species, born 08/2011. Now, 3 years later on the spot nearly, one of the 4 molted out as a mature male. I've posted the stuff in my picture-thread, but since not everyone checks there, I'd like to know if you guys keeping and breeding them can confirm males maturing that "fast" for this otherwise extremely slow growing species? I'm seriously surprised by this...

I'm still fairly certain I have 2.2.0 here, but so far haven't been able to cofirm it as they tend to munch their molts pretty badly usually .

Some pics:

"4of4", Euathlus sp. "red", ~2.25" MM - HOOKS!


"4of4", Euathlus sp. "red", ~2.25" MM - the whole T...


"4of4", Euathlus sp. "red", ~2.25" MM - ...and a birds-eye view. The little guy dug down all to the bottom, that's the white you see there

I wish mine would grow. Even just a little. I got it back in April. It's still tiny. Under 1/2". My e. campestratus grows faster. So does my rose hair. I might will this spider to my grandchildren.

I have a sp Yellow, received in 12/2013. Molted 4 times since then. It's leg span is easily the size of a USA Silver Dollar if that helps. The last molt in June, it finally developed a more male looking body morphology compared to my sp Red female (adult size) which is larger than him. However my Yellow has grown FAST. It started off growing slowly like yours and others on the forum. Once it started looking like a MINI-T (DLS the size of a USA nickel, 5cent piece), then it's growth took off fast for a supposedly slow growing species.

NewAgePrimal said:

I wish mine would grow. Even just a little. I got it back in April. It's still tiny. Under 1/2". My e. campestratus grows faster. So does my rose hair. I might will this spider to my grandchildren.

Click to expand...

My suspect females are the same way. They were 0.25" and under when I got them 3 years ago. Be patient

viper69 said:

I have a sp Yellow, received in 12/2013. Molted 4 times since then. It's leg span is easily the size of a USA Silver Dollar if that helps. The last molt in June, it finally developed a more male looking body morphology compared to my sp Red female (adult size) which is larger than him. However my Yellow has grown FAST. It started off growing slowly like yours and others on the forum. Once it started looking like a MINI-T (DLS the size of a USA nickel, 5cent piece), then it's growth took off fast for a supposedly slow growing species.

Click to expand...

Thanks, mate. This little guy looked normal, same size as the other T's, then before I knew he molted again and is now mature. It really came as a surprise in this case. Interestingly, this is the little guy that I featured in the video about "Euathlus sp. red having a bad day", too. I should've guessed back then I was right thinking this would be a male. What I can say, is that this was his 6th molt in my care over the course of those 3 years I have him now and I'm aware he molted a number of times in the care of the breeder. By a guess, I'd say at least 4-times plus. Never had a T maturing out before having molted at least 10 times in my care...