Brachypelma albopilosum life span

wendigo

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 7, 2006
Messages
8
I have a Curlyhair that I got in my last year of college as a freebie from either Arachnomania or Arachnocentric. She was minuscule when I got her (less that 1/4") and I never thought she'd make it. I had to order wingless fruit flies because pinhead crickets were too big. Fast forward 20 years and she's still with me today. I did some poking around and saw everything from 10-15 years for lifespan, which I'm assuming isn't correct since she's now 20 years old. Anyone else have a curlyhair for this long? I worry every time she molts, she had a bad one a few years ago and I thought I was going to lose her, but she recovered and is still eating and doing well.
 

Sam_Peanuts

Arachnobaron
Joined
Apr 21, 2010
Messages
408
Around 10 years is usually what people say for faster growing arboreals. Slower growing species like Brachypelma are closer to 30-35 years.

With that said, there aren't really reliable data on age since the hobby is fairly recent so not a lot of people have kept them a long time.
I got my G. rosea NCF about 13 years ago as a full grown female and she's still plenty alive so since you got yours as a sling, I wouldn't stress over it and keep enjoying her for what will likely be many years.
 

Poec54

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
4,745
The hobby started in the 1960's, so it's not all that 'recent.' It's caught on with a bigger percentage of the public over the last 2 decades. Albopilosum's been in the trade since at least the 1970's, there's certainly people who know how long they live.

Being faster-growing from a moister area, I wouldn't expect albopilosum to live much over 20 years. You'll see yours start to slow down if you haven't already. Molts will get further apart.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
20 yrs is impressive indeed !! Thanks for the info, I need to add my female into my will!

A prof of mine had a smithi that was 25-30 yrs old.
 

Bemottled

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 5, 2015
Messages
114
Are there any other threads that discuss life expectancy as a general? :eek: I just reached this part of my T Keeper's book and find it really fascinating and kind of weird.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
Are there any other threads that discuss life expectancy as a general? :eek: I just reached this part of my T Keeper's book and find it really fascinating and kind of weird.
Yes. I don't have any bookmarked, though most of the time you see it mentioned within threads that are not specifically about life span.
 
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