Vicareux' A. Geniculata growth diary

[vicareux]

I know that they grow fast,and i want to keep track of how fast. I'm doing this mainly for myself but i thought it would be interesting to some keepers who want to get an exact idea of their growth rate.
I got 3 slings on 23. April 2021,the breeder said they were at the 2nd instar. I noticed that there's an exuviae in the enclosure of one of the slings which was noticeably bigger than the other two,so i'll assume that one is 3i.
EWL:28 October 2020 (image and date provided by the breeder)

1st instar:28th January 2021

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Main characters of this diary:
AG1 ,nicknamed "Big Brother"
DLS:1cm (0.4inch)
Assuming 3rd instar?


AG2 ,nicknamed "Fearless"
DLS: .7-.8cm (0.3 inch)
Assuming 2nd instar


AG3,nicknamed "Avalanche"
DLS: .7-.8cm (0.3 inch)
Assuming 2nd instar

(All images were taken at the exact same focal length and focus,so their sizes are directly comparable)
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I will add to the diary when something happens related to their growth.I'll just start by today's activity.
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2 May 2021 (9 days after acquiring the slings):
Avg. temperature in the room: 20C (68f)
Both AG1 and AG2 ate a dubia baby nymph abdomen that was tossed the night before.Their abdomens are huge now. No food until next instar. AG3 ignores food,but it's already pretty plump.

 

[viper69]

Temps, type of prey and quantity of prey fed are all important. Without them, growth rates are meaningless.

 

[vicareux]

Temps, type of prey and quantity of prey fed are all important. Without them, growth rates are meaningless.

I understand. I edited in a few specific details about prey items,and i will make sure to include the details in the future diary entries

 

[BoyFromLA]

Every time I see pictures of EWL, it’s truly marvelous.

 

[vicareux]

AG3 molted from 2i to 3i.
Average room temp. through molt cycle: 20°C/68°F
Food type and frequency:Not fed yet (Refused food since 23. Apr)

 

[vicareux]

AG2 molted from 2i to 3i
I did not expect this one to molt anytime soon at all. AG1's abdomen darkened quite a bit,so i expected it to molt first,but this one molted before.
Also what's interesting is that this one had the smallest carapace and the legspan compared to its 3rd instar siblings,however it now gained quite a size after this molt,with it now having a noticeably larger carapace and a larger legspan than the siblings of the same instar. It did have a bigger abdomen to carapace ratio before the molt. However im unsure is that related at all.

Average room temp. through molt cycle: 20-25°C/68-77°F
Food type and frequency: Baby dubia abdomen every 7 days. Never refused food so far.

 

[vicareux]

AG1 molted from 3i to 4i.
AG2's size lead was short lived (mere 12 hours). I was right though,i anticipated this specimen's molt very soon.
It doubled in size,with it now being just shy of 2cm in DLS.

Average room temp. through molt cycle: 20-25°C/68-77°F
Food type and frequency: Baby dubia abdomen every 7 days. Refused food only a few days ago,then i noticed the darkened abdomen.

 

[vicareux]

AG3 molted from 3i to 4i
Molt cycle was approx month and a half. Very nice rate.
Looks like it didn't gain much in size.

Average room temp. through molt cycle: 25-28°C/77-82°F
Food type and frequency: Baby dubia abdomen every 7 days. Last ate 7 days ago,refused food only yesterday and it molted this morning

 

[vicareux]

I was away from home for a few days and i came back to see both AG1 and AG2 molted.
AG1 molted from 4i to 5i.
AG2 molted from 3i to 4i.
AG1 is very close to an inch now,you can see the stripes on the legs easily and some orange setae on the abdomen.
AG2 - you can noticle subtle show of stripes on the legs. Next molt will be like AG1's for sure.

Average room temp. through molt cycle: 25-28°C/77-82°F
Food type and frequency: An entire baby dubia every week and a half or so. They have no problem tackling it down at this size.

(Sorry about incosistent photographs,couldn't bother to rotate my lens backward for macro shots lol)
AG1:

AG2:

 

[vicareux]

AG3 molted from 4i to 5i.
This is quite fast. 35 days seems to be a consistent molt cycle at this size,temperature and feeding rate. If they keep up like this they're gonna grow big in no time.
I'm wondering if it will have visible stripes when it hardens a little like AG1 has.

Average room temp. through molt cycle: 25-28°C/77-82°F
Food type and frequency: A baby dubia hatchling every week and a half.

 

[vicareux]

Just a small comparison between April size and August size (3 months).
Specimen: AG3 (The specimen in second photo is actually AG1,but AG3 is now identical in size and color,just doesnt want to show out of its burrow)
0.3 inch (7-8mm) in April:

1 inch (2.5cm) in August:

 

[Marlana]

Keep this going! This is awesome to follow along with.

 

[vicareux]

Keep this going! This is awesome to follow along with.

Of course! I cant wait when they grow big ,so i can just look back at this thread to remember the growing up they had! I plan to keep all 3 and i hope i will stick around here long enough to make updates on their adult molts as well

 

[vicareux]

AG2 molted from 4i to 5i.
The first specimen to hit a solid true 1 inch (2.5cm) mark. Shows dark coloration on the legs and the stripes are way more prominent compared to other specimens of the same instar. I didn't get a good look at it yet since it just sits in the burrow.
This is the first one to lead the charge in the expected geniculata molting party. The other two are heavily in pre-molt as well,and i'm waiting for them to pop at any moment.

Average room temp. through molt cycle:
The temperatures were varying a lot throughout this molt cycle. In the first half of the molt cycle,it was quite hot,with my room reaching 28°C(82°F) and then we had a cold wave,having the temps sometimes dropping down to 18°C (64.4°F) in the second half of the molt cycle.

Food type and frequency:
Because of a longer molt cycle,this also varies a lot. In the first half,it ate an entire baby dubia every 7 days. After a month into this,it ate a baby dubia every 12-14 days.

 

[vicareux]

AG3 molted from 5i to 6i (Wow,these instars are soon to become quite plentiful)
with AG1 molting as im typing this. Wew!

Went from below 1 inch (2cm) to a little bit over 1 inch (3cm). Shows quite a nice contrast. It's abdomen lost the boring brown sling color and became a nice shade of dark grey. I think i managed to see the darkening of the carapace as well with the glances i managed to take. Interestingly enough this is the specimen that has the shortest molt cycles so far,with AG2 having the longest molt cycles. Though not related,it will be interesting to see what sexes they are in a couple of molts.

Quite a silly story about this one. This sling has a U-shaped tunnel that has two entrances (See photograph - one entrance is on the right edge of the enclosure,the other entrance is slightly left of it) and it made its molting mat on the left entrance. When it molted out,and flipped rightside up,instead of just grabbing the molt and chewing on it then and there,it went into the right entrance of the tunnel,and reached the molt molting mat from below and started breaking it with its soft white fangs so it can grab the molt and drag it down into the burrow like it would drag a prey item. Goddamn geniculatas,everything has to be so dramatic with them.




Average room temp. through molt cycle:
The temperatures were varying a lot throughout this molt cycle. In the first half of the molt cycle,it was quite hot,with my room reaching 28°C(82°F) and then we had a cold wave,having the temps sometimes dropping down to 18°C (64.4°F) in the second half of the molt cycle.

Food type and frequency:
Since AG1 and AG3 looked identical before molting,i wanted to run a little experiment. I fed AG3 more than AG1 and see if there's a size difference post molt. Fed a baby dubia every 7 days early-mid august,and fed superworm and baby dubia parts every 3-4 days or so until refusal a week ago.

 

[vicareux]

AG1 molted from 5i to 6i ,just an hour right after AG3.

AG1 molted out as the biggest of the 3,again,reaching past the 1 inch mark ,just slightly,but noticeably larger than AG3. Stripes are way more visible,and i can see a white line forming down the Patella. Starting to grow some nice black setae on the carapace,and the abdomen has gotten a nice darker shade,with the long setae being more red. Beautiful
Looks like the feeding experiment i did on AG3 brought the results - the amount of food eaten does not relate to growth gain. AG1 and AG3 both started off at the same size,the only difference is that AG3 molted out later at the 5th instar,so it had a shorter molt cycle.
This A.geniculata molting season really did end with the largest and most beautiful one. AG1 - Big Brother sits as a cherry on top of a cake. I'm expecting next molt cycles to last 60-70 days on average,if these temps keep up. We'll see though. Will have to do first rehouses very soon,as these enclosures are quickly getting small. Before they started molting,i took a picture of all of them out. I want to do it again for comparison post molt. It's fun seeing them grow.

Average room temp. through molt cycle:
The temperatures were varying a lot throughout this molt cycle. In the first half of the molt cycle,it was quite hot,with my room reaching 28°C(82°F) and then we had a cold wave,having the temps sometimes dropping down to 18°C (64.4°F) in the second half of the molt cycle.

Food type and frequency:
Baby dubia every 7-10 days. A great eater. (Currently carrying the exuviae around the enclosure like its a roach)

 

[vicareux]

Looks like i was mistaken after all - AG3 absolutely did pull a size lead over AG1. I finally managed to catch AG3 out of it's burrow. Not only that its slightly larger,but the colors are amazing.

 

[vicareux]

AG2 Molted from 5i to 6i.
Pulled a slight size lead over its siblings,sitting at a solid 1.25inch now. Very colorful,great contrast in the white stripes,with nice black setae on the carapace.
Its siblings are in pre-molt as well,so this size lead will last for a few days only,maybe not even a day. Those abdomens are quite dark!

Decided to up the feeding rate a bit. With higher temperatures,it shortened the molt cycle by 6 days compared to the last one.
Room temp. through molt cycle:
Up to 30°C (86F) during the day,down to 18°C(64F) during the night.

Food type and frequency:
Dubia nymph (1-2 molts after hatching) every 5 days,a 1/3 of the superworm during the last feeding. Started refusing food 8 days before the molt.

 

[Dorifto]

Are you controlling moisture too?

 

[vicareux]

Are you controlling moisture too?

I just keep one half of the enclosure moist,other half dry,nothing more to it. They prefer the moist side