# Chile Rose Growth Rate / Sexing



## Coal (Aug 14, 2013)

Hi all!

Just wondering how long it typically takes for a Chile Rose to reach a sexable age? I am quite keen to know whether mine is male and female as I want it to be female (what with the longer life and all) but have been told that it's rate of growth means it is likely to be male. 

I have had it maybe six to nine months or so (can't remember when I got it exactly, should have made a note of it) and in that time it has gone from a tiny pink less than 0.5" long thing to a dark brown thing with red hair that I would estimate is about 1.5" long (talking front of face to tip of bum, I'm not entirely familiar with the terminology, so sorry for that).

Does this growth seem quick to you guys, maybe indicating that it's a male? At what age/size can you usually tell for sure?

Thanks a lot in advance


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

Coal said:


> Hi all!
> 
> Just wondering how long it typically takes for a Chile Rose to reach a sexable age? I am quite keen to know whether mine is male and female as I want it to be female (what with the longer life and all) but have been told that it's rate of growth means it is likely to be male.
> 
> ...


these are very, very slow growing ts. i don't think the sex can be determined by the growth rate.


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## Coal (Aug 14, 2013)

Huh, I always think that it's growing quite quickly, but then again that might be an illusion based on the fact that its back end seems to grow independently of the rest of it (presumably with food storage?) so it can seem to be bigger overall without any actual growth in like leg length.

Thanks for the info anyways; I'm just impatient to know it's sex XD


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## paul 61 (Oct 3, 2009)

Growth rate depends on how much you feed them. Two spiderlings form the same egg sack bought by two different people can grow very differently depending on feeding rates.


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## Coal (Aug 14, 2013)

Yeah, I figured that would be involved. I hope I'm not overfeeding it; it gets 2-4 crickets that are maybe 2/3 its length a week, split into two feedings. Is that about right? It always eats them up the same day unless it's about to moult (actually that's the only way I know to tell if it's about to moult, haha)


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## PeterUK (Jun 21, 2008)

Coal said:


> I hope I'm not overfeeding it; it gets 2-4 crickets that are maybe 2/3 its length a week, split into two feedings. Is that about right?


I feed my G rosea sling once every 2-3 weeks and it has a slow but steady growth rate. 

Grammostola slings can easily be sexed via microscope at 1.25 -1.5 inch LS



Female G rosea 1.5in LS


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## kp1203 (Aug 21, 2015)

I say if you've had it 9 months and feed it 3/4 crickets a week that it could be that size by now regardless of gender as that's more than most people feed theirs - I feed mine once every two weeks, however if yours is eating that much then it wont do any harm necessarily. Slings molt more often than adults anyway so it's growth will get slower as it gets bigger. I'd say you're okay  I've started trying to sex my Ts when they reach about 3 inches legspan. Welcome to the hobby


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## lee middleton (Nov 25, 2011)

Get yourself a cheap x10 hand magnifier and some fairy liquid and a steady hand and have ago at sexing yourself from the skins. Pleanty of guides on Google. Most smart phones take good pics that you can zoom in on and post on here for opinions. Just need patience focusing a smart phone. I sexed a few small spiders using an iPhone and torch .


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