Spider Growth Rate Poll

So, in the Advanced Husbandry forum I've been having a short but interesting discussion with blackcrystal22, m00kfu , WingedWolfPsion and a few other people. Its related to the spider gene and growth. You can see the original thread here: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=101924

I wanted to see if i could gather some unofficial data to look at just for the fun of it. I bet it would be interesting to see. The poll is pretty basic.

The question is, do your spider(s) seem to grow faster than your other morphs or normals? This poll is assuming you have the same conditions for each of your snakes and offer everyone food with the same frequency, etc.

Keep in mind this is very unofficial and just for some personal curiosity. :P

For what it's worth...

I have an 07' .1 Albino, and an 07' .1 Spider 100%het SK Axanthic.
They are kept in the same rack and are offered the same amount of, and same sized feeders, and have been since 07'.
My .1 Albino is 2217g.
My .1 Spider het Axanthic is 1585g.

I also have an 07' Pastel 100%het SK Axanthic, and an 07' 1. Spider 100%het SK Axanthic.
They are kept in the same rack, and are offered the same amount of, and same sized feeders, and have been since 07'.
My 1. Pastel het Axanthic is 1378g.
My 1. Spider het Axanthic is 1324g.

Thanks for the numbers rjk890 :)

My spider has always been a great feeder. She is fed on the same schedule as everyone else and has rocketed past the others in growth rate.

I keep track of my weights so I can graph them. This one is a few months old. You can see that Minx has just taken off in comparison to the rest.

She laid in July, so that's the dip in her weight.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...g?t=1253060228

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Originally Posted by Icatsme

My spider has always been a great feeder. She is fed on the same schedule as everyone else and has rocketed past the others in growth rate.

I keep track of my weights so I can graph them. This one is a few months old. You can see that Minx has just taken off in comparison to the rest.

She laid in July, so that's the dip in her weight.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...g?t=1253060228

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omg this is incredible! YOU MAKE ME WANT TO PLAY WITH EXCEL. and thats a FEAT after i took data analysis... excel makes me twitch.

THANK YOU for the super awesome, easy to read info and graph :)

Everyone says spiders have a great feeding response. Apparently spiders hate me. I've got two (very late 08 male, and an 06 female) and neither seem to like eating for me. :rofl:

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Originally Posted by cinderbird

omg this is incredible! YOU MAKE ME WANT TO PLAY WITH EXCEL. and thats a FEAT after i took data analysis... excel makes me twitch.

THANK YOU for the super awesome, easy to read info and graph :)

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Degei can also do graphs if you'd like to avoid that twitching. :gj:

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Originally Posted by m00kfu

Degei can also do graphs if you'd like to avoid that twitching. :gj:

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i think degei is pay only and not mac friendly, or is this not the case?

It's free, but I think you're right about the mac part.

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Originally Posted by cinderbird

i think degei is pay only and not mac friendly, or is this not the case?

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Originally Posted by m00kfu

It's free, but I think you're right about the mac part.

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Yep. Doesn't work for mac :(

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Originally Posted by Icatsme

Yep. Doesn't work for mac :(

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to excel it is when i get super motivated. ... like now. I'll post my chart when im done with it.

POST NOW WITH MOAR NUMBERS :D I made my excel chart. only took me 3 tries.

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/q...akeChart09.jpg

I have only a male spider--he grew up fast, but not any faster than my pastels.

Most say spiders have better feeding responses, which might not mean they grow "faster" than other morphs, just they say that the spiders who never refuse a meal are are steady good eaters, which would make them grow just as fast as any other good eating animal, and maybe get bigger if any others skip some meals.

I had to vote "Maybe - i have a spider, but i haven't had it long enough to be able to tell" since I've only had my spider for like 2 weeks. But he did devour 2 hoppers at our first feeding... so if that's any indication, I expect him to grow really fast. :D

<--------- that's him in my avatar ;)

my spider have put on weight a little faster than the others but and the others eat just as much. one of my spider females surpassed the other 3 spiders alot. the only snakes that are close to keeping up with her growth rate are my het caramel glows.

my spider has for SURE grown much faster! we have an 08 who is pushing 900grams right now! and he did go on a 3 month feeding strike! apparently he didn't like the flavor of the particular type of hamsters we were offering him...if he had been eating those 3 months i am willing to bet $ that he would be well over 1000grams

I have 3 babies 1 male mojave, 1 female pastel and 1 spider. The male and pastel are about the same size 180g's but the spider is 220g. She is noticably bigger. The only one I have ever had grow faster than my spider girl is my mojave female. She is 750g and is only an 09 (and no I am not power feeding her) It is interesting to watch them as they grow.

so far the results are 50% yes and 50% no. To be expected statistically :) lol

I think morphs in general would tend to grow faster. I have no hard evidence, just a thought experiment.

They come in from the wild as eggs / hatchlings and are sold at some point to one of the big name breeders who usuallly line breed them. Since the ones that grow the fastest start making babies faster those babies may carry these better growing genes. I have no idea if there's any truth to it but it's worth a thought I think, and support the general notion that "morphs tend to grow faster".

But honestly, when's the last time any scale breeder looked at the growth rate of a normal male haha.

I recieved my spider in Feb of this yr and she was 855 gr I just pit her on the scale Fri and she's 1496 gr.

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Originally Posted by euphuistical

I think morphs in general would tend to grow faster. I have no hard evidence, just a thought experiment.

They come in from the wild as eggs / hatchlings and are sold at some point to one of the big name breeders who usuallly line breed them. Since the ones that grow the fastest start making babies faster those babies may carry these better growing genes. I have no idea if there's any truth to it but it's worth a thought I think, and support the general notion that "morphs tend to grow faster".

But honestly, when's the last time any scale breeder looked at the growth rate of a normal male haha.

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I would love to see if other breeders would do a chart of their animals growth like some others on this thread.

I have a male 09 spider that was hatched in early june of this year, and he eats medium rats at least once every five days sometimes twice. I got him at the end of June and now he is 421 grams and growing

They have a better feeding response then most BP morphs.

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Originally Posted by greghall

They have a better feeding response then most BP morphs.

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I have to agree, my spiders never turn down a meal, many times even in the blue....

My Bee does seem to be growing faster but shes a female, has a voracious appetite and never misses a meal even in shed. All my bps vary in age so its hard to tell. But its hard to think, all things being equal, it would have a faster growth rate than anything else of the species.

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Originally Posted by sheffernan13

I have a male 09 spider that was hatched in early june of this year, and he eats medium rats at least once every five days sometimes twice. I got him at the end of June and now he is 421 grams and growing

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wow! hes gonna be huge!

i have a pair of 08 spiders the female is 774 gms the male is 654 gms. My 08 mojaves are female 538 gms and male 614 gms. and my 08 albinos are 584 gms and 645 gms. all were about the same size in 08 my spider female is always hungry and i feed all of them md rats and at the same time. lately i do throw the female spider another sm rat if she seems unsatisfied with just one.

It is hard to tell, but I have found females seem to eat like pigs and males seem to be a little more relaxed about the food lol.

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Originally Posted by m00kfu

Everyone says spiders have a great feeding response. Apparently spiders hate me. I've got two (very late 08 male, and an 06 female) and neither seem to like eating for me.

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id like to second that :)

I put yes but that in no way shape or form means all spiders grow faster then normals or any other morph. She was just well fed and happened to grow like a weed.

my 09 spider is just about to hit 400 grams

I have 2 09 spider females and 1.1 09 fires they all four eat every 5 days and seem to be all growing at about the same rate. Not much difference at all so far but I have only had them for a few months so I guess I will see in time if that changes.

I can't speak to the growth, so I selected Maybe. But my spider seems to have a great feeding sense. I've only recently bought her, but she is 5/5 on feedings and only missed one strike on her F/T

I you wanted better results id research bias vs unbiased questions. I did not want to sound like a jerk. I did my best.

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Originally Posted by Wyrd

I you wanted better results id research bias vs unbiased questions. I did not want to sound like a jerk. I did my best.

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If you wanted to comment on a post that is four years old, I'd not write this. I did not want to sound like a jerk. I did my best.

What the heck is even with this necro post :/

To be more on topic: Serket is about a month older than Strudel, they both eat a rat pup every week, but I'm already thinking of switching Serket to weans because the pups don't seem to give her a belly lump any more. Had them both for a little over a month now, so I'll grab some weights for an exact comparison next time they have good bowel movements. Should be soon since they both ate on Friday and Serket is getting ready to shed probably tomorrow or Thursday.