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Loki: One Fat Spood

This is Loki. He is my Hapalopus formosus spiderling. These spiders - also known as pumpkin patch spiders - are a dwarf tarantula, growing to about two and a half inches across. When Loki came to me, he was about 0.5cm, and now...I'm not actually sure he's much more than that. About 1.0cm, maybe 1.5cm. He has molted multiple times, he just seems to grow slowly. When he arrived, he was the smallest spider I'd ever had:
The enclosure he is in there - and indeed is still in - is a spiderling tub from The Spider Shop, and is 9 by 9 cm. It's a small one. He still hasn't grown enough for me to move him into anything larger, and I do think he will always be my smallest spider. However, he has done some growing, so when I checked in on him this week I decided to get him out and take a comparison photograph. In this picture you can see two things. The first is that he has his adult colouration and markings. Does this mean that he's no longer a spiderling? Is he a juvenile now? I'm not sure. In forums I see people refering to spiders of 5cm plus as being juveniles, so I guess not. But by the time Loki is that big, he'll likely be halfway through his grwoth stages! The second thing you can see is that Loki is dramatically overfed.
Loki isn't actually fed very often, but in this case I had offered him a greenbottle fly, which is too large a prey item for his size. I was desperate at the time as I had nothing else and he was hungry. This doesn't happen regularly!
Regardless, this is a very dangerous size of abdomen for a spider. Usually, the abdomen wants to be a little larger than the size of the spiders head - depending on the species of course. An abdomen smaller than the spiders head indicates a starving spider. One that is dramatically larger - as in Loki's case - indicates over feeding and can come with several risks. I have discussed these risks previously, when my jumping spider Winnie gorged herself on a waxworm, here. But the risks are no less as dangerous for a tarantula, and Loki will not be fed for a while now. Hopefully with a little time he can digest that large meal and maybe come back to a healthier size.
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