I recently acquired a small colony of babycurus jacksoni to add with the single jacksoni I have had and from what I was told they are from 2 seperate broods, one born in the begining of April and one in the middle of April, so their sizes 'should' be the same.
I was trying to use some deductive reasoning to guess their instars comparing them to the one I have.
I have been told mine is a 5th instar male, because of the size (about 2.5 inches probably more) and the bulbs on his claws giving away his sex. When I first got him he was like an inch and a half (tops maybe smaller), and has molted twice in my care ( I got him in the middle of April), so if hes a 5th now, so take away 2 he 'was' a 3rd instar.
The ones I have now, I was told were either 3rd instar, or 4th, ready to molt to 5th, many of them have molted already under my care, and I thought they were 4th instar going into their 5th, but after they molted, even after a week after their skin has hardened, they are still noticeably smaller then my male 5th instar, is it because hes male and the ones that molted are female meaning they dont mature til 6th instar? And if they didnt molt to 5th instar and are actually 4th instar (assuming they were the 3rd instar mentioned), they are way bigger then what mine was when he was 3rd instar, because even before their molt they were easily 2 inches.
Is it stupid to use that type of deductive reasoning to try to guess instar? Or am I correct about them being females?
Sorry if it was hard to follow, I can post pics up when I get home of the ones in premolt, the newly molted, and my 5th instar male.
BTW I seperate out the ones that are in premolt, then wait a week after they molt before putting them back into the communal tank.