Grammostola sp. "North"

[WS6Lethal]

I got the breeding pair of them in yesterday, and am quite impressed. They seem to exhibit the same calm behavior of a G. Rosea, maybe even a little more since they were so docile after just being shipped, and the fact that they are wild caught (08/08).

The female is freshly molted, and shows a brilliant copper coloration on top. She is a younger adult, about 4.5" legspan. The white hair is not as prominant as in the male, since she is a young adult.

The male (around 5.5"-6.0") is the opposite, as far as color is concerned. Since he is older, the white hair is more pronounced, while his copper color is lighter, and more faded.

I will feed them well for a few weeks, and have their cages next to each other. The advantage I have now is that the male is larger, and could be able to hold his own during mating. Hopefully, she is not intimidated by him.

I am quite excited about these. They're very calm, look great, and don't see why these wouldn't be able to become popular in the community. Time will tell, and I'll keep everyone updated. If anyone has had, or has experience breeding the "North" species, I'd appreciate any feedback.

-Jeremy

Male (Ozzy)

Female (Sharon)

 

[bliss]

i tried mating them once, but the female wanted nothing to do with the male. This was when Sp north was just starting to get imported into the states back in the later part of '07.

Your female should be fine against a male that size. Like you have already said, they act very similar to G rosea, and i've mated 3.5"-4" rosea females to 5"+ males before. You would be surprised how early some T's mature...

good luck with these

 

[WS6Lethal]

i tried mating them once, but the female wanted nothing to do with the male. This was when Sp north was just starting to get imported into the states back in the later part of '07.

Your female should be fine against a male that size. Like you have already said, they act very similar to G rosea, and i've mated 3.5"-4" rosea females to 5"+ males before. You would be surprised how early some T's mature...

good luck with these

Were you ever able to get a successful breed later on? I'm excited to see what the slings would look like. =)

I have not seen much buzz about these T's, which is surprising because I think they look so cool. Given the fact that they behave a lot like Roseas, I would think that people would be more interested in them.

 

[bliss]

Were you ever able to get a successful breed later on? I'm excited to see what the slings would look like. =)

I have not seen much buzz about these T's, which is surprising because I think they look so cool. Given the fact that they behave a lot like Roseas, I would think that people would be more interested in them.

No, i didn't but that's because i sold them. I don't think anything ever came of them anyways...

I'd imagine a sling of "sp north" wouldn't look much different than a rosea sling (if at all).

Yeah they are a lot like Rosea, you are right about that... that may be why many people don't really feel a desire for sp north, because many people think that rosehairs are drab and boring.

The sp north female i had was actually pretty darn defensive and would usually give me a nice threat pose

dan

 

[biomarine2000]

I am so jealous. I have been posting and hunting for this species everywhere. Good find. I'm happy someone could find them. I really hope you are successful breeding them. They are so beautiful.

 

[WS6Lethal]

No, i didn't but that's because i sold them. I don't think anything ever came of them anyways...

I'd imagine a sling of "sp north" wouldn't look much different than a rosea sling (if at all).

Yeah they are a lot like Rosea, you are right about that... that may be why many people don't really feel a desire for sp north, because many people think that rosehairs are drab and boring.

The sp north female i had was actually pretty darn defensive and would usually give me a nice threat pose

dan

Grant, I have only had these for a day, and can not give a total evaluation on them. But so far, these are more active than a Rosea. I can readily "handle" them without them being defensive, stubborn, skittish, etc.

I think the slings would be quite similar as well, maybe some subtle differences. As you can see with the female being younger, her hair hasn't quite "matured" as much as the male, giving that nice white.

Later down the road, I would love to see a well aged female. Will she have all white hair, and will the metallic copper sheen show up even more? I guess time will tell.

 

[bliss]

I am so jealous. I have been posting and hunting for this species everywhere.

there's been some more chilean imports recently, maybe there will be some more imported. Plus i think i saw in an email that someone has a gravid female.

-dan-

 

[WS6Lethal]

I am so jealous. I have been posting and hunting for this species everywhere. Good find. I'm happy someone could find them. I really hope you are successful breeding them. They are so beautiful.

I think it was a great find too. I just happened to reply to a thread at the right time, and Todd from tarantulaspiders.com just happened to see that I was interested in finding some if they were available. And he just happened to have a breeding pair. I just also have to give hime 10% of the slings if they mate (more than happy to).

I think this is another spider that showcases that tarantulas can still surprise us with another species that will look a bit different and be beautiful. When we were first discussing this, it seemed that almost no one had heard of these. And I certainly didn't know that they had that metallic copper color on their backs. I am now very happy to have them both.

I am also very interested to see how these will look with a "quality" picture (setup, lighting, etc.).

 

[upwith inverts!]

I think they'll end up being a rosea ssp.. But I'd get one anyway.

 

[inbntly]

omg I LOVE the color in that female! I think I might just have to get one especially when your saying how docile they can be. :clap:

 

[GailC]

What is the difference between these are rosea? They look the same to me.

 

[WS6Lethal]

What is the difference between these are rosea? They look the same to me.

The main difference I can tell is the coloration. Roseas have a pink/reddish color and light pink hairs, while the norths have a copper color with white hairs. The norths also seem to be a bit more active so far. This is the third day of having them, and they have been moving around a fair amount more than a rosea would (which is usually not much at all).

 

[Frankie_Dank]

That male looks a lot like those "white-hair" rose hairs that you see every so often

 

[Serious Sam]

Wow nice T The female is nice

 

[Richard McJimsey]

The female looks exactly like my female G.rosea..
The male might actually be sp. north, but I doubt the female is. The coloration on the carapace is wrong, aswell as the leg coloration.
For comparison, G.sp "north"

Notice how the carapace is more greyish-copper in coloration, and the legs are more grey.

 

[WS6Lethal]

The female looks exactly like my female G.rosea.

To clear up confusion, I think many people in the hobby were sold different offshoots of the Chilean T's, when they were told they were G. Rosea. All of the "Chilean T's" have pretty much the same dimensions and proportions. The main difference seems to be color, and color of the hair.

For an example, here is a classic G. Rosea adult:

Notice how they have a dark body with pinkish/orange (rose) hairs. Their backs also have a pinkish metallic color to them.

I think a lot of people were sold these, which are called "Red Concepcion", which look very close to the classic Rosea, only more of a rust color:

male:

female:

Note that their backs are also almost a black color with a hint of pink.

The hardest to distinguish between the Chilean T's would the the "North" and the "Porteri". Both have white hair, but the Porteri seems to have a little longer hair, and more slender bodies:

The ones I have seem to be more like this:

My female looks a little different because of poor lighting (I just snapped a shot), but looks like the north in this picture with more light. Mine seems to have more of a copper color than this, but I attribute this to the fact that she just molted. Sitting close to each other, the male and female look very similar. Also keep in mind that she is a new adult. Her white hairs will become more pronounced as she gets older.

I am confident that these are "Norths" because these are WC, so they can be traced to the location where they were caught. That, and the fact that I got these from Todd at tarantulaspiders.com. He knows a thing or two about these.

 

[WS6Lethal]

And to make it easier, here is the Rosea female and mine next to each other:

The biggest thing is that Roseas have that rose hair on the first part of their legs. Mine lacks this (they're all almost white), and that mine does not have pink on it's back, instead being replaced by a burnished copper (looks very shiny with a flash).

 

[Richard McJimsey]

And to make it easier, here is the Rosea female and mine next to each other:



The biggest thing is that Roseas have that rose hair on the first part of their legs. Mine lacks this (they're all almost white), and that mine does not have pink on it's back, instead being replaced by a burnished copper (looks very shiny with a flash).

You do realize you pictured two different forms, right?
You can't compare the RCF G.rosea to the G.sp. "North".
My plain old G.rosea looks identicle to your G.sp. "sold as north"

the Porteri seems to have a little longer hair, and more slender bodies

Do you have a G.porteri in your possession to compare it to?
If so, I'd sure like to know how you can tell the porteri from the rosea and family.
What is this one?

I'm not trying to come off as a douche (although it may seem like it), I'm just saying, that IMO, your female is not a G.sp "North", and the fact that Todd didn't even have a female G.sp. "North" on his list only adds to my suspicion.

 

[xenesthis]

stiring up trouble

Rick said, "I'm not trying to come off as a douche (although it may seem like it), I'm just saying, that IMO, your female is not a G.sp "North", and the fact that Todd didn't even have a female G.sp. "North" on his list only adds to my suspicion."

That was uncalled for and completely out-of-line. My female G. sp. "North" was not on my price list because she was mated last year and I was waiting to see if she'd make a sac. Instead, she molted last week. Jeremy asked me if I had a pair, and I let her go with the male. Rick, you need to stop with the negative comments and trying to make accusations about things you don't have the facts on. Looks to me like your trying to stir up some trouble.

As for the debate on the Grammostola sp. of Chile, you and I are not taxonomists. People are comparing photos which is not the way to identify them 100%. The Chile exporter has sold this species as Grammostola sp. "North" because they are collected far north of the population range of G. porteri and not near G. rosea "Red Rose Hair". He thinks and many others think this is either a new species of Grammostola, but it could prove to be a subspecies of something already described or just a geographical variance of something already described. Either way, it is sold as Grammostola sp. "North" by the exporter and me along with five other retailers/importers have sold them under that name as well. Hobbyists like Jeremy appreciate the locality info and someday a theraphosid taxonomist will figure this out. In the meantime, the negative accusations of something sinister going on is uncalled for and I hope you realize that. I have noticed a negative tone in your posts from you before and here you go again.

Note: The difference of premolt and post molt in the two pics being compared. That is also is not a good way to compare the identification of a tarantula.

 

[WS6Lethal]

This is why I use words like "seem" and "looks like". I can not positively identify one sub-species from another. The only thing I know for sure is that she has white hair, and a copper color unlike any Rosea I have see (all of which shows under bright light).

As Todd has mentioned, they were caught in different areas than the other G's, farther north. This isn't conclusive evidence, but the local and unique looks of them help lead to believe they are something a bit different.

I think it would be interesting to bring an expert in on this situation. As far as I'm concerned, most of these that we are talking about are almost exactly the same. I don't think there should be much debate about it, but we should figure out what we all really have. I personally happen to love what I got.

-Jeremy