Cant tell if my G. Pulchra is in premolt or not

[TheCryptKeeper]

Hey all. Ive had my G Pulchra since September 2nd 2022. She was sold to me as a sub adult female. Shes always been a good eater and in December she stopped eating. She has a rather large abdomen and she's gone from a silky black to more of a grey now. I thought oh brilliant, premolt. She also started digging around a lot, shes been doing that since April but she stopped it in recent weeks. However TODAY I offered her a locust and she took it. Im aware of hunger strikes but given the other behaviours I was almost certain it was premolt. Shes quite large, I'll attach an image below. I did make a post on here a couple months ago about some of the things she was doing and based off her size a couple people said she could be in premolt. Also not sure if this has any effect on premolt but I did move a couple weeks ago and I thought perhaps its disturbed her so much so that she decided to hold off molting for a while? I was really hoping to see a molt from her soon, but I fear maybe its old age though? I did only pay 165 for her when ive heard of others going for 300 odd +. Anyways I would love to know whats going on as she's my favourite tarantula I own and I would be absolutely gutted if this was old age or something. Also I forgot to mention she's about the size of my hand (not good with measurements sorry)

 

[NMTs]

Doesn't look like it's in premolt to me. It sounds like it was just doing normal Grammostola stuff, which often includes going off food for a while. It's abdomen is nice and plump, so if it doesn't eat it's no big deal and there's no need to even offer food more than once every month or 2.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Yeah that’s normal back when I had a g Porteri I nicknamed it ghandi because how long it would go without eating . No way it’s pre molt plus it just ate you said. This genus i well known for it fasting champs..

 

[TheCryptKeeper]

thanks guys that was very helpful. When can I expect her to molt then? The greying isnt a sign of old age is it?

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

thanks guys that was very helpful. When can I expect her to molt then? The greying isnt a sign of old age is it?

There’s no way you can predict that but I’d expect more than a year. You can only estimate the age or guesss, what size is it ? Doesn’t look like a subadult.

 

[TheCryptKeeper]

There’s no way you can predict that but I’d expect more than a year. You can only estimate the age or guesss, what size is it ? Doesn’t look like a subadult.

Well im not great with measurements but shes about the size of my hand. I haven't had a chance to actually measure her properly but if I were to take a picture of her next to my hand she would be about the same size. I have no idea when she last molted either, but she had quite a full abdomen when I got her. I hope the image below is a bit more helpful than me trying to explain lol.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Well im not great with measurements but shes about the size of my hand. I haven't had a chance to actually measure her properly but if I were to take a picture of her next to my hand she would be about the same size. I have no idea when she last molted either, but she had quite a full abdomen when I got her. I hope the image below is a bit more helpful than me trying to explain lol. Sorry about the flash too

I’d say you got a heck of a good deal, my porteri lived 16 years and was a purchased as an adult . So odds are in your favor unless it’s really old and we can’t tell . But I don’t see any grey or signs of it being old , I’m no pulchra expect someone else will have to help you on guessing it’s age. It’s near impossible to guess looking at most Ts.

 

[TheCryptKeeper]

I’d say you got a heck of a good deal, my porteri lived 16 years and was a purchased as an adult . So odds are in your favor unless it’s really old and we can’t tell . But I don’t see any grey or signs of it being old , I’m no pulchra expect someone else will have to help you on guessing it’s age. It’s near impossible to guess looking at most Ts.

Unfortunately yeah, which kinda sucks. But I'll enjoy all the time with her I can for hopefully many years to come. Also thank you, that put my mind at rest a little

 

[slocoj91]

Not trying to be funny or anything, but while I understand the logistics involved in measuring a tarantula can be awkward, knowing its size in relation to a highly variable body part is no more useful. So nobody - who doesn't have reasonably detailed knowledge of your hands - can use size to judge her level of maturity. However, the length from middle fingertip to heel of the palm is pretty easy to get a reasonable measurement from. This could at least tell us where she lays on a scale of G pulchra sizes - the further from the max size/max average size experienced, then the more years she's likely to have ahead. It's not a perfect science due to natural variation, but if a tarantula is far below the usual size noted for that species then barring any unknown issues or ones due to husbandry then it could be assumed they'll have more years remaining than a tarantula who is already around that size.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Not trying to be funny or anything, but while I understand the logistics involved in measuring a tarantula can be awkward, knowing its size in relation to a highly variable body part is no more useful. So nobody - who doesn't have reasonably detailed knowledge of your hands - can use size to judge her level of maturity. However, the length from middle fingertip to heel of the palm is pretty easy to get a reasonable measurement from. This could at least tell us where she lays on a scale of G pulchra sizes - the further from the max size/max average size experienced, then the more years she's likely to have ahead. It's not a perfect science due to natural variation, but if a tarantula is far below the usual size noted for that species then barring any unknown issues or ones due to husbandry then it could be assumed they'll have more years remaining than a tarantula who is already around that size.

Yeah good point we don’t know his hand size irrelevant as far as measurements go. Ruler’s …. Aren’t hard to come by.

 

[TheCryptKeeper]

Lmao Im not a he, but sure I understand hand size varies. Especially in men and women. This was a reason I wanted her to molt too so that I could easily measure it without actually having to either judge by size or handle her. I remember one time during her last clean out I hovered a ruler above her (only a 15cm one) and she was diagonally about as long as that. My lack of math and measurement knowledge is killing me with this one but google says 15cm is 5 inches?