First T Grammostola Pulchripes

[Vanessa]

I love my Eupalaestrus campestratus. I got them in the spring at 3/4" and they are both probably just over 2". They are gorgeous tarantulas, but I never see mine. They have always burrowed and had elaborate tunnels. Many youngsters do that, but then become more visible as adults, and I am hoping that is the case with mine. It seems as though I have a male and female. Both of mine are very tolerant individuals, but that is a species where I have heard a number of people with not so tolerant ones.
I adore my Aphonopelma chalcodes and wanted one for a long time. They are tough to come by in Canada and I lucked out that someone was selling a sub-adult female from their private collection. I paid a lot for her, but would have paid double what I did. My girl is very active and rearranges her enclosure constantly. Although she has never shown anything close to defensive behaviour, she has a habit of always coming towards me when I open her enclosure. I have to watch for that because she is not the slowest moving individual that I have. That is another species where a number of people have had more defensive individuals.
The E.campestratus is going to grow much faster than the A.chalcodes.

 

[Ungoliant]

Like you, I started with the G. pulchripes, awesome T. The C. cyaneopubescens is what my dealer recommended as a stepping stone into more intermediate Ts as well. She had a nice sub adult female, but I opted to go with slings as their coloration at that stage is quite beautiful.

GBBs are beautiful at every stage. (Plus, they make webs, and I am fond of the webbers.) I love my little sling and can't wait to see her grow into her blue coloring.

 

[cold blood]

I have heard of how annoying the G. Rosea can be. The slow growth and fasting while annoyance luckily are something we are used to. It's not uncommon for some of our other animals to go off of food especially in the winter months. I have 1 in particulary who hasnt eaten since the start of November.

That 10-14 day space of feeding the Rosea. Are you recommending that for both the sling and the adult? It's an adjustment I'm fine with telling her to make, but I just want to make sure it's one I'm comprehending correctly beforehand.

That would be adult or even juvie, a sling should be offerred a little more often, but honestly, not much more, although size of prey offered will matter. Most slings i would feed once, if not twice a week...some feed even more.

Unlike an adult, you simply cannot over feed a sling, they will refuse when full. Slings are putting all thier energy towards growth, so its not a time to be stingy with the food.

A rosea sling will still go long times without food by choice, so dont fret if the little guy goes a month or more without eating, especially if its plump.

Be prepared though, it will be a sling for years....by comparison, many species would be full grown in less time (some in a lot less time), and the list includes a lot of pretty good size ts.

 

[Cheo Samad]

That would be adult or even juvie, a sling should be offerred a little more often, but honestly, not much more, although size of prey offered will matter. Most slings i would feed once, if not twice a week...some feed even more.

Unlike an adult, you simply cannot over feed a sling, they will refuse when full. Slings are putting all thier energy towards growth, so its not a time to be stingy with the food.

A rosea sling will still go long times without food by choice, so dont fret if the little guy goes a month or more without eating, especially if its plump.

Be prepared though, it will be a sling for years....by comparison, many species would be full grown in less time (some in a lot less time), and the list includes a lot of pretty good size ts.

Thank you. Pretty interesting on the feeding frequency front. I know they need to grow out of the sling stage so that they can defend themselves better. Gotta wonder how any of them make it in the wild.

 

[cold blood]

Thank you. Pretty interesting on the feeding frequency front. I know they need to grow out of the sling stage so that they can defend themselves better. Gotta wonder how any of them make it in the wild.

They hide A LOT.

 

[BobBarley]

Thank you. Pretty interesting on the feeding frequency front. I know they need to grow out of the sling stage so that they can defend themselves better. Gotta wonder how any of them make it in the wild.

They hide A LOT.

And a lot of them don't make it...

 

[Cheo Samad]

Updated little pictures of the G Pulchripes and its setup. I'm not sure if I made that hide good enough but I didn't wanna disturb it more than I had to. Snagged a quick picture just to see if there was anything else to add/remove/change.

 

[cold blood]

Looks great.

 

[Andrea82]

E.campestratus is another good choice. I would gey a juvi or adult thoug, they grow really slow. My female is always out, except when in premolt. I would feed this species just like ColdBlood says about G.rosea, despite their readiness to always take food. I fed mine too much i think, and as a result, she went to ground for six months before finally molting.

Very docile species, never seen a threatpose and only once did she kick hairs, to a locust that jumped on her.

 

[Cheo Samad]

I didn't feel like making a new thread for something so small.

Anyway, it seems to have settled in well. It's eating good, and over the last day or so has really dug out that hide I gave it pretty deep. It also decided to fill it's water dish with dirt so that's something.

 

[Jeff23]

I didn't feel like making a new thread for something so small.

Anyway, it seems to have settled in well. It's eating good, and over the last day or so has really dug out that hide I gave it pretty deep. It also decided to fill it's water dish with dirt so that's something.

Cheo,
I am a little late posting, but welcome to the forum and to your new hobby. I just started this hobby about the middle of 2016 and am now a major addict of this hobby. It looks like others have already loaded you up with lots of good information.

Your pics look like a very good setup. I have problems with mine filling the water dish with substrate as well. It is a constant battle when they are acting like bulldozers.

 

[Cheo Samad]

Cheo,
I am a little late posting, but welcome to the forum and to your new hobby. I just started this hobby about the middle of 2016 and am now a major addict of this hobby. It looks like others have already loaded you up with lots of good information.

Your pics look like a very good setup. I have problems with mine filling the water dish with substrate as well. It is a constant battle when they are acting like bulldozers.

It seems awful proud of itself having filled it in. They're definitely funny little things. When he retreats into his hide I'll pull it out and fix it for him. As long as he bulldozes to his hearts content I don't care. It clearly knows what it wants.

 

[Moakmeister]

Welcome, welcome. I got my G. pulchripes on December 26 I'm a newbie as well

 

[Cheo Samad]

Welcome, welcome. I got my G. pulchripes on December 26 I'm a newbie as well

How are you enjoying the hobby so far? I have been loving every second so far!

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

E.campestratus is another good choice. I would gey a juvi or adult thoug, they grow really slow.

See, mine grew very quickly. It only out-paced by my LP, which was to be expected. My genic that arrived at the same time probably would have passed it as well, but that genic did not make it, so I am unable to affirm that.
I'll note however, that the E. campestratus matured male, which was undoubtedly a factor. It took about two years to reach maturity from a perhaps 1-inch sling. I still have him, but for some reason he's shed most of his abdomen setae and of course has the spindly-leg, small abdomen look. Since I'm not looking into breeding tarantulas, for me there is no small amount of disappointment when it comes to males.

 

[Jeff23]

See, mine grew very quickly. It only out-paced by my LP, which was to be expected. My genic that arrived at the same time probably would have passed it as well, but that genic did not make it, so I am unable to affirm that.
I'll note however, that the E. campestratus matured male, which was undoubtedly a factor. It took about two years to reach maturity from a perhaps 1-inch sling. I still have him, but for some reason he's shed most of his abdomen setae and of course has the spindly-leg, small abdomen look. Since I'm not looking into breeding tarantulas, for me there is no small amount of disappointment when it comes to males.

My E.campestratus are growing faster (2X) than my E. Sp. Red and Aphonopelma slings. And they love to hang out on the bottom of the 5.5 oz containers. I get to see mine there regularly but they still haven't learned to read my sign that says "crickets on top".

 

[Andrea82]

See, mine grew very quickly. It only out-paced by my LP, which was to be expected. My genic that arrived at the same time probably would have passed it as well, but that genic did not make it, so I am unable to affirm that.
I'll note however, that the E. campestratus matured male, which was undoubtedly a factor. It took about two years to reach maturity from a perhaps 1-inch sling. I still have him, but for some reason he's shed most of his abdomen setae and of course has the spindly-leg, small abdomen look. Since I'm not looking into breeding tarantulas, for me there is no small amount of disappointment when it comes to males.

and @Jeff23
Maybe they grow reasonably fast until a certain amount of inches, and then take it slow from there? My female was already a juvi when I got her, but i've read on the dutch forum and Fb that they stay in the sling-phase pretty long.

 

[Vanessa]

Both of my E.campestratus have gone from 3/4" to 2" since mid April 2016. One is female and the other a suspect male. Maybe their growth will slow down, now that they are larger, but they have not been slow growing so far.
In the same time period, my Euathlus sp. Red have gone from 1/4" to just over 1/2".