G. Pulchra Breeding question

[Theneil]

I think it's important to note that the Lacey Act and USFW cracking down on Brazillian imports WAAAAY pre-dates the T. Seladonia fiasco.

IMO, this is more of a problem similar to C. "minax" which isn't really C. minax at all in the hobby, but some form of C. albostriatium or another Cyriopagopus sp. But, they've been imported so much under the name "C. minax" they've just been labeled as so in the hobby. From my reading, it's hard to track down a genuine G. pulchra, and most are quirogi.

Somewhat similar to T. albopilosum hobby form and Nicaraguan/Honduran. Though there are proven pure bloodlines of each of those.

The lacey act has severely predated the enforcement (at least as far as Ts have been concerned) Perhaps i was oblivious to enforcement before that happened, but considering several shipments including selidonia were cleared by FWS before ‘the incident’ as well as countless other brazil endemic species (since that seem to still be the main hot point, at least for Ts) such as pulchra, Nhandu sp, P. sazimai, Ybyrapora sp, Iridopelma sp, and i am sure many others as well.

 

[Arachnid Addicted]

For starter, you all need to understand that in the hobby there are 3 types of black Grammostola from 3 different locations that have being spread in pet trade as G. pulchra, the argentine, the uruguayan and the brazilian one. Not only that, there were also lots of G. quirogai individuals that are/were being sold as G. pulchra too.

That said, G. pulchra is a hard to breed species even when you pair wc ones, in captivity, sane goes to G. quirogai. Not only that, these 3 different types from different locales may, or may not be, the same species. Lastly, there are the G. quirogai being sold as G. pulchra, which can probably lead (if already didnt) to hibridization.

Directly answering OP question now, nobody knows why they are so hard to breed in captivity, in situ, you find plenty of slings and females with eggsac. And yes, they are expensive because of the difficult to breed (even the smuggled wc ones are expensive).

Hope it can be helpful.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Oh this G. quirogai/ G. pulchra mess again. The explanation of why dealers started listing G. quirogai on their price lists was because of this thread from 2018. Before the discussion in that thread was had, no one listed G. quirogai on their price lists. Apparently, the hobby as a whole can't distinguish speculation from fact supported conclusions. It really is that simple. It has nothing to do with the Lacey Act or trying to hide imports of the Brazilian G. pulchra from USFW since there has been one published record of G. quirogai occurring in Brazil. See Borges, et. al. 2016 "Predation of the snake Erythrolamprus almadensis (Wagler, 1824) by the tarantula Grammostola quirogai Montes De Oca, De'Elia & Perez-Miles, 2016".

I agree with @Patherophis in that "we have no idea what hobby spiders actually are."

 

[Arachnid Addicted]

Another observation:
G. pulchra was found in Uruguay, already. G. quirogai was found in Brazil. The argentine one we have no idea if its a G. pulchra (or G. quirogai) indeed, but in pet trade, they are all the same. Lol. Also, G. quirogai is not a "morphotype" of G. pulchra, they are 2 different valid species, even though they are very similar.