G. pulchra pricing, growth rate

[aphono]

Is 150 a reasonable price for a G. pulchra at about 3-4"?

Are they moderate or seriously slow growers? This is for deciding between one at the above size versus 2-3 slings. Typical time for slings to reach 3-4"? I understand growth rate depends on conditions, feeding etc.. they would be rather spoiled by me for optimal growth rate.. very rough average will do- 1 yr or 5 yrs will help a lot.

I tried looking at prices on here and elsewhere on the internet, only really seeing prices for slings or MM.. don't really know good names or places to shop at, so my "google-fu" is weak in this area.

If they(LPS) say sex unknown, should I be concerned about a possible sexed male being "dumped off"? Noticed from comments on here and personal communication that seems to be a particular problem off craigslist.. Do females show prominent ventral lips/will they at this size?

 

[Venom1080]

I would never trust a LPS to accurately sex any spider. That's a good price for a female however. It's likely they're just trying to scam you.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Is 150 a reasonable price for a G. pulchra at about 3-4"?

If, and only if, said G.pulchra is a 100% confirmed female, then yes, considering certain "horror" prices I've heard in the U.S, $150 is ok.

Needless to say I wouldn't pay here in Italy the (in Euro currency) counterpart for one.

 

[miss moxie]

My G. pulchra has molted once in the past three years, she's a 3" female. So it's plausible they don't know their sex for real. You need a clean exo for an accurate read, and most LPS staff don't know squat about vent-sexing. A 3-4" G. pulchra female would easily go for $150, but for a male? Not so much. It would take so long for them to mature for you to be able to send them out for breeding.

That said, it's very plausible they know they have a male and are scamming you. It's a crap shoot unless you can convince them to let you get a picture of their vent. But even then vent sexing can be a crap shoot too.

 

[aphono]

Hey, thanks to everybody for the replies. Seems we are generally in agreement: male, NO. Female, sure/maybe. Tricky part is figuring out if this is essentially a dumped male or truly unknown sex.

My G. pulchra has molted once in the past three years, she's a 3" female.

Three. Years. That's one of those things that allow me to even consider a 150 price tag. Not so bad compared to 60 for a 1/2" sling.

Rough estimate on a 1/2" sling reaching, say 2-3"?

 

[miss moxie]

Three. Years. That's one of those things that allow me to even consider a 150 price tag. Not so bad compared to 60 for a 1/2" sling.

Rough estimate on a 1/2" sling reaching, say 2-3"?

Phew, I have no idea honestly. I bought her at 2.5" and I haven't raised any slow-growing Grammostola slings, just a G. iheringi which was very quick to grow so not a fair comparison at all.

 

[TyjTheMighty]

My G pulchra has actually molted twice in my care and it's currently about 2". I did however get her in January while she was in premolt. BUT she was kept pretty warm for most of the summer. They grow slow, but not that slow. If I were you I'd get the slings

 

[Sergic]

Hey, thanks to everybody for the replies. Seems we are generally in agreement: male, NO. Female, sure/maybe. Tricky part is figuring out if this is essentially a dumped male or truly unknown sex.



Three. Years. That's one of those things that allow me to even consider a 150 price tag. Not so bad compared to 60 for a 1/2" sling.

Rough estimate on a 1/2" sling reaching, say 2-3"?

I got my pulchra almost 3 years ago at about 1". It has molted twice since then, and is maybe 2". I wouldn't be surprised if it takes another couple years to hit 3".

That being said, I keep my spiders cooler than a lot of keepers. My house rarely gets above 75°F, and that's only from June-August.

 

[Ungoliant]

Is 150 a reasonable price for a G. pulchra at about 3-4"?

At that price, unless it is confirmed female by molt sexing, you are better off getting some slings.

Are they moderate or seriously slow growers?

I would classify Grammostola pulchra as a slow grower.

My first pulchra was 0.75" when I bought her on 9/5/2015 as an unsexed sling for $50. She is now about 2.25". Here are her molt dates:

• 10/7/2015: 1.25"
• 12/22/2015
• 2/16/2016
• 10/29/2016
• 2/10/2017: 2.25"

My second pulchra was 2" when I bought her on 9/26/2015 as an unsexed juvenile for $80. She is now 3.5". Here are her molt dates:

• 12/2/2015
• 1/19/2016: 3.00"
• 1/31/2017: 3.50"

 

[aphono]

Thanks to all who replied. I decided not to get it as they were firm on the price.

At that price, unless it is confirmed female by molt sexing, you are better off getting some slings.




I would classify Grammostola pulchra as a slow grower.

My first pulchra was 0.75" when I bought her on 9/5/2015 as an unsexed sling for $50. She is now about 2.25". Here are her molt dates:

• 10/7/2015: 1.25"
• 12/22/2015
• 2/16/2016
• 10/29/2016
• 2/10/2017: 2.25"

My second pulchra was 2" when I bought her on 9/26/2015 as an unsexed juvenile for $80. She is now 3.5". Here are her molt dates:

• 12/2/2015
• 1/19/2016: 3.00"
• 1/31/2017: 3.50"

That was super fantastic! I really should start on keeping records.. is there a program useful for this?

 

[miss moxie]

Thanks to all who replied. I decided not to get it as they were firm on the price.



That was super fantastic! I really should start on keeping records.. is there a program useful for this?

Well the most reliable way is just writing it down. Get a notebook, give each T in your collection a page, then write their molt dates and perhaps if there was any problems with it.

I kept a tarantula tumblr where I would post pictures and videos of my T, and used their tagging system to sort through things. For example if you post about a molt, tag it 'molt' or "G. pulchra molt" or "*T name* molt" and then you can see all the posts of that T's molts by going to that specific tag. I'd tag pretty much everything.

For example: sling, spiderling, my T, G. pulchra, molt, molting, G. pulchra molt, NW, for beginners

Because I had a lot of people come to me for advice and good beginner Ts and I could just link them to my 'for beginners' tag.

 

[Ungoliant]

That was super fantastic! I really should start on keeping records.. is there a program useful for this?

There is a tarantula app, but I use Excel with one "master tab" listing all of my tarantulas and then a separate tab for each tarantula.

The master tab has these fields:

• Scientific
• Sex
• Current Size
• Acquired On
• Price
• Shipping
• From
• Initial Size
• Stock#

The individual tabs have these fields:

• Date
• Size
• Activity
• Notes

Example for my Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens:

Date Size Activity Notes
9/17/2016 0.75 acquired
9/25/2016 1.50 molted
12/7/2016 1.50 cage upgrade
1/4/2017 2.25 molted legs turned dark blue
4/10/2017 2.75 molted sexed
7/17/2017 3.00 acquired carapace turned greenish-orange
7/26/2017 3.00 resumed feeding

 

[Walker253]

Good decision to walk on an unsexed pulchra at that price. Look long enough around, it won't take too long to find a female at a fair price. Note though, if the price is fair on a female that you see, jump on it. It won't last long.

 

[edesign]

At that price, unless it is confirmed female by molt sexing, you are better off getting some slings.




I would classify Grammostola pulchra as a slow grower.

My first pulchra was 0.75" when I bought her on 9/5/2015 as an unsexed sling for $50. She is now about 2.25". Here are her molt dates:

• 10/7/2015: 1.25"
• 12/22/2015
• 2/16/2016
• 10/29/2016
• 2/10/2017: 2.25"

My second pulchra was 2" when I bought her on 9/26/2015 as an unsexed juvenile for $80. She is now 3.5". Here are her molt dates:

• 12/2/2015
• 1/19/2016: 3.00"
• 1/31/2017: 3.50"

Informative post but would be extra helpful if you included your average room temp and feeding schedule

I've had my pair of pulchra slings for about a year. Pretty slow growing, I think both are male :/ They're barely 1.5-2", received around 3/4-1" iirc, winter room temps are lucky to break 70F for about half the year and the summer temps average mid-80's (no AC). Fed a cricket every 7-10 days or so. Premolt when at that size can be lengthy.

 

[Ungoliant]

Informative post but would be extra helpful if you included your average room temp and feeding schedule

I don't measure my room temperature; I mainly heat/cool the space for my comfort.

I also don't feed on a fixed schedule. Once they get past the sling stage, I feed on average once a week (mealworms or dubia roaches), skipping any tarantulas that look obese. The juvenile pulchras get fed about once every two weeks, because they are always fat.

 

[edesign]

Ah ok, was worth a shot Same with my pair...I could feed once every 3-4 weeks and I swear they'd still be plump lol

 

[miss moxie]

Same with my pulchra girl. I've never seen her skinny. She was fat when she was sent to me, fatter when she was in pre-molt, fat when she molted, and fat now. She gets fed every 2 weeks too.

 

[Ungoliant]

Same with my pulchra girl. I've never seen her skinny. She was fat when she was sent to me, fatter when she was in pre-molt, fat when she molted, and fat now. She gets fed every 2 weeks too.

I think this species just has a more robust build. (Look at their beefy chelicerae.)

 

[miss moxie]

I think this species just has a more robust build. (Look at their beefy chelicerae.)

That's what I tell her when she has a problem buttoning her jeans. "You're just beefy sweetie!"

I think so too. They're a meaty species.

 

[keks]

I wished I could say her that she is a proper one, but I only can see some tips of her legs or nothing at all. I hope my pulchra will show herself more when she is larger. "Empty" enclosures are boring -.-".