Grammostola Availability

[nolyroly]

Is it just me or are grammostola species becoming kinda hard to find? I’m still relatively new to keeping (got my first T about a year ago), and based on their popularity and fame I would have thought g roseas would be in every pet store and every expo. But I swear I’ve never seen one for sale in-person or online (though I don’t check terribly often). So what gives? Where are all the grammostola hiding? It doesn’t even have to be a rosea—I’ve been looking for igeringi, actaeon, porteri and concepcion and none of those seem to be available either.

 

[nicodimus22]

Chile and Brazil aren't allowing export of tarantulas any more, so it's harder to find them. You may see some CB spiderlings, which is good, and also illegally harvested and exported specimens, which is not really something to encourage at this point. It's a grey area, because 100% of all tarantulas in the hobby were at one point pulled from the wild. We just need to stop doing that now and focus on captive bred specimens, IMO.

 

[jc55]

You can find G Rosea occasionally but they are very expensive from what i have seen.

 

[viper69]

You can find G Rosea occasionally but they are very expensive from what i have seen.

Peeps jacking up the prices as usual

 

[8 legged]

That export is banned is just a good thing!
There are few breeders as Grammostola are not a good quick buck due to their slow growth. In Europe there have only been CBs for a long time. You just need patience!

 

[LucN]

They definitely need to be bred more. I hear it's tough to get sacs, but if we manage to get a good one, it's a big win for both the wild populations and T hobby. I'd actually love to try my hand with even G. porteri. No matter the challenge, it would be a major learning experience for me.

 

[8 legged]

They definitely need to be bred more. I hear it's tough to get sacs, but if we manage to get a good one, it's a big win for both the wild populations and T hobby. I'd actually love to try my hand with even G. porteri. No matter the challenge, it would be a major learning experience for me.

They need hibernation, which stimulates the girls to build egg sacks. However, there are - at least in Europe - many young animals. I had a total of 5 undefined animals (pulchra) that showed you as a male after years of patience and then I bought an adult girl. Will be mated next year! I have made a few species that need hibernation. Let's see if the animals take part.

 

[Frogdaddy]

I don't think you've been looking in either the right places or looking hard enough.
Grammostola pulchra, iheringi, pulchripes, are easily found online and G. rosea, actaeon, porteri and even grossa being available sporadically.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Basically, hardly anyone was breeding G. rosea/porteri because you couldn't even give the slings away (there was a constant supply of WC juvies/adults and almost nobody has the patience to spend the better part of a decade raising a sling to adult size) so when Chile hit WC exports with the prohibition hammer those species became gold dust.

G. pulchripes are pretty much always available.
G. sp. "Concepción" were already pretty hard to come by prior to Chile shutting down WC exports.
G. iheringi/actaeon are available sporadically.

 

[starlight_kitsune]

I've gotten both an G. iheringi and a G. rosea in the past four months. I found the iheringi at a reptile show and got lucky and found a local breeder on craigslist who had the rosea. It takes a bit of persistence to find them I've noticed, but they are out there. I just stalked craigslist, vendor pages and the classifieds here until I found the rosea. The iheringi was an impulse buy on the spur of the moment if I'm honest lol.

 

[nolyroly]

Update: I purchased an adult female g porteri (sold to me as a g rosea but looks more like a porteri to me) from a guy on Facebook for $125! Not too bad. Now I want to find a boyfriend for her. Anyone know what you have to do to post in the classifieds? Or should I just wait until someone offers one?

 

[Frogdaddy]

Since you're unsure of the actual species the last thing you want to do is find it a mate and breed it.

 

[LucN]

Since you're unsure of the actual species the last thing you want to do is find it a mate and breed it.

Mine looks porteri, but given she's WC, I have no intention to breed her. Instead, I'd rather buy a bunch of slings, raise them up, then try my hand at pairing. If it takes me 15 years or more to be successful, so be it.

 

[Dorifto]

Update: I purchased an adult female g porteri (sold to me as a g rosea but looks more like a porteri to me) from a guy on Facebook for $125! Not too bad. Now I want to find a boyfriend for her. Anyone know what you have to do to post in the classifieds? Or should I just wait until someone offers one?

You should be 100% sure of what species you are breeding, if not you could mess up even more the hobby. If you bought her with the intentions of pairing, bad move sorry.

 

[LucN]

You should be 100% sure of what species you are breeding, if not you could mess up even more the hobby. If you bought her with the intentions of pairing, bad move sorry.

My B. boehmei was special-ordered from my LPS almost 12 years ago. Back then, they obviously had no clue about it and I'm still not sure myself whether it's a true boehmei or a hybrid. Same applies with the albo and porteri. The only T with some form of certainty would be my B. hamorii... and even then she could be a smithi after all. All this to say that my girls will not be bred. Better to start from scratch with a couple groups of slings. One group from one dealer and one from another to prevent inbreeding from the same egg sac.

Breeding Ts for $$$ will not work, even with more desirable species. You need to take into account the feeders, their temporary housings, basic furnishings, etc... You need to do it because you enjoy doing and care more about the propagation of the species than anything else. Which is why I'm giving myself a reasonable long-term goal of doing one successful breeding and letting go of the slings as low as possible. It could be a Tliltocatl, a Brachypelma, an Aphonopelma or a Grammostola. This project will likely not take place until 10-15 years from now as currently my full-time job demands too much time to dedicate to it. One of these days I always say. It's something to look forward to

 

[Crazyarachnoguy]

I went to the pet store today and they had a G.rosea for sale, I chose to get a B.smithi and a P.regalis instead. They were selling the spider with the cage and a good size stand which I didn’t really want to deal with, otherwise I would have gotten her.

 

[LucN]

I went to the pet store today and they had a G.rosea for sale, I chose to get a B.smithi and a P.regalis instead. They were selling the spider with the cage and a good size stand which I didn’t really want to deal with, otherwise I would have gotten her.

Impressive ! A P. regalis at a pet store ? Never seen that out here. When inverts were sold, I've only seen G. porteri/rosea and unidentified Heterometrus sp. Must be one heck of a pet store

 

[Crazyarachnoguy]

Haha yes, I love this pet store. I think it’s the biggest in the Midwest. They’ve got tons of different species and of all sizes. I thought allot of people had stores around them like that but maybe I’m just lucky.

 

[starlight_kitsune]

Impressive ! A P. regalis at a pet store ? Never seen that out here. When inverts were sold, I've only seen G. porteri/rosea and unidentified Heterometrus sp. Must be one heck of a pet store

My LPS often has a good selection of slings and juveniles. Typically they have at least 1 P. regalis in at a time. At the moment they have a P. metallica but I'm not willing to pay the price they want for an unsexed 3.5" juvie tbh.