My Big Fat Ugly Pulchra

[Dovey]

Why is it that we don't spend more time talking about the fact that Grammostola pulcra spends a good portion of its life as a nondescript hairy brown spider with a skittish temperament? Honestly, I obtained this little girl from Pet Center USA in it's closing era, and more than once I began to wonder if, in spite of Paul's immaculate husbandry, somehow a cuckoo had gotten into the nest.

Can someone please reassure me that my sullen, nondescript patchy brown 3-inch adolescent will someday resemble the sleek velveteen beauties we see in tarantula guides?! They grow so quickly when they're tiny, but my experience has been that just about the time my pulcra hit its awkward phase, its growth slowed down to virtually nothing. I believe it's been nearly a year since its last molt. Is this typical? It has been on the bottom shelf of my spider cabinet. Might this slow its growth down there where the air is cooler? Would upping the ambient temperature move things along at a brisker pace? Because at this point, I'm ready to send this standoffish little rugrat to camp!

 

[KezyGLA]

They get the black color before 3" DLS.. hmmmm

 

[Dovey]

3 inches may be a stretch. Definitely two and three quarters though.

 

[KezyGLA]

I use metric

5cm they usually start to gain the darkness.

Could just be one of the weirdos though. They are out there

 

[Dovey]

And it's not even just that she's brown. I have nothing against brown spiders. A. chalcodes is my favorite species by a long shot, and I'm a big respecter of the Texas brown! It's just that she is almost exactly the same muddy dun color as phase one human waste water.

And it's not even just that she's brown. I have nothing against brown spiders. A. chalcodes is my favorite species by a long shot, and I'm a big respecter of the Texas brown! It's just that she is almost exactly the same muddy dun color as phase one human waste water.

I'm calling it 'Dubia Frass Brown."

 

[Walker253]

I’ve seen brown G pulchras. I’m glad mine are jet black. It may change when it molts. I don’t think it’s uncommon for black tarantulas to be a muddy brown before they molt. I have a B vagans that looked muddy brown leading up to molting and then was jet black with her red rump. Warming it up a little and more food until premolt should speed it up a little. It’s like watching a clock, the more you watch it, the slower everything goes.

 

[Garth Vader]

Sorry your pulchra is so homely. You can send it to me!

 

[Ungoliant]

Can someone please reassure me that my sullen, nondescript patchy brown 3-inch adolescent will someday resemble the sleek velveteen beauties we see in tarantula guides?!

They are slow growers, and they can be skittish as slings, but when they get their adult coloring, it's worth it!

Bulldozer (juvenile female) at 3.5".

The Watering Hole (♀ Grammostola pulchra 3.5")

• Ungoliant
• Feb 21, 2017
• 2
• brazilian black tarantula bulldozer female grammostola grammostola pulchra juvenile juvenile female pulchra

Bulldozer, my 3.5" female Grammostola pulchra.

Sometimes they go through browner phases even after turning black, especially as they near pre-molt. Here is the same tarantula 11 months later:

Big Beautiful Bulldozer (♀ Grammostola pulchra 3.5")

• Ungoliant
• Jan 27, 2018
• 9
• brazilian black tarantula bulldozer female grammostola grammostola pulchra juvenile juvenile female pulchra

She is sulking because I took her water dish without the proper bribe of food.

 

[boina]

There has been a thread lately about how some pulchras may actually not be pulchras at all but G. quirogai instead. The quirogai is more brownish while G. pulchra is not. As @KezyGLA said pulchras turn jet black at around 5cm / 2" and mine most certainly did and they were more black than brown the molt before, too. They do brown out before a molt, though. I'm going to get a pic of my 2", in dire need of a molt G. pulchra. Individuals can, however, take an incredibly long time between molts. My 2" little jerk hasn't molted in 16 months (!!) while it's sibling has already molted 6 months ago. A year between molts at that size is not unusual.

Still... the pic is rather blurry but to me it does not look like a typical pulchra.

2" G. pulchra that could really use a molt (16 months after the last molt !!!)



And it's 3" sibling fresh after the last molt:

G. pulchra

• boina
• Jul 31, 2017
• 4

A freshly molted G. pulchra is a thing of great beauty ;)

 

[ThisMeansWAR]

Looks very much like a pulchra, except a dark brown pulchra... They do become more drab closer to molt though. If you want to speed things along you can always look into so-called "powerfeeding", meaning that you increase the temperature and have shorter intervals between feeding. Some people argue that this shortens the lifespan of the T but as long as it is done whith slings and juvies I don't think the difference is so big.

 

[crystalfreakkk]

I bought my G. Pulchra sling at a local pet store sometime last year or near the end of 2016. when I purchased her she was teeny tiny, the size of a penny maybe, and she was BROWN. After her first molt though she got a lot darker, she's pretty black now. She's possibly around 3 inches now? I'm not too sure though. I would be concerned that maybe you don't have a G. Pulchra on your hands if it doesn't turn black after molting. My little lady is quite skittish now, but from what I understand that will go away with age. How much did you pay for your sling?

 

[crystalfreakkk]

This is my baby and all of its molts it’s had since being with me. They don’t look very dark but you can definitely tell the difference between the smallest and the rest.

 

[cold blood]

The quirogai is more brownish while G. pulchra is not.

To be more specific, quirogai turns brown in pre-molt, while the true pulchra should turn more grey. When not in pre-molt, they look practically indistinguishable...that is, black.

So if your pulchra browns while in pre-molt, it might not be a pulchra.

 

[Dovey]

I bought my G. Pulchra sling at a local pet store sometime last year or near the end of 2016. when I purchased her she was teeny tiny, the size of a penny maybe, and she was BROWN. After her first molt though she got a lot darker, she's pretty black now. She's possibly around 3 inches now? I'm not too sure though. I would be concerned that maybe you don't have a G. Pulchra on your hands if it doesn't turn black after molting. My little lady is quite skittish now, but from what I understand that will go away with age. How much did you pay for your sling?

I paid A LOT. Got a decent deal on it at Pet Center USA, but I did without some things to purchase this wee beastie.

Your molts make me feel a little bit better though. They're almost exactly the color that mine have been. I live in hope.

 

[crystalfreakkk]

I went back on my camera roll and was able to find this! The very first picture I took of my G. Pulchra after getting her. She went very black after her molt but as a sling she was brown.

 

[cold blood]

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/g-pulchra-commonly-wild-caught-with-negative-consequences.303622/

Interesting read regarding the possibility of quirogai being regularly mixed up with pulchra

 

[Vanessa]

Sorry, but my first thought after looking at the photo is that it is not a pulchra. My two do not turn brown approaching a moult, they are definitely 100% grey. Although they did look a bit more brown as spiderlings, my photos look moreso due to the white balance being off and not using the flash, they lost that colouring quickly and became black at about the 1.5" mark. They have been black, and grey, since then. Even their shed exuvia has no hint of brown in it.
Not being jet black at 3" is very uncharacteristic.
The photo found at this link - Grammostola quirogai - doesn't look like any Grammostola pulchra I have ever seen.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

The photo found at this link - Grammostola quirogai - doesn't look like any Grammostola pulchra I have ever seen.

The tarantula at the link looks more like a juvenile Grammostola anthricina judging by the small carapace (indicating its immaturity) and the reddish hairs (indicating its species). The location stated for where the photograph was taken- Salto, Urugruay- is in an area where the range of G. anthricina and G. quirogai overlap.

 

[Dovey]

JESUS TAKE ME NOW, SHE FINALLY MOLTED! And she's a svelte crushed-velvet black. She's only two or three days out of molt, and her attitude is already better, also.

Oh, I am so glad this waiting is over! And I'll tell you something for real, fellow feminists, I took my first endoscopic snap and was absolutely certain she was a boy. Just on a lark, I flipped the molt upside down and took another look with her fangs at 6 o'clock and her spinnerets facing north--and there they were, two proud little coat hooks. Oh, brothers and sisters, I tell you true: when I saw those two little knobs glistening in the light, for the first time in my entire life I began to fathom why men are so enthralled with their penises. Glory be!

 

[NukaMedia Exotics]

I'm thinking it'll probably turn black with the next molt or two. Any T can drastically change their time in between molts, happened with my LP sling and I don't think its very uncommon at all.