My G Pulchra Turned Brown

[LirioCaranguejeiras]

My adorable G Pulchra male just molted. I believe he is a sub adult and I’ve had him for a little over a year. Checked in on him today and noticed he was much more brown after his molt. All information I could find online says that G. Pulchra become more brown before molting. Does anyone know what may be happening? Should I be worried for him?

him after molt

him before molt

 

[Tbone192]

What is going on with the colour of my G. Pulchra?

As a spiderling and a small juvenile, my G. Pulchra maintained a brown/grey colour until it's previous molt about 4 1/2 months ago when it turned a jet black. Yesterday morning it molted and is now back to a brown/grey colour. It is about 5 inches now and I'm wondering if this is a common...

arachnoboards.com

Apparently that can happen after a molt. Nothing to worry about, I suspect. I do not own this species though so I'd read through the thread I linked.

 

[LirioCaranguejeiras]

What is going on with the colour of my G. Pulchra?

As a spiderling and a small juvenile, my G. Pulchra maintained a brown/grey colour until it's previous molt about 4 1/2 months ago when it turned a jet black. Yesterday morning it molted and is now back to a brown/grey colour. It is about 5 inches now and I'm wondering if this is a common...

arachnoboards.com

Apparently that can happen after a molt. Nothing to worry about, I suspect. I do not own this species though so I'd read through the thread I linked.

Interesting! Thanks for the Info.

 

[cold blood]

my understanding is that this is almost certainly a quorogi and not a pulchra. A true pulchra wont turn brown at any time.

 

[viper69]

my understanding is that this is almost certainly a quorogi and not a pulchra. A true pulchra wont turn brown at any time.

This was my understanding as well re pulchra. The one I had was an AF, so no growth on my part of relevance. They weren't even very popular yet.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

my understanding is that this is almost certainly a quorogi and not a pulchra. A true pulchra wont turn brown at any time.

Well.... The redescription and phylogenetic analysis of G. pulchra by Pittella, et. al. published last year in 2023 describes the color as brownish-black and similar to G. quirogai.

We know what is in circulation in the pet trade as G. pulchra is misidentified because they are a uniform black and/ or brown whereas G. pulchra is covered with long whitish to yellowish hairs. The coloration and lack of those long hairs of the pet trade G. pulchra does not identify them definitively as G. quirorgai however.

 

[LirioCaranguejeiras]

He’s finally come out again and his color is different. He is still brown on his cephalothorax and front legs under direct light, but the color is much darker. I’m still puzzled as to why he would get lighter after a molt instead of darker, but he’s acting normal and he seems fine. Seems like there’s discourse over whether G Pulchra are even capable of having a brown coloration, but I’m just glad he’s ok.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Interesting !!!hope someday I can get one.

 

[LirioCaranguejeiras]

Update:
Although it’s hard to tell on camera, still very much brown. He’s kind of a chocolate color at the moment. I have a feeling coloration might be permanent, at least until the next molt. I hadn’t seen him in a couple weeks and I’m so glad to see him semi-out of his burrow again. New color is very pretty.