I have a tarantula that molted semi-recently that was sold as a Grammostola pulchra, but after molting, I'm not so sure. Prior to the molt, it looked like many other slings that I've had and seen: small, brown, kinda boring. After the most recent molt, though, it's gone more of a yellow color:
While the camera doesn't quite pick up the color, it was quite a bright yellow color. I kind of passed it off as a thing that happens that I don't know about because I'm still learning the ropes of all of this. The thing is, I have another G. pulchra that I picked up from a different seller at roughly the same size. It molted about a day or two after, and it went from boring brown to much, much darker.
Now that I'm paying closer attention, there are things that aren't sitting right. The abdomen looks more pill shaped on this one than the other. It webs tremendously. The body proportions look more slender. It's a heavy duty webber so far. It's very quick. It has dug quite a number of holes.
I'm trying not the just use my other sling as the definitive example of all pulchras everywhere, but these have been two very different spiders in many ways. The color has toned down, but it still has a yellow sheen to it that doesn't capture well on camera:
So, is my pulchra a pulcra, or is it possibly something else?
While the camera doesn't quite pick up the color, it was quite a bright yellow color. I kind of passed it off as a thing that happens that I don't know about because I'm still learning the ropes of all of this. The thing is, I have another G. pulchra that I picked up from a different seller at roughly the same size. It molted about a day or two after, and it went from boring brown to much, much darker.
Now that I'm paying closer attention, there are things that aren't sitting right. The abdomen looks more pill shaped on this one than the other. It webs tremendously. The body proportions look more slender. It's a heavy duty webber so far. It's very quick. It has dug quite a number of holes.
I'm trying not the just use my other sling as the definitive example of all pulchras everywhere, but these have been two very different spiders in many ways. The color has toned down, but it still has a yellow sheen to it that doesn't capture well on camera:
So, is my pulchra a pulcra, or is it possibly something else?
