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What sex is my Grammastola pulchripes?

E

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I have been waiting to catch this tarantula on the wall for months. Finally happened!:D
It is about 4"+ leg span (last molt was about 3.75-4"). Anyone know if this one is male or female? These are the best pics I could get and apologize for the quality! I do realize that ventral sexing is not as accurate as sexing a molt but this one molted the day I got it and by the time I got to remove it the molt was not intact :(

Thanks a bunch! :beer:
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Phil

Phil

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I am not generally a fan of vent sexing, @T-Baby may have a view, but from what I can see I would say Male (based on the book lung positioning and the shape of the epigastric furrow (opening between the set of book lungs).

The pair of book lungs have a narrow gap and are more vertically aligned (females tend to have a wider gap and the 2nd pair of book lungs are further away than set 1). The epigastric furrow is virtually flat (females have a crescent shape and the presence of a 'lip' certainly when older)

Disclaimer:
The spider looks young (Juvenile?) and vent sexing is not as accurate as sexing from a moult and depending on whether recently moulted and size etc, it is more difficult to vent sex. Best to wait for a moult and sex from there if you can :)
 
E

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Phil said:
I am not generally a fan of vent sexing, @T-Baby may have a view, but from what I can see I would say Male (based on the book lung positioning and the shape of the epigastric furrow (opening between the set of book lungs).

The pair of book lungs have a narrow gap and are more vertically aligned (females tend to have a wider gap and the 2nd pair of book lungs are further away than set 1). The epigastric furrow is virtually flat (females have a crescent shape and the presence of a 'lip' certainly when older)

Disclaimer:
The spider looks young (Juvenile?) and vent sexing is not as accurate as sexing from a moult and depending on whether recently moulted and size etc, it is more difficult to vent sex. Best to wait for a moult and sex from there if you can :)
Click to expand...


Thanks @Phil ! Not sure if it would be considered juvenile at this point. It is somewhere between 4-5" right now but I believe this species can get 7" for females pretty easy!
T-Baby said:
I agree with @Phil, Male.
But very little point in taking the guesses as a certainty but more of an indicator.

@MrKrowe @ilovebrachys @Arachnoclown May have a better insight
Click to expand...

Thanks @T-Baby ! I'm not selling or breeding at the moment so I was looking for a guess. Part of me thinks it's male because the abdomen is smaller and it's kind of leggy. But looking at the line under the first set of booklungs kinda has a gap in the middle so I wasn't sure :)

I do have better focus on my phone for these pics so I think it got capped when I uploaded them.

Anyone else wants to chime in it would be much appreciated!

Cheers :)
 
ilovebrachys

ilovebrachys

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T-Baby said:
I agree with @Phil, Male.
But very little point in taking the guesses as a certainty but more of an indicator.

@MrKrowe @ilovebrachys @Arachnoclown May have a better insight
Click to expand...
I agree with @Phil and @T-Baby....looks more male to me but always better to confirm with a moult rather than vent sexing as its more of a guess rather than an answer :)
Whatever sex it is they are great Ts to own ;)
 
Phil

Phil

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I guess all this does is prove that there is too much subjectivity and interpretation in vent sexing (that's why I don't really bother with it).

All we have atm is some say female, some say male so all you can say with certainty is that you have one or the other! ha ha

let 'it' moult and then hopefully no doubts. I hope you get what you want anyway :)
 
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E

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Phil said:
only small. About an inch.
Click to expand...

Cool! :beer:I have a sling I never see that's about that size maybe a touch smaller. I got it in November and it has molted at least once. It is always in it's burrow. All I see are little toes sometimes lol
 
Phil

Phil

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Brachyfan said:
Cool! :beer:I have a sling I never see that's about that size maybe a touch smaller. I got it in November and it has molted at least once. It is always in it's burrow. All I see are little toes sometimes lol
Click to expand...
same as this one (B smithi)? Sorry I should have said as hijacked the post ha ha. Have a CITES certificate for this one as they were imported in to the UK direct from Mexican suppliers.
 
E

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Phil said:
same as this one (B smithi)? Sorry I should have said as hijacked the post ha ha. Have a CITES certificate for this one as they were imported in to the UK direct from Mexican suppliers.
Click to expand...

No worries @Phil . My 2 hamorii were born in Canada but I see the mexican bred ones at expos quite frequently :) I'm on the lookout for a Brachypelma annitha at the moment. You know if they are being bred at the same facility?
 
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spodermin

spodermin

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I should be more clear in saying its not that I specifically cannot vent sex spiders of that size, I mean to say it is not possible to period. They aren't nearly developed enough for it to even be distinguished yet. You need extreme magnification to even tell the molt at that size
 

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