Supposedly a G. rosea but...

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RattimusFink

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I recently purchased a "G. rosea" from Pet Supplies Plus. He/she is my first T. I have been doing my best to educate myself on this species and all T's in general. I now have doubts that it really is a rosea. It has a light grey carapace and the rest has hairs that are brown. (Perhaps a tiny auburn tint, but not much.) I will try to get a decent photo of her/him to add on here. I don't know if this light grey coloring could be a sign it is about to molt? Just looking for some input...
 
Amimia

Amimia

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It could be a G. porteri. They're the no color form version of a G. rosea if I'm not mistaken.
Though it could be your lighting? My G. rosea didn't look pink till i changed the rooms light bulb haha
 
skippydude

skippydude

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Anything is possible from a pet store. I picked up a nice Euthlus parvulus that was marked as a "Rose Hair" at PetCo about 2 weeks ago ;)
 
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RattimusFink

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Amimia said:
It could be a G. porteri. They're the no color form version of a G. rosea if I'm not mistaken.
Though it could be your lighting? My G. rosea didn't look pink till i changed the rooms light bulb haha
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There is definitely no mistaking the light grey. My camera flash distorts things, but no matter what lighting you see "her" in, it is an ash grey for sure! And sorry she has substrate stuck to her abdomen...
 
ratluvr76

ratluvr76

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RattimusFink said:
There is definitely no mistaking the light grey. My camera flash distorts things, but no matter what lighting you see "her" in, it is an ash grey for sure! And sorry she has substrate stuck to her abdomen...
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others with more experience might chime in but I think this is definitely a G. porteri. It's the spider that is most represented as G. rosea but it actually is a separate species within the Grammastola genus. Same Genus, different species. :) "she's" pretty though. :) I have two of them myself.
 
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RattimusFink

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Thank you! I have had "her" maybe a week, and I'm in love! Cannot wait for a molt so can find out the gender
 
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Quazgar

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Let us see another pic after the molt. It could be your camera flash, but it looks weird to me overall.

In terms of rosea vs porteri, to the best of my understanding, nobody truly knows what the difference is between the two species. I believe both original type specimens were lost so any of the ways to tell the differences are, for the most part, rumors and opinions. Perhaps something new has come up recently, but my quick google search didn't find anything.
 
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RattimusFink

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Quazgar said:
Let us see another pic after the molt. It could be your camera flash, but it looks weird to me overall.

In terms of rosea vs porteri, to the best of my understanding, nobody truly knows what the difference is between the two species. I believe both original type specimens were lost so any of the ways to tell the differences are, for the most part, rumors and opinions. Perhaps something new has come up recently, but my quick google search didn't find anything.
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The dorsal picture is pretty accurate to what I see with my own eyes. I have no idea how long it'll be before it molts, because I just got her. I know it eats like a pig, abdomen isn't super large/round or blackish... so I doubt there's a molt anytime soon :(
 
darkness975

darkness975

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Is it the lighting that makes the spider look like it has some kind of "powder" on the carapace?
 
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Formerphobe

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It does look as though it's got some type of powder type substance on it. There are also some white 'sprinkled' areas on the abdomen. I'd be concerned about fungus. It would be nice if it would molt soon, but being a Rosea, it could be a year or two down the road before that happens.
 
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RattimusFink

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The carapace feels dry to the touch. I don't know how moist it was kept at the pet store, but I've been keeping her in a bone dry environment at home, just a water dish (not overfilled) do you think the lack of moisture may make the fungus "die"? If that is the issue I'm dealing with here?
 
SuzukiSwift

SuzukiSwift

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RattimusFink said:
The carapace feels dry to the touch. I don't know how moist it was kept at the pet store, but I've been keeping her in a bone dry environment at home, just a water dish (not overfilled) do you think the lack of moisture may make the fungus "die"? If that is the issue I'm dealing with here?
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I'd refrain from feeling her carapace, it will freak her out

I dont think Formerphobe was saying it is fungus just that it is possible =) If you take a picture without flash it will become more clear. Your setup sounds good, keep the water bowl full and you'll porteri will be right as rain =)
 
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Formerphobe

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SuzukiSwift said:
I'd refrain from feeling her carapace, it will freak her out

I dont think Formerphobe was saying it is fungus just that it is possible =) If you take a picture without flash it will become more clear. Your setup sounds good, keep the water bowl full and you'll porteri will be right as rain =)
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Yeah, flash and lighting can do funny things. Like Suzuki said, dry substrate and full water bowl. Other than that, benign neglect is about the best thing you can do at this point. As long as it's acting normal otherwise, just enjoy. :)
 
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RattimusFink

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Thanks for the helpful tips, everyone. I suppose I ought not to worry the way I've been, since I'm doing what I'm supposed to... I guess being a "noob" it is required that I go through the "make a mountain out of a molehill" phase ;) I cannot wait for when it finally does molt, so can find out the gender
 
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