Care of Grammostola concepcion vs Grammostola rosea?

[Daniele Quartana]

Hi there,

this is my first post on the forum I'm surprised at the amount of enthusiasts out there and can't wait to immerse myself in the wealth of information on this forum!

Anyway, I digress...

What I wanted to ask was if there are any differences between the Grammostola concepcion and Grammostola rosea in terms of care?

I recently bought Stanley A. Schultz's book (The Tarantula Keeper's Guide- Third Edition) and could not find anything on the Grammostola concepcion... neither could I on his website for that matter.

I have attached a picture of my juvenile T which I bought less than a week ago, Trevor. This is in case anyone out there could clarify whether it could just be a copper variation of the Chilean Rose.

TREVOR

Thanks a lot for your time,

Daniele

P.s. I was also wondering whether there could be any other reliable way of determining the sex of a T apart from examining it post-moult.

[Daniele Quartana]

I emailed Stanley A. Schultz and he clarified this issue for me. I thought I'd post his reply on here in case anybody else is wondering about this misconception.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank him again for clarifying this for me

"Firstly, you need to understand that every one of the 940+ species of known tarantulas in the world does not need its own specific care sheet or specific care instructions. There are basically only about 5 generic care strategies that will accommodate virtually all the species you're likely to own. There are very few surprises in this respect. That's one of the few aspects of tarantula care that's relatively simple.

The other part of your problem is that /Grammostola/ sp. "Concepcion" is not a species. The forward slashes are an Internet shorthand for italics because the genus /Grammostola/ is recognized by taxonomists, but neither italics nor underlines are possible in this medium.

The 'sp.' part is the shorthand used by taxonomists (and now often by enthusiasts) to indicate that they have no idea what the species is, or are at least very hesitant to make a guess, or find that they can make more money if they don't make a guess. In your example someone (almost certainly not a taxonomist) merely failed to include it. Most people in the world who like to sit around and think deep thoughts about tarantulas aren't taxonomists, or even scientists, and either don't know or don't care about such details. That drives the rest of us nuts!

And, the "Concepcion" part was added by someone (anybody between the native who may have dug it up, through the collector driving around in his Jeep or Toyota Land Cruiser who bartered for the tarantulas, through the exporter he sold it to, through the importer in Miami who ordered and received it as part of a much larger shipment, or finally through a wholesaler, Internet dealer or breeder in your country) to distinguish those particular tarantulas from any others they were selling. "Concepcion" is almost certainly the name of the nearest town or village to the collection site.

I don't know where "Concepcion" might be, but if it's in Chile (It's entirely possible that the one they're referring to might be in Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, or even Brazil. South Americans are remarkably conservative about inventing new names for their towns.) the tarantula you're considering is probably (though far from certainly) merely /G. rosea/ being passed off as a different kind. Collectors and the pet industry do that a lot to add a bit of mystique to the tarantula because that tends to inflate sales. Everybody wants to believe they have something special. Nobody wants to pay a higher price for a plain, old rosy!

Trust me, ALL TARANTULAS ARE SPECIAL. And this little trick is just another money grab.

Now, refer to "Growing Your Own" (http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/Overview.html). If your tarantula has a diagonal leg span of less than 1-1/2" (35 - 40 mm) care for it as any other baby with reduced ventilation and damp substrate.

If it has a DLS between 1-1/2" (35 - 40 mm) and 2" (50 mm) follow the guidelines for Tweens.

If it is larger than 2" (50 mm) care for it as an adult /G. rosea/. Follow the guidelines in "Care and Husbandry of the Chilean Rose Tarantula (http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/roses.html). If it spends an inordinate amount of time near or on its water dish, follow the instructions in "Relative Humidity" (http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/Humidity.html) for gently raising the humidity without wetting down the cage. *DO NOT* mist the cage. *DO NOT* dampen even a corner of the substrate under the water dish. Keep the cage dry, but supply a water dish with the obligatory rock as a means of saving crickets.

If your "Concepcion" is a baby, feed it 4 to 6 baby crickets a week to grow it out of the fragile baby phase as soon as possible. The basic rule is that the crickets should be the size of the tarantula's abdomen or smaller.

As an adult, feed it one adult cricket a week, or 4 or 5 crickets a month. Note that that is not a misprint or typo.

If it's somewhere in between those two extremes, prorate it's feeding based on estimated body mass.

If it suddenly stops eating, stop feeding it so much. Only try it on one cricket a month. Give it the cricket in the evening just before you turn the lights out and go to bed. (Tarantulas generally eat better after dark.) If the cricket is still there the next morning, remove it and feed it to something else. Wait another month before trying the test again.

If the cricket is gone, wait a week and throw in another one, but no more than an average of one a week or 4 to 5 a month (again, if your "Concepcion" is an adult).

Baby Southern Hemisphere tarantulas that are bred and raised in the Northern Hemisphere automagically synchronize themselves with the local calendar as they grow. They go not experience a "Hemisphere Shift." Only the mostly grown to adult ones have some trouble. But, now that we know about the problem we can do a lot to ease their transition. Just follow the suggestions in "Care and Husbandry of the Chilean Rose Tarantula" (http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/roses.html).

Lastly, go to the Spiders, Calgary webtree (http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/spiders.html) and start reading.

DO NOT FAIL TO READ THE FOUR BOOKS RECOMMENDED IN STAN'S RANT! (http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/stansrant.html)

If you have a copy of TKG3 (http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/g3.html), you should visit the "After Market Support" webpage (http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/aftermarket3.html) and the "Addenda and Errata" (http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/errata3.html) webpage for a huge amount of additional information.

The best news is that 90% of the questions you wanted to ask plus a lot, *LOT* more that you didn't think to ask are all laid out for you for *ABSOLUTELY FREE* if you take advantage of your friendly, neighborhood, public library! All you need do is read.

I hope this helps you. Don't be afraid to get back to me if you have questions that aren't answered in those webpages or the books."

[Peter Roach]

I thought I'd post his reply on here in case anybody else is wondering about this misconception.

Misconception ? What misconception ?

I don't know where "Concepcion" might be, but if it's in Chile (It's entirely possible that the one they're referring to might be in Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, or even Brazil.

Concepcion IS in Chile, it is on the Pacific coast approx in the middle of the country >>>> LINK <<<< and here is the weather in the surrounding area supplied by the local weather station if needed >>>> Conceptcion weather station Link <<<<

[Daniele Quartana]

Misconception in terms of it being drastically different to the Chilean Rose.

I knew that it was in Chile, I just needed clarification in terms of care.

Thanks for the link to the local weather station.