Is our hobby in decline.

[Awm12390]

So I been out of the tarantula world for 4or5 years now but wanted to start collecting again.i do Still have my adults from previous purchases which is cool. My question is with poecilotheria sp. Now being on the endangered spieces list and a major crack down on imported wild caught t's has our hobby in america taken a turn for the worst? Theres very few tarantula available on the market and those that are have considerably gone up in price. Any imput would be much appreciated.

 

[cold blood]

What?

There are more species available than ever, and more keepers than ever before, too. Most would argue the hobby is almost becoming too mainstream.

And pokies are still easy to get....import limitations mean little when captive breeding provides plenty of options.

Its only pokies from Sri Lanka that have new regs that limit sales to your home state.

 

[Liquifin]

It depends on what you mean. The pokie regulation only affected the Sri Lankan species. So that's only 5 pokie species affected. Has prices rose over the 4/5 years you've been gone? Not really, the only thing high on prices are the newer T.'s in the hobby. But other than that, everything else either dropped or stayed the same.

 

[Awm12390]

From what I've seen in the states our normal sellers have less then half the normal stock, I remember looking through pages on pages of inventory now I see just a handful of tarantulas per seller. I don't want to leave the hobby that lots of people enjoy but are we doing enough to ensure our t's are true sp. Not hybrids and or inbred? I guess I can be content with the 6 I have ans wait for further updates.

 

[jayefbe]

I’m in the same boat as you. Kept Ts for years and then stopped ~3 years ago. A move and career change meant caring for a hundred Ts just wasn’t feasible anymore. Now I’m getting back into the hobby and am noticing some changes.

Overall, this forum feels less active. The majority of active threads are noobies asking the same questions over and over. I don’t mean this in a condescending way, but it felt like there was more in depth discussion from knowledgeable long time keepers before.

If anything, the price of tarantulas has gone up. I’m guessing this is a combination of the hobby becoming more popular among “mainstream” exotic pet keepers, importations becoming more complicated and less brown boxing going on, and finally, it feels like there’s less captive breeding happening within the hobbyist community. I remember when Xenesthis first started showing up in large numbers and caused a splash. They’re even more expensive today. You’d think with decent captive breeding efforts the prices would’ve started going down, but I guess not.

Personally, my viewpoint is a little pessimistic. It feels like while the number of T keepers has grown significantly, the number of serious keepers focused on breeding has diminished. I’m just hoping there’s enough breeding going on to support the hobby long term.

 

[cold blood]

P. metallica...prices are 1/2-1/3 the price of 4 yrs ago.

L. violaceopes...prices are less than half what they were 4 yrs ago.

M. balfouri...a good 40% cheaper than 4 yrs ago.

And so on...

Prices are better than 5 yrs ago or about the same.....yes there are a few exceptions...H. chilenesis (formerly E. sp. red) has gone up considerably do to a sudden popularity increase and very slow growth that limits captive breeding options. Xensthis are expensive as breeding has proven more difficult and stock remains limited (so high prices make sense)....but in general, most of the expensive ts of 4 yrs ago are cheaper and more available now.

We do have a ton if brand new to the hobby species fetching large prices...but new rare in the hobby species have and will always fetch higher prices.

I see large known sellers offering similarly extensive lists of 5 yrs ago....but lots more breeders selling at bang up prices...breeders tend to naturally have shorter lists.

 

[Minty]

Overall, this forum feels less active.

Forums in general, are less active. Largely due to social media.

With regards to the OP, I think the hobby is more mainstream/bigger than it has ever been before.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

In decline? Frankly Theraphosidae are gaining so much popularity, recently, that sometimes I think that I really should quit the arachnid keeping for dedicate myself to less mainstream activities such embroidery and collect doilies - which I love, once I've lost a doily I particularly love and I was 'crazy' for a month

 

[Awm12390]

I remember lasiadora parahybana slings going for 8dollars now i find them at the 20dollar range same goes for p.murinus got my first one at a reptile Expo for 6 dollars now there 20 online. Not trying to be a Debbie downer as im hoping for a good future, what are Singapore blues going for my 8year old female cost me 40bucks for a .75inch sling.

 

[Vanisher]

I can jyst speak for Sweden, but the hobby in Sweden serms to have declined. When i was most active, from say 2004-2010 there where plenty more people that where serious in the hobby. We arranged trips to the expo in Hamm in Germany for ex, and it seemed to be many more tarantula intrested people going to expos here in Sweden. A friend started a forum that flourished. Some years ago the forum was plauged by trolls and are no parished! Many of those people that had huge collections and breeding programs has quit, as it seems? There are still people that keep tarantulas and are intrested, like me! But it seems like the hobby is not what it was?

 

[Patherophis]

I remember lasiadora parahybana slings going for 8dollars now i find them at the 20dollar range same goes for p.murinus got my first one at a reptile Expo for 6 dollars now there 20 online. Not trying to be a Debbie downer as im hoping for a good future, what are Singapore blues going for my 8year old female cost me 40bucks for a .75inch sling.

Even from my limited knowledge of US market, I am sure that if You see LP sling for 20 bucks, You are definitely looking at wrong places.

 

[cold blood]

I remember lasiadora parahybana slings going for 8dollars now i find them at the 20dollar range same goes for p.murinus got my first one at a reptile Expo for 6 dollars now there 20 online. Not trying to be a Debbie downer as im hoping for a good future, what are Singapore blues going for my 8year old female cost me 40bucks for a .75inch sling.

You are looking in the wrong places obviously....$8 is what I would consider a high price today for an LP...I see slings for $5 or less.

Same for OBTS...people cant give them away for free they are so abundant.

LV slings top at around $40...usually 30 or less nowadays....last year I sold them for $25.....adults are where you see the prices drop...an AF LV 5 yrs ago was like 3 bills, now theyre about half that.

 

[Liquifin]

From my perspective, "most" reputable sellers for some odd reason has started to raise prices on certain T.'s. The question is, "has prices rose in general?" Nope. The only price increases are coming from the reputable sellers for some odd reason (that I noticed). I can't be the only person seeing increased prices from "most" reputable sellers. But the general deals on prices like I stated previously has either dropped or stayed the same.

There's a lot I wanna say about pricing in this hobby. But probably for another day.

 

[PidderPeets]

While it may be slow in the hobby now (not particularly saying I agree with that, but I don't have the years in the hobby to really make a fair statement), I suspect this is just one of many cycles of waning and surging that will probably continue on as the years go by. With the increase of new keepers, there's an increase of people too new to be breeding. As they put their time in and gain experience, breeding will increase and so will availability of species.

I can tell you that I'm not quite ready to breed just yet, but I've sent out every MM I've gotten, and I intend to send out every MM I get in the future that's worth breeding (i.e. not an LP). When I'm comfortable enough to try breeding, I have a few of my females in mind that I'd like to breed, and will hopefully have some more in the future. I'd like to think that's how many of the newer keepers think, but I admit that could just be wishful thinking.

As for the situation with the Sri Lankan pokies, while it is much harder to come by them (not all states have the availability that others do), we aren't in dire straits just yet. I think it completely depends on the responsibility and generosity of hobbyists to keep them going and make them available in more areas. If that means taking a loss and giving them away for free for the sake of increasing their range and encouraging breeding, so be it.

 

[Patherophis]

Here, I am observing significant drop of price in case of once expensive species, like P. metallica for 19€~21$ and H. pulchripes for 23€~26$. But also in others, for example C. versicolor are now for 8€, 2-3 years back I bought mine for 12€, P. sazimai now 5€, 3-4 years back 10€ and so on. And availibity seem almost endless (and I am only talking national market). I think we are living in the golden age of paradise.

 

[LV-426]

When I started recently posting on AB after a 7 year hiatus a lot has changed in that time. New species, name changes, etc. I think the hobby is fine. I bought some P. murinus slings the yesterday at a Repticon, a gentleman who was there bought a couple slings and asked about arboreals.

 

[Awm12390]

All great responses thanks. I personally only delt with the bigger names in the hobby from 2008 to about 2013 maybe 2014. I tended to stay away from private breeders unless I could meet them in person to assure I was getting what I was paying for. Alot of slings from lets say lasiadora family look similar at .5inch so dealing with private people had a very high risk of sending the wrong species because they could make alot more money back in those days. I think now from what I see the reputable sources have stopped breeding because import laws being more strict they dont want to wait for there captive bred to hatch out when they can just get wild caught females and keep there year round breeding scheduals. I'm hopeful its just a low time in the hobby. I got a big t.stirmir I woild love to pair up sometime in the future.

 

[cold blood]

I tended to stay away from private breeders unless I could meet them in person to assure I was getting what I was paying for. Alot of slings from lets say lasiadora family look similar at .5inch so dealing with private people had a very high risk of sending the wrong species because they could make alot more money back in those days.

Those large dealers, while they do breeding, often buy most of their sling stock, or at least a percentage of it....who do you think they are buying those slings from?

Its those same breeders you avoided.

 

[Awm12390]

My guess is people like ken the bug guy and swift inverts to name two of the biggest in the hobby back 8to10 years ago were buying the slings whole sale from Europe as Well as wild caught species. From the articles I can find most tarantulas we recieve in the states comes through europe, then you got people like Paul becker who I assume isnt around anymore he would have wild caught illegal shipped to him in the USA from poachers that lived in regions of the tarantulas he was after.

 

[cold blood]

My guess is people like ken the bug guy and swift inverts to name two of the biggest in the hobby back 8to10 years ago were buying the slings whole sale from Europe as Well as wild caught species. From the articles I can find most tarantulas we recieve in the states comes through europe, then you got people like Paul becker who I assume isnt around anymore he would have wild caught illegal shipped to him in the USA from poachers that lived in regions of the tarantulas he was after.

I know breeders who sell or have sold to all of the aformentioned dealers and more. Things are imported that are less available here. Most dealer sites have contact info on their sites for breeders. It wouldnt make sense to import readily (and cheaply) available slings.