M. balfouri

sick4x4

Arachnoprince
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i think if im not mistaken, it was a few European dealers that were stating to their easiness...from what i understand, they are much easier to breed than pokies and produce a larger sac then we think....think of it kinda like a blue OBT....personally, i think most the info on them is hearsay anyway or just word of mouth, traveled down thru many different people..so until someone puts out a breeding report..i'd take most of it with a grain of salt...only thing i'd listen to is the husbandry issues...

wayne
 

Stylopidae

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someone said it I don't remember who it was. but they said "I would buy the P. metallica over the M. balfouri because the metallica will hold it's value."

Sad but true, M. balfouri from what I hear breed easily and put out much larger sac's. No one has yet perfected metallica breeding. Just a thought.

Wait...what?

Monocentropus balfouri from what little I've heard aren't that easy to breed.

Even if they are, the biggest sac on record was 35 slings.

Poecilotheria metallica is one of the easier pokies to breed (according to the pokie breeders themselves) and regularly have sacs of about 100 slings.

From what I've been told, P. metallica just about matches P. regalis in growth rate.

The price of P. metallica is gonna drop like a bar skank after a roofie colada.

The price of balfouri should stay somewhat stable (same price teir) for at least a decade.
 

Stylopidae

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I guess you guys misunderstood my post./

/The pokemon comparison makes it sound like collectors like me can't be serious hobbyists and don't deserve respect from experienced breeders.
I don't think you understood by what I meant by 'pokemon collectors'.

Pokemon collectors is a term I've invented to describe the type of hobbiest I think is detrimental to the hobby as a whole.

They are collectors who are in this hobby for reasons other than love of arachnids...they strive to have large collections of rare species, but at the same time don't strive to learn more than they need to make themselves *seem* knowledgeable and/or try to inflate their reputation by making blatantly false claims about their knowledge or accomplishments.

If you drop $300 on a spider, then start a thread asking how to care for it...you meet this description.

If you claim yourself to be an expert on anything spider related and then honestly believe that a Monocentropus balfouri would be mislabeled as a Haplopelma lividium in a petstore...and then claim you've seen them in the common trade before...you fit this description.

If you claim to produce an amount of slings for a moderately priced species in two years that happens to be equal to roughly 1/4the amount of Grammostola rosea exported from chile in one year...you fit this description.

If you claim to be one of the most experienced breeders on these boards but send other members PMs asking if an eggsac is dead, you fit this description.

What you said about hobbiests being the backbone of the hobby is entirely true, however that's not where my problem lies. In my opinion, there is an entire gulf of difference between 'hobbiests' and 'pokemon collectors'. It all has to do with motivations.

Hope you can see the difference and I sincerely apologize for any confusion. :)
 
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Moltar

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Cheshire, i think you and i are on the same page here. In retrospect i must've just been looking for a fight yesterday... There are other forums for that. I'll just refer to myself as a "comicbook collector" because i like to read up on my sheeyat! Anyway, i'm crossing my fingers for the balfouri breeding projects in the states. I hope we can get their numbers up and prices down so i can lay my hands on one guilt free and for somewhere way south of frikkin' $500!

Btw: "The price of P. metallica is gonna drop like a bar skank after a roofie colada." <-- Funny!!
 

UrbanJungles

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I just don't think that many semi serious hobbyists would even shell out 200 bucks for a metallic sling. The majority of people willing to spend more than 125 bucks on a spider are somewhat more dedicated methinks.

I had some M balfouri slings in my hand last week and turned my nose up at them for metallica. I guess personally I don't care if metallica prices go down to what regalis sell for, I'll probably still have a bunch because it's such a striking animal.

The balfouri are nice, but you have to hot glue gun them to a slab of corkbark for them to become arboreal and to my liking...personal preference I guess.
 

Stylopidae

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Cheshire, i think you and i are on the same page here. In retrospect i must've just been looking for a fight yesterday...
Don't worry about it. It's cool. Only the very most extreme examples annoy me, and I've met only two or three people who fit the description textbook. Most folks do these types of things every once and awhile (either intentionally or unintentionally), so I find most things along these lines pretty forgivable. It's only those who make their entire reputations by doing those things that I mentioned earlier who I look down upon.

What people do, sell and and buy is their business and theirs alone...I'm just an arm-chair quarterback who likes to toss his coins in the ring every once and awhile to keep things interesting, whether or not anyone really cares. I'm an idealist and very few things in reality live up to my standards, which I've ultimately learned to begrudgingly accept.

It's great that folks are bringing them in...and even greater that people are interested. I just place sustainability of the species in the hobby on a higher teir than avalibility any day...especially when the introduction of shiny new species into the hobby is a relatively short term endeavor.

A lot of people I've talked to seem to agree that what annoys me also annoys them...I just happen to have a really bad head cold at the moment so I have the time to explain what I think in complete detail, and nothing better to do to boot. I'm also hopped up on cold medicine, which is always a fun experience for whoever happens to be around me. Maybe I'm just mindlessly ranting. *shrug*

So...yeah. Small books from me today in terms of posting. Yay, right?

Good luck with your ex GF, dude...she sounds like a winner. You're better off single. ;)

UrbanJungles said:
I just don't think that many semi serious hobbyists would even shell out 200 bucks for a metallic sling. The majority of people willing to spend more than 125 bucks on a spider are somewhat more dedicated methinks.
Tax return season is right around the corner. Besides...you'd be surprised what people do with spending money.

I had some M balfouri slings in my hand last week and turned my nose up at them for metallica. I guess personally I don't care if metallica prices go down to what regalis sell for, I'll probably still have a bunch because it's such a striking animal.

The balfouri are nice, but you have to hot glue gun them to a slab of corkbark for them to become arboreal and to my liking...personal preference I guess.
You'll soon have a shiny new PM from me :)
 
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widowkeeper

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The balfouri are nice, but you have to hot glue gun them to a slab of corkbark for them to become arboreal and to my liking...personal preference I guess.
lol thats what it comes down to personal preference i dont care much for arboreal Ts they look awsome but i prefer pet holes. to me the balfouri is every thing i like in Ts look wise. from the little info ive read it is my ideal T in almost every way add to that the cost , sack sizes,number in the us...hell the number anywhere makes this the ultimate T for me . given the chance to be one of the first to help establish them in the us would kick ass for me thats what its all about and the only reason im here ,if it were up to me noone who did not intend to breed them and do what they could to establish them in the us would get within 20 feet on one :D

just my 2 cents
 

Stylopidae

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lol thats what it comes down to personal preference i dont care much for arboreal Ts they look awsome but i prefer pet holes. to me the balfouri is every thing i like in Ts look wise. from the little info ive read it is my ideal T in almost every way add to that the cost , sack sizes,number in the us...hell the number anywhere makes this the ultimate T for me . given the chance to be one of the first to help establish them in the us would kick ass for me thats what its all about and the only reason im here ,if it were up to me noone who did not intend to breed them and do what they could to establish them in the us would get within 20 feet on one :D

just my 2 cents
See?

That's the spirit :)
 

james

Arachnobaron
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M balfouri

I think there is some bad information out there. There are only two people who have bred these spiders to date and only one who has hatched out slings. ( I believe the second person will be hatching them soon). The person who has bred them has been keeping them for over eight years and has several bloodlines of them. In the past he had only traded them for other very rare spiders which is why there are so few out there. I recently worked out a deal and brought in 35 of them. I did bring in 3 females and I will tell you they look much like the pictures. There is another gentleman in the US that has imported 30 or so over the past 2 years which still means there is less than 100 in the US. This species creates a huge amount of webbing and loves to make burrows. However with that said I find both the slings and females are out on the surface or on the sides of there containers more often that not. The only reason I don't have pics is they run and hide when I open the lids and I don't feel like digging them out just for a photo that already exists. I will say that I also have several metallica and the are a very striking spider. There are many people breeding metallica and many more out there than people realize. With that said they typically produce 50 to 100 slings sometimes more so you don't get huge sacs and although the price may decrease some it won't be rapid. With Balfouri sacs are usually even smaller. I don't know the exact number but I think around 75 is one of the biggest with 50 being more average. When you look at how long metallica have been available and how many there are I don't think M balfouri are very expensive. $350 is a lot of money but compaired to what people paid in the early days for metallica it's actually very cheap. Species like E.olivacea are available ( I could have brought these in as well) but the US market is just not as big as in Europe and there are very few people willing to spend the money for these rare spiders. Now I can breed my rare aussie geckos and sell them for thousands of dollars all day but that is because the reptile market here is much much larger. Anyway, they are my favorite spider and I look forward to trying to breed them someday.
James
 

Stylopidae

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I think there is some bad information out there. There are only two people who have bred these spiders to date and only one who has hatched out slings. ( I believe the second person will be hatching them soon). The person who has bred them has been keeping them for over eight years and has several bloodlines of them. In the past he had only traded them for other very rare spiders which is why there are so few out there. I recently worked out a deal and brought in 35 of them. I did bring in 3 females and I will tell you they look much like the pictures. There is another gentleman in the US that has imported 30 or so over the past 2 years which still means there is less than 100 in the US. This species creates a huge amount of webbing and loves to make burrows. However with that said I find both the slings and females are out on the surface or on the sides of there containers more often that not. The only reason I don't have pics is they run and hide when I open the lids and I don't feel like digging them out just for a photo that already exists. I will say that I also have several metallica and the are a very striking spider. There are many people breeding metallica and many more out there than people realize. With that said they typically produce 50 to 100 slings sometimes more so you don't get huge sacs and although the price may decrease some it won't be rapid. With Balfouri sacs are usually even smaller. I don't know the exact number but I think around 75 is one of the biggest with 50 being more average. When you look at how long metallica have been available and how many there are I don't think M balfouri are very expensive. $350 is a lot of money but compaired to what people paid in the early days for metallica it's actually very cheap. Species like E.olivacea are available ( I could have brought these in as well) but the US market is just not as big as in Europe and there are very few people willing to spend the money for these rare spiders. Now I can breed my rare aussie geckos and sell them for thousands of dollars all day but that is because the reptile market here is much much larger. Anyway, they are my favorite spider and I look forward to trying to breed them someday.
James
See? One of the many things I love about this forum. If you have bad information, folks are usually kind enough to clear you right up. I guess balfouri numbers are a bit greater than I originally thought. Guess I'll be doing more research when I get the chance.

I was under the impression there were somewhere around ~50 in the US.

Just out of curiosity, how much would E. olivacea be if sold to the general public?
 
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UrbanJungles

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...No disrespect to balfouri fans. They are beautiful no doubt, I can definitely appreciate them. There are very few T's I would coin as "ugly" and balfouri is certainly not one of them.

It's just that behaviorally and for display purposes...I love POKIES!!!
I'm a bit biased as you can see.

I am also a bit OCD in that since I work on living displays all day long at work, I like to have my animals very well displayed at home too. I won't even use opaque tupperware containers in my room and most of the containers are uniform in size and shape (about 4-5 different types) and crystal clear so I can see my beauties.

My name is Danny and I have a problem....
 

james

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prices

Most likely in the same range of $350. The hard thing for people to realize is these spiders are not cheap to buy in Europe. My last import was only 60 spiders and my shipping and paperwork cost alone where aorund $1,000. Then the US dollar is very weak against the Euro so really if I wanted to make money I would have to sell them for $450-$500 each. Personally I just want to make a little money to keep a few for myself and let other people get some and enjoy them.
James
 

james

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M balfouri

I know you like the pokies but I see my balfouri more than I see my pokies. Then again with my cork bark and plants in the pokies cages they have many places to go. lol They are all awesome T's!!!!!!!!!!!!
James
 

Stylopidae

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Most likely in the same range of $350. The hard thing for people to realize is these spiders are not cheap to buy in Europe. My last import was only 60 spiders and my shipping and paperwork cost alone where aorund $1,000. Then the US dollar is very weak against the Euro so really if I wanted to make money I would have to sell them for $450-$500 each. Personally I just want to make a little money to keep a few for myself and let other people get some and enjoy them.
James
That's kind of what I thought. Fortunately the critters from Europe that I'm interested in are much cheaper there than they are here, even when you factor in the exchange rate.

I'm just biding my time and making sure I have a complete line of research before I shell out the $3,000 for an import...otherwise the import is in vain.

At the risk of this turning into a political/economic thread best reserved for TWH, I really hope the political situation changes soon...the dollar VS Euro thing is really killing the hobby ATM.
 

ShadowBlade

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E. olivacea I believe are the species you're thinking of Joe with extremely small eggsacs. ~20 eggs a sac I believe.

-Sean
 

metallica

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I think there is some bad information out there. There are only two people who have bred these spiders to date and only one who has hatched out slings. ( I believe the second person will be hatching them soon).
James
i believe your info is a bit out-dated. last december i got some spiderlings from a breeding other then from David.

Eddy
 

james

Arachnobaron
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good news then

That is why we have this place. Good to know. I have heard of a guy in Spain but never confirmed and I new a guy in France was breeding them. I'm sure there will be more each year as I have seen more for sale recently in Germany. Where are you located?
James
 

Stylopidae

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E. olivacea I believe are the species you're thinking of Joe with extremely small eggsacs. ~20 eggs a sac I believe.

-Sean
Nah...I think I'm just operating on old info. I'm getting more into the aussie species, anyways.

I'd love to see an E. olivacea sac here in the US.
 

GoTerps

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You can see one of JMV's breedings HERE.

That was his second one, I believe.

Eric
 
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