Poecilotheria metallica spiderling's

Ultimate Instar

Arachnobaron
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A lot of the P. mets from the 1st importation should be reaching sexual maturity. The success (or lack thereof) in breeding should have an interesting effect on the pricing. IIRC, Hendriks wrote that they were easier than P. subfusca (difficult to breed) but harder than most other Poechilotheria so I suspect we'll have reports of some failures. However, people have been posting photos of fat and healthy-looking specimens. It will be interesting to see if breeding success correlates with the apparent health of the parents. If it doesn't, that argues for something lacking in their husbandry, i.e. environmental cues, dietary, etc.

Karen N.
 

Tony

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Ultimate Instar said:
A lot of the P. mets from the 1st importation should be reaching sexual maturity. The success (or lack thereof) in breeding should have an interesting effect on the pricing. IIRC, Hendriks wrote that they were easier than P. subfusca (difficult to breed) but harder than most other Poechilotheria so I suspect we'll have reports of some failures. However, people have been posting photos of fat and healthy-looking specimens. It will be interesting to see if breeding success correlates with the apparent health of the parents. If it doesn't, that argues for something lacking in their husbandry, i.e. environmental cues, dietary, etc.

Karen N.
Well, the males have been mature for some time now,as well as at least one female ;)
Hendrik has done it at least a few times ;) and now Kelly has here, the drop in price is apparent. ($235 retail)
Seriously, if you don't have one your missing out...
T
 

MrDeranged

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Ultimate Instar said:
A lot of people have mature males? Hmm, my boy still doesn't have his bulbs.

Karen N.
I wouldn't say alot. As far as I know, I have been the only person in the us to have metallica males mature as of yet. One went to Kelly Swift (which I should be getting the results of tomorrow :) ) and one went to Theraphosid Breeding Project and has since been passed on to John Larizio (LaRiz) Other than my 2 I have not heard of any other mature males.

Scott
 

Tony

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Ultimate Instar said:
A lot of people have mature males? Hmm, my boy still doesn't have his bulbs.

Karen N.
I didnt say alot...Scott was were the maturation dates on yours??
T

Also how many subufsca have been produced in the states, michael , kelly...Anyone know offhand..
T
 

LaRiz

Arachnodemon
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Scott,
I know of, at least, one person that had a mature male metallica. This specimen is from the 2nd arrival of the species to the US.

monantony said:
Also how many subufsca have been produced in the states, michael , kelly...Anyone know offhand..
T
Tony,
There's at least one Poecilotheria subfusca produced in the US. That one is around 3" now. Growing nicely, but I really dropped the ball on that one. With my luck, it's a male :wall:
john
 

MrDeranged

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monantony said:
I didnt say alot...Scott was were the maturation dates on yours??
T
April and May of 2004

LaRiz said:
Scott,
I know of, at least, one person that had a mature male metallica. This specimen is from the 2nd arrival of the species to the US.
Anyone I know? The ones I have from the second batch that came in are nowhere near maturing yet....

Scott
 

Tony

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mrderanged said:
April and May of 2004



Anyone I know? The ones I have from the second batch that came in are nowhere near maturing yet....

Scott
I believe mine are batch 2..how big are yours? Mine have all just molted and are 3.5"-4.25" or so...all unsexed..Is it me or are these dam things hard!
T
 

LaRiz

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monantony said:
I believe mine are batch 2..how big are yours? Mine have all just molted and are 3.5"-4.25" or so...all unsexed..Is it me or are these dam things hard!
T
Tony,
I don't think it's just you. I'm having a hard time myself. It's the naked eye thing perhaps. Though, with other species within the genus, the naked eye was good enough. I had a suspect female molt out on the 21st (yesterday). She's around 6" now, and this is the first molt were I could actually eye the spermatheca.

mrderanged said:
Anyone I know? The ones I have from the second batch that came in are nowhere near maturing yet....
Scott
Scott,
Maybe, he's at the boards here. Maybe he'll chime in and tell us what he did differently. Even mine from the 2nd coming are still around 4", and not at all looking like they'll mature anytime soon.
john
 

LaRiz

Arachnodemon
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monantony said:
oddly John, I have a 15x and 20x Loupe I try to use, but lighting is the killer there. Wish I had the link here where I posted the illuminated 10x coddingtion loup. Pretty neat actually and pretty useful.
T
Tony,
I have that one, though is not lighted. I also have one thats a 30x, and the Radio Shack jobber that is illuminated and goes from 60x to 100x. That one is a pain in the arse to use.
For the ones that aren't illuminated, I'll put the skin on a deli cup lid and place the lid over a flo tube which backlights the skin. If it's too bright I'll put a white index card between the flo tube and the deli lid.
john
 

Ultimate Instar

Arachnobaron
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My metallicas are from the 1st batch and the male is taking a loooooonnnnng time to reach maturity. His last molt was 5-21-04. I don't keep him tremendously warm but that's a long time to wait. What does he think he is? A B. smithi? Seriously, I'm wondering if they're genetically programmed to respond to environmental cues to molt into maturity in the spring.

Karen N.
 

Brando

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Started reading 12:34am, time finished reading 2am....

wow that was a bit of an arguement there for a while. Not much else to say as everything has been said.

Like every product, prices are set by supply and demand, you either buy or you don't no use complaining about it.

I usually just use this rhyme when trying to understand tarantula prices, "T's don't grow on trees"....i know its crappy but its 2:27am.

Well that was all i had to say so, breeders are awesome, keep up the good work!!!
 

Jmadson13

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it's very possible for even us hobbiests with modest accounts to purchase a young P. metallica. Personally the next spider on my list is a P. subfusca even though I'm a college student and spend far too much on my hobby already but all my spiders are well taken care of and I don't regret having to pay and care for them for even a second. Though it does help that I work in a reptile store :rolleyes:
 
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