question about wild caught Haplopelma

[word]

i'm just wondering why you always see so many of these on sellers lists and so cheap? are they easy to capture in the wild in large numbers? just seems like you see more of these WC than many other species.

 

[Botar]

It is simple supply and demand in action. There is a greater supply and lesser demand for the Haplopelma species. If they were to place them on CITES and stop the importation, you'd see the prices go up. As for an ease of catching, I don't think that really comes into play as much as the system of exportation. If there were no easy way to export them, it wouldn't really matter how easy they were to catch. However, if you've got a system in play for exportation, you can pay a bunch of kids in third world countries a couple of bucks for a couple hundred T's and they'll turn over every rock they could find. If India would lift their ban on exportation of pokies, some business man would set up shop and pay the locals to catch every kind of pokie they could find. If they could be caught in substantial numbers, you'd see the bottom fall out of the pokie market. If a WC adult P. metallica could be purchased even for $200, the effect would be immediate and drastic... and the next "new and exciting" T would fill it's place.

Botar

 

[word]

cool, thanks for the insite! much appreciated.

 

[FryLock]

If India would lift their ban on exportation of pokies, some business man would set up shop and pay the locals to catch every kind of pokie they could find. If they could be caught in substantial numbers, you'd see the bottom fall out of the pokie market. If a WC adult P. metallica could be purchased even for $200, the effect would be immediate and drastic... and the next "new and exciting" T would fill it's place.

There bans cover just about every living thing and even gets in the way of research of animals in state parks and the like, im not sure now common many of the pokes now are in the wild with habitat degradation im sure a lot of them are getting hard to find now (western collectors have made trips and been empty handed in years gone by) still if you paid enough ppl sooner or later you turn something up.

 

[MizM]

Note of warning tho: MANY of the WC specimens I have bought come with a complimentary gift... parasites!! Now, I will only buy captive bred or LTC specimens.

 

[cichlidsman]

Note of warning tho: MANY of the WC specimens I have bought come with a complimentary gift... parasites!! Now, I will only buy captive bred or LTC specimens.

I never heard this "LTC", what does it stand for?

 

[MizM]

I never heard this "LTC", what does it stand for?

WC = Wild Caught
LTC = Long Term Captive
CB = Captive Bred

Hmmmmm, did I miss any?