# Theraphosa ID



## Brian S (Dec 4, 2008)

Sorry for a seamingly newbee type of question but I need some info on these. I just got these in the mail today and they came as T blondi yet have the pale looking front legs. They are the offspring of a wild caught "goliath" spider that made an egg sac. I have no idea where the mother came from. Do T blondi slings have the light colored legs when small or is it only T apophysis? I probably knew the answer to this a long time ago but age has a way of making a person forget or at least it has me.

Some pics


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## Kris-wIth-a-K (Dec 4, 2008)

My vote is T. Apophysis but it could just be a plain ole blondi but it does look a little darker than a blondi.


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## Brian S (Dec 4, 2008)

The "dark" color does not matter, its the pale legs that concerns me


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## Kris-wIth-a-K (Dec 4, 2008)

Either way you look at it it is a Theraphosa sp and is going to be big........


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## Talkenlate04 (Dec 4, 2008)

Hey check this out. I remember talking to them at a show about 2 years ago and I believe they said the first slings they had came from a WC female.(don't quote me on that) It might not be what you have, but its still an interesting read.  
http://www.tarantulas.com/guyana_goliath.html


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## Comatose (Dec 4, 2008)

*Guyana Goliath (?)*

At that size it's tough to tell but I'm betting on the 'new' Guyana Goliath Theraphosa sp...adults look (almost?) exactly like blondi but with darker coloring (hardly relevant to taxonomy if you ask this pompous jerk), but slings have pink booties similiar to apophysis...I believe the males posses hooks too.


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## Comatose (Dec 4, 2008)

Talkenlate04 said:


> Hey check this out. I remember talking to them at a show about 2 years ago and they said I believe the first slings they had came from a WC female. It might not be what you have, but its still interesting.
> http://www.tarantulas.com/guyana_goliath.html


You beat me!


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## Brian S (Dec 4, 2008)

Does anyone know where the latest Theraphosa spp are being imported from? That would narrow it down at least a little


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## GailC (Dec 4, 2008)

Brian S said:


> Does anyone know where the latest Theraphosa spp are being imported from? That would narrow it down at least a little


They came from Guyana. 
Where did you get your slings from? I have one of the new "burgundy" sp from tarantulas.com, mine has the pink feet but not the orangy long hairs.


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## Talkenlate04 (Dec 4, 2008)

waldo said:


> They came from Guyana.
> Where did you get your slings from? I have one of the new "burgundy" sp from tarantulas.com, mine has the pink feet but not the orangy long hairs.


And the pink feet go away right when they get bigger?


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## Brian S (Dec 4, 2008)

I just found out that these DO INDEED come from Guyana! These come from Only Exotics btw. Nice looking slings!

So these could indeed be the Theraphosa sp "burgundy" as www.tarantulas.com has them labeled. That would be really neat if these indeed were a "new" species


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## Brian S (Dec 4, 2008)

Talkenlate04 said:


> And the pink feet go away right when they get bigger?


Yes, just as T apophysis do


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## Talkenlate04 (Dec 4, 2008)

Only Exotics gave them the ones they were breeding two years ago and the ones they just bred?
I could swear they got them in themselves.
Hmm ether way they are cool looking. I can't fork over that kind of money for a hair kicker like that but they are cool!


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## Arachnosold1er (Dec 4, 2008)

My friend has a T. Blondi that he got as a sling while rooming with me. It had pinkish toes as a sling. It will go away after a few molts. His looks like a run of the mill T. Blondi now. No worrys dude.


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## Talkenlate04 (Dec 4, 2008)

Blondi slings don't have pink feet. At least none that I have ever seen. Theraphosa sp "burgundy" seems very likely here given he has figured out where the sling came from.


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## Only Exotics (Dec 4, 2008)

Hey Brian, here's a few pics of the female that laid the sac. Sorry about the quality.


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## Comatose (Dec 4, 2008)

As I recall the booties on apophysis are much pinker and stay visible through 3" or so...I also seem to remember a paler color in ap. slings whereas the other two maintain a blueish sheen.


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## Talkenlate04 (Dec 4, 2008)

Only Exotics said:


> Hey Brian, here's a few pics of the female that laid the sac. Sorry about the quality.


I still don't understand. On their site they said they bred them and got two sacs from three females. I am pretty sure this is not the first round of breeding they did with them ether. So your female in the picture was the first in the US?


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## Brian S (Dec 4, 2008)

Ryan, evidently anyone who has acquired a wc "T blondi" or the off spring of one may not have the "true" T blondi unless these actually prove to be a T blondi. It appears that tarantulas.com isnt the only ones getting these spiders in. It will indeed be intersting if these are indeed a new species or not. Damn I wish I had some basic skills in taxonomy LOL


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## Talkenlate04 (Dec 4, 2008)

I wish I had those skills too. So how can you tell a blondi female from this maybe "new" female? I get the male differences but I can't find anything on female differences.


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## Brian S (Dec 4, 2008)

Talkenlate04 said:


> I still don't understand. On their site they said they bred them and got two sacs from three females. I am pretty sure this is not the first round of breeding they did with them ether. So your female in the picture was the first in the US?


Ryan, If these are being brought in by exporters ther is really no way of knowing who all has these. We might be onto something here


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## Brian S (Dec 4, 2008)

Talkenlate04 said:


> I wish I had those skills too. So how can you tell a blondi female from this maybe "new" female? I get the male differences but I can't find anything on female differences.


According to Jacobi and Co about the only difference is the light colored feet of this "so called" burgundy spider when they are young spiderlings


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## Talkenlate04 (Dec 4, 2008)

Wow ya that complicates things just a little.


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## GailC (Dec 4, 2008)

I wrote to Micheal Jacobi before I got my sling, asked him of anyone was working on getting this species described. He assured me that two entomologist are working on this, so hopefully we will get an answer in the near future.


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## Talkenlate04 (Dec 4, 2008)

waldo said:


> I wrote to Micheal Jacobi before I got my sling, asked him of anyone was working on getting this species described. He assured me that two entomologist are working on this, so hopefully we will get an answer in the near future.


That was the same info I got from them almost two years go. Who knows when the wait will end.


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## tarcan (Dec 4, 2008)

Brian,

You asked me my opinion, but unfortunatly, I do not have much to say...

It is interesting that this surfaces, in 2004 I bred "T. blondi"

I was "shocked" and quite surprised to say the least to obtain this as slings:







I did not really know what to think of it. I assumed I had produced (unintentionnally) some hybrids between T. apophysis and T. blondi. I checked back on the male that I had in alcohol and it had no tibial apophysis. The female "looked" T. blondi... I am no taxonomist, cannot say much about it anyway.

The female came from an import I had done from the US. Was WC, so should be Guyana. There are only two sources of legal commercial exports of "T. blondi" and that would be Guyana and Suriname, but Suriname is much less common. I do not remember of the source of the male.

It is all I can say unfortunatly.

Martin


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## tarcan (Dec 4, 2008)

picture of the female that produced my sac


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## Brian S (Dec 4, 2008)

Thanks for your input anyway Martin. 
The more I think about this the more I wonder what we have in the hobby LOL


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## Philth (Dec 5, 2008)

I have 2 adult female _T.blondi _that always looked a little different to me.  The most major differance that stands out is the long hair on the patella of one female that the other lacks.

Female 1 lacking long hair on the patella (looks similar to Taranutlas.com female & Martin's to me at least)






Female 2 much "fuzzier" look, with long hairs on the patella






Im not claiming some major discovery, just pointing out a differance on two blondi that I have no import history on.  (Although female 2 has ben in my collection a long time)

A guy here on Long Island produced some pink-footed _T.blondi _some years back.  As Martins post pointed out they've ben around for years.  If it is in fact a 3rd Theraphosa sp., I wouldnt be suprised if they have already ben mixed with _T. blondi _stock in the U.S.

Later, Tom


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## Talkenlate04 (Dec 5, 2008)

The carapace looks pretty different to me as well. Like it has more curves and is wider and flatter. Maybe I am seeing things.


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## Brian S (Dec 5, 2008)

We obviously need someone with some taxonomy skills to look into this. We *ALL* may need to relabel our specimens! For now I am gonna call my new slings _Theraphosa_ sp (Guyana) until this gets sorted out


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## pandinus (Dec 5, 2008)

dang brian you always seem to fall into awesome finds dont ya


John


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## Brian S (Dec 5, 2008)

pandinus said:


> dang brian you always seem to fall into awesome finds dont ya
> 
> 
> John


LOL! 
I am not sure if we can call this "awesome" just yet but I am wondering what we really have in the hobby now LOL

Geez! I knew I should have stuck with only scorpions!


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## CodeWilster (Dec 5, 2008)

*Theraphosa burgablondinoapophysis*

Just found this thread and looks like fun stuff  Anyway jeez hopefully this doesn't turn into the Cyriopagopus/Lampropelma (or is it Haplopelma now?) mess. I'm starting to wonder what I've got. I currently own three "blondi"s. I bought a blondi from Botar about this time last year as a sling. It had the pale brown/pink feet though. She's about 5" now and the pretty feet are gone. I could only find T. apophysis info so that's what I labeled her. My pet store then got a monster WC female in that I snatched up last year also. This year they got in a wildcaught mature male (got him) and I've already bred him with my female. She had molted fairly recently and was dark, and this male is very orange/cinnamony. He has no tibial hooks just like Mr. Jacobi's website describes a mature male blondi or "burgandy" lacking the apophysis. I guess I better post a pic. So anybody know what I've got? (male is the orange one, sorry for the small pic but I had to shrink it) Note that under normal light he does not look as orange, however no matter what light my female is (both before and after the molt) much darker. 
Also came to mind, couldn't these guys then hybridize in the wild since they are all found in Guyana anyway?


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## GailC (Dec 5, 2008)

Brian S said:


> We obviously need someone with some taxonomy skills to look into this. We *ALL* may need to relabel our specimens! For now I am gonna call my new slings _Theraphosa_ sp (Guyana) until this gets sorted out


I wrote to Rick West awhile back to ask his opinion on this, he hasn't had any experience with this "new" species and said he would need a deceased adult specimen to study. If anyone has a deceased adult, it might be worth it to contact Rick and see if he would want to take this study on.

For now, I've labled mine Theraphosa sp "burgundy"


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## tarcan (Dec 5, 2008)

Tom, thank you for sharing this, I find it to be extremely interesting.

Of course, we need a big sample to see if this is consistant, but it is a start. A little bit like being able to distinguish between X. immanis long hair and short hair, which is crucial to breeding the species.

Unfortunatly, we need to be sure of the sources. Also, might have to do with age of the specimens, but you say both of your females has been in your collection for many years and this has been always consistant? Were they both full adults when you got them or they went through a little bit of growing up?

The second picture I posted of my female was when she was freshly molted, so in her case, it cannot be attributed for a need of a molt at least and the lack of hair on the patellas is clearly seen.

BTW, out of curiosity, I went through all my pictures of T. blondi I took on the field in French Guiana and they ALL have fuzz on the patella... interesting.

Anyhow, thank you once more for sharing this

Martin


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## Merfolk (Dec 5, 2008)

I am the proud owner of one of Mart's specimens from 2004, which I bought not that long after he wrote here worrying he might had created hybrids. I found that they looked special and absolutely wanted one whatever they were. I got it in Dec 2006, it was like 2"+....

My big girl just molted to 9" and I noticed that she is not very hairy if you compare to the fuzzy ones posted here. We took pics but my camera is total crap and blurs things.


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## Philth (Dec 5, 2008)

Hi Martin, 

Female 2 (the fuzzy one) I got as an Adult in 2002.  Female 1 I got in 2006 as an adult female.  Not much has changed with them.  The hair on the patella has ben consistant since I got them, evan after a molt. ( both pics I posted are from fairly recent molts.)

I agree that many more would need to be sampled with accurate knowledge of the spiders background.  It would seem to simple if long hair on the patella is the key to differentiating two sp.(just figured I'd throw it out there)  I wish I knew where my females came from.

Later, Tom


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## CodeWilster (Dec 6, 2008)

Fine doesn't look like anybody cares about my post  but  I'll get over it. I have another question though. After all, Jacobi is selling these guys as BURGANDY birdeaters. All I see in all this talk is stuff about tibial apophysis, pink tarsus and metatarsus in juves, setae, etc. Yeah that's definitley being analytical of this science but what about the color of these guys? Aren't they supposed to be a different color as adults too?

"Adult specimens are huge, heavy-bodied and have a post-molt color of rich burgundy-brown with distinctive reddish hairs on legs and abdomen post-molt." (Michael Jacobi, http://tarantulas.com/guyana_goliath.html)


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## Brian S (Dec 6, 2008)

CodeWilster said:


> Fine doesn't look like anybody cares about my post  but  I'll get over it. I have another question though. After all, Jacobi is selling these guys as BURGANDY birdeaters. All I see in all this talk is stuff about tibial apophysis, pink tarsus and metatarsus in juves, setae, etc. Yeah that's definitley being analytical of this science but what about the color of these guys? Aren't they supposed to be a different color as adults too?
> 
> "Adult specimens are huge, heavy-bodied and have a post-molt color of rich burgundy-brown with distinctive reddish hairs on legs and abdomen post-molt." (Michael Jacobi, http://tarantulas.com/guyana_goliath.html)


Code, In taxonomic terms color means absolutely nothing I assure you. Taxonomists do NOT identify or describe a species based on color. They go into alot more detail than that, they look at setae, stridulating organs etc. And yes it is possible that they could hybridize where their native range overlaps *IF* they inhabit the same habitat. For instance they could inhabit different elevations etc and not ever meet in the wild. Most of us do not know the specifics in the habitat where both species overlap if indeed are a separate species! Taxonomy is always changing it seems. Since I have been in the hobby I have seen numerous changes especially in the scorpion genus _Hottentotta_.
I hope that helps you out some. I am not the best in the world at explaining issues such as this afterall I am not a taxonomist, I am just a pee-on ameatur hobbyist that attempts to make sense of all this


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## CodeWilster (Dec 7, 2008)

Thanks Lol I understand that part, but what I was getting at wasn't deep taxonomy. I just wanted to know are these guys a different color or not. I never meant for color to be the distinguishing feature between the two species that separates them [taxanomically speaking  ]--that would be like racism right?. So yeah I get that part, just like G. rosea and G. rosea RCF are the same. What I was trying to say was, I wanted to know are they a different color after all; it sounds like they are supposed to be more "red" than usual. So would this be like a T. blondi RCF? Are they really actually burgandy or do they look like a normal Birdeater?


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## Brian S (Dec 7, 2008)

Since I do not have any of the so called burgundy spiders that Jacobi is selling I cannot answer that. I have seen several colors of the "true" T blondi such as cinnamon, dark brwn etc etc. So perhaps it is possible they do have a purplish sheen when adults, its also possible that so do and some dont and its also possible that a color like that is only visible under certain light (e.g. the flash of a camera  )


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## Lopez (Dec 7, 2008)

I cannot stand NW theraphosids, so my picture catalogue is limited.

Here is a juvenile (2.5 - 3" approx) T.apophysis


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## CodeWilster (Dec 7, 2008)

Brian S said:


> its also possible that so do and some dont and its also possible that a color like that is only visible under certain light (e.g. the flash of a camera  )


Yeah definitely. Without the flash of a camera I bet the spider economy would go down. (I'm assuming you said that after seeing my pic, and yeah he looks pretty orange in that pic lol--maybe it's a Brazilian Fire Birdeater?) Ok I think I'll let everyobody else figure this stuff out. I am not a taxonomist and don't exactly want to be so somebody let me know when this gets figured out or if they have a very burgandy Burgandy Birdeater for sale because that was the only thing that really caught my attention


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## Euronymous (Dec 8, 2008)

I am getting one of these "pink foot blondi's" soon. I am even more interested in getting one now. This is getting interesting. I read on another thread how someone was unhappy receiving a "burgandy", it makes me all the more exited. I am interested in the habitat and the spiders creating hybrids themselves. If so many sling are coming from WC females that tends to make sense.  I read about a guy that researched them in Guyana. I gotta find that guy.


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## GailC (Dec 8, 2008)

CodeWilster said:


> Thanks Lol I understand that part, but what I was getting at wasn't deep taxonomy. I just wanted to know are these guys a different color or not. I never meant for color to be the distinguishing feature between the two species that separates them [taxanomically speaking  ]--that would be like racism right?. So yeah I get that part, just like G. rosea and G. rosea RCF are the same. What I was trying to say was, I wanted to know are they a different color after all; it sounds like they are supposed to be more "red" than usual. So would this be like a T. blondi RCF? Are they really actually burgandy or do they look like a normal Birdeater?


I have one of the "Burgundy" slings, right now the color is nothing to write home about. Looks like any other Theraphosa sling but I did see the "aunt" of my sling, she did have a nice dark burgundy brown color to her, different from the T blondi I've seen but I've only seen one so I don't have a huge knowledge base to go off of.

I don't care if mine turns out to be a T blondi color phase, a hybrid or a new species since I won't ever be breeding it but it would be really nice to know whats floating around the hobby. The last thing we need is a mess with  Theraphosa like we have with Avicularia.
Has anyone purposly crossed a blondi and apophysis? I wonder how those offspring compare to the "burgundy"


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## Brian S (Dec 8, 2008)

waldo said:


> Has anyone purposly crossed a blondi and apophysis? I wonder how those offspring compare to the "burgundy"


Dont give anyone any ideas LOLOL


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## Euronymous (Dec 8, 2008)

It could be a difference in locality. I know that there are a lot of reptiles that have different colors in different places. For example water monitors. The Sumatra locality is much more desirable because of there right yellow coloration. I don't remember of anyone mentioning whether or not these "pink foot blondi's" have spurs. Does any one have any thoughts on locality?


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## CodeWilster (Dec 8, 2008)

Euronymous said:


> I don't remember of anyone mentioning whether or not these "pink foot blondi's" have spurs...


The "Pinkfoot Birdeaters" (Theraphosa apophysis) we know have the spurs, but according to Jacobi the "Burgandy" Pinkfoot Birdeaters do not. (Like the regular blondis)


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## Euronymous (Dec 11, 2008)

*Come on guys*

Well now that we have a plentiful amount of ch slings it is our responsibility to get a serious breeding project underway so that we do not have to import WC animals. Whether they are hybrid or what ever, lets leave the animals in the already ever destructing south America alone. Where there is no demand there is no supply. I will post this on the other thread directed at this topic.

             -Euronymous


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## Brian S (Dec 11, 2008)

Euronymous said:


> Well now that we have a plentiful amount of ch slings it is our responsibility to get a serious breeding project underway so that we do not have to import WC animals. Whether they are hybrid or what ever, lets leave the animals in the already ever destructing south America alone. Where there is no demand there is no supply. I will post this on the other thread directed at this topic.
> 
> -Euronymous


I see where you are coming from and all but as you will notice in some of the posts in this thread not many people know where their "goliath" is really from and I am 100% against breeding hybrids in captivity, I am not particularly fond of the hybrid snakes that are being bred either.
I mean really, I dont want a cross between a corn and a kingsnake no more than I would want a hybrid tarantula. I posted this with the intentions of trying to sort this all out so that breeders will not screw up the gene pool like some have the snakes. Dont get me wrong, I have nothing against all the weird cornsnake, ball python and boa morphs floating around in the snake hobby afterall they are the same species. In fact I keep a few cornsnakes and they look nothing like what you would find in the wild.


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## CodeWilster (Dec 11, 2008)

Brian S said:


> I see where you are coming from and all but as you will notice in some of the posts in this thread not many people know where their "goliath" is really from and I am 100% against breeding hybrids in captivity, I am not particularly fond of the hybrid snakes that are being bred either.
> I mean really, I dont want a cross between a corn and a kingsnake no more than I would want a hybrid tarantula. I posted this with the intentions of trying to sort this all out so that breeders will not screw up the gene pool like some have the snakes. Dont get me wrong, I have nothing against all the weird cornsnake, ball python and boa morphs floating around in the snake hobby afterall they are the same species. In fact I keep a few cornsnakes and they look nothing like what you would find in the wild.


I agree. That and inbreeding, whether it's proven to cause problems or not. There are SSSOOOO many beautiful T's out there, there's no need and shouldn't be a demand for hybridizing. It just sucks with this Theraphosa genus because it sounds like we've got all different species (like apophysis, blondi, "burgandy", and blondi with white feet) that all look exactly the same as adults, and most people that own them own adults that came from somewhere in South America nobody knows. This is going to be a tough nut to crack, and hopefully all these slings for sale aren't already hybrids, sterile or not.


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## Euronymous (Dec 11, 2008)

Brian S said:


> I see where you are coming from and all but as you will notice in some of the posts in this thread not many people know where their "goliath" is really from and I am 100% against breeding hybrids in captivity, I am not particularly fond of the hybrid snakes that are being bred either.
> I mean really, I dont want a cross between a corn and a kingsnake no more than I would want a hybrid tarantula. I posted this with the intentions of trying to sort this all out so that breeders will not screw up the gene pool like some have the snakes. Dont get me wrong, I have nothing against all the weird cornsnake, ball python and boa morphs floating around in the snake hobby afterall they are the same species. In fact I keep a few cornsnakes and they look nothing like what you would find in the wild.


 I understand where you are coming from as well. If they are truly hybrids though, it was and is a natural occurance being as these animal are the direct brood of a WC female. 
 I have to disagree with the purity theory though, at least in this situation. Would you rather have these beautiful animals ripped out of there burrows, thrown in a bucket and shipped all over the word, or keep the species plentiful (exist?) in the wild, and give hobiest the obertunity to enjoy these amazing spiders at the same time? "pure bred" or not they are "close enough to the real thing". 
 How the hell did they get albino retics anyway? :?


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## Brian S (Dec 11, 2008)

Euronymous said:


> I have to disagree with the purity theory though, at least in this situation. Would you rather have these beautiful animals ripped out of there burrows, thrown in a bucket and shipped all over the word, or keep the species plentiful (exist?) in the wild, and give hobiest the obertunity to enjoy these amazing spiders at the same time? "pure bred" or not they are "close enough to the real thing".


I am indeed all for captive breeding. I really wish we had someone with a little taxonomic skills to clear this for us some. Before we jump on the "wild natural" hybrid bandwagon we need to get someone with some real knowledge to make sure that these are either an existing species or a new species all togehter. I am all for keeping our captive stock as "pure" as what they are in the wild though



> How the hell did they get albino retics anyway? :?


LOL! Beats the hell out of me! Just as it astounds me with all the corn snake morphs that breeders have come up with. Although I keep a few corns I havent studied genetics enuff to even begin talking about this subject. Fortunately that is a different subject to the current situation at hand. I can only handle one situation like this at a time and that is if I'm lucky LOL


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## Euronymous (Dec 11, 2008)

corn snake morphs and how. Lets leave to T's although I have a feeling this thread is about through. 
  Has anyone tried to contact Rick West?


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## CodeWilster (Dec 11, 2008)

Euronymous said:


> I understand where you are coming from as well. If they are truly hybrids though, it was and is a natural occurance being as these animal are the direct brood of a WC female.
> I have to disagree with the purity theory though, at least in this situation. Would you rather have these beautiful animals ripped out of there burrows, thrown in a bucket and shipped all over the word, or keep the species plentiful (exist?) in the wild, and give hobiest the obertunity to enjoy these amazing spiders at the same time? "pure bred" or not they are "close enough to the real thing".
> How the hell did they get albino retics anyway? :?


I definitely agree with you in that we should leave wild-caught species in the wild where they belong, but our hobby had to come from somewhere (which came 1st chicken or egg :? ). This is my opinion and so is obviously no greater than yours, but I believe we should do our best to keep even the things in captivity as genetically close to the wild. We do that with endangered animals for a reason. Once strong numbers of species like Blondi start being bred in captivity, Guyana should be left alone. I'm the kind of person who looks at a wolf and then a pug and wants to cry, same with those crazy bubble-eyed goldfish that lay around because they can't swim :wall: I doubt it could get that far with T's though. I guess I'm just a little skeptical of whether T hybridizing is going to result in a "slippery slope effect" but whatever I'll shut up now.


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## CodeWilster (Dec 11, 2008)

Euronymous said:


> corn snake morphs and how. Lets leave to T's although I have a feeling this thread is about through.
> Has anyone tried to contact Rick West?


I'm pretty sure somebody did. He says he needs a recently dead one to study


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## Euronymous (Dec 11, 2008)

CodeWilster said:


> I definitely agree with you in that we should leave wild-caught species in the wild where they belong, but our hobby had to come from somewhere (which came 1st chicken or egg :? ). This is my opinion and so is obviously no greater than yours, but I believe we should do our best to keep even the things in captivity as genetically close to the wild. We do that with endangered animals for a reason. Once strong numbers of species like Blondi start being bred in captivity, Guyana should be left alone. I'm the kind of person who looks at a wolf and then a pug and wants to cry, same with those crazy bubble-eyed goldfish that lay around because they can't swim :wall: I doubt it could get that far with T's though. I guess I'm just a little skeptical of whether T hybridizing is going to result in a "slippery slope effect" but whatever I'll shut up now.


  No, you made good points. But the only part that is missing is that these slings going around right are from a gravid female that became gravid* in* Guyana. There are as pure as you are going to get. 
  Wolf to pug analogy is great, but it does not pertain to this circumstance; again they are what you would under ferns kicking hairs at you in Guyana!
  The only problem with my "master plan" is that the males will mature before the females- sacks cached close to same time. This is just to my knowledge though. 
  I did not want to go there, but, there are subspecies you know. Southern and northern alligator lizards are the same species, but different sub-species. The coloration is what sets them apart...food for thought

On a lighter note, those gold fish make great feeders


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## Euronymous (Dec 11, 2008)

CodeWilster said:


> I'm pretty sure somebody did. He says he needs a recently dead one to study


I am sure someone will loose a sling, make a post. Or buy the mother and ship to him to study while it is alive, and disect it when it dies.


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## CodeWilster (Dec 11, 2008)

Euronymous said:


> On a lighter note, those gold fish make great feeders


Whoa for T's? I may try that, I'd be doing the goldfish a favor, right?


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## Euronymous (Dec 12, 2008)

CodeWilster said:


> Whoa for T's? I may try that, I'd be doing the goldfish a favor, right?


 I used to use them for my young alligators. I think it would be too much of a mess for a T. If you decide to feed gold fish, what ever you do don't use "feeders" they are farmed and full of parasites.


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## CodeWilster (Dec 12, 2008)

Euronymous said:


> I used to use them for my young alligators. I think it would be too much of a mess for a T. If you decide to feed gold fish, what ever you do don't use "feeders" they are farmed and full of parasites.


Yeah I was kind of just joking anyway. I may throw a couple in a bowl of water to hopefully see some H. gigas fishing one day lol


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## Euronymous (Dec 12, 2008)

CodeWilster said:


> Yeah I was kind of just joking anyway. I may throw a couple in a bowl of water to hopefully see some H. gigas fishing one day lol


If you really are going to do that use a "fancy guppy" the feeder guppies are the same thing as the feed gold fish. I think I fed a blondi a guppy once. (gulp!)


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## burmish101 (Jan 7, 2009)

I could swear i read in a book somewhere that T. blondi have different geographical variants, i'll try to find it. So it could just be a normal blondi that looks a little darker? I hope its something different as I seen 1 too many spiders labeled "bird eating spiders" (a.k.a. i've probably seen almost every tarantula there is labeled as bird spider something)for instance to add extra marketing to it.


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## Philth (Oct 23, 2009)

*bump...update*

Hey Brian, or anybody else who has bought sp. "burgundy" Im interested in seeing pics of how they look now, please share....

Later, Tom


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## spiderfield (Oct 23, 2009)

Here you go Tom.  The first T is from Tarantulas, Inc., the last two are from Only Exotics.

Female Theraphosa sp. "Burgundy" purchased as a sling Sep'08 from Tarantulas, Inc.  Now about 5", she last molted on 21Sep09, removing her pink feet.




















Female purchased as a _T. blondi_ sling Dec'08 from Only Exotics.  Now about 5", she last molted on 08Oct09, removing her pink feet.  From sling to now she has resembled the Theraphosa sp. "Burgundy".















Male purchased as a _T. blondi_ sling Dec'08 from Only Exotics.  In pre-molt (one molt behind above sibling), pink feet are still slightly visible.  From sling to now he also has resembled the Theraphosa sp. "Burgundy".


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