- Joined
- Feb 25, 2007
- Messages
- 458
it is always in the owner of the female's benefit to purchase a mature male outright if they don't have one already (especially if the person is inexperienced at breeding that species of spider). Unless the male dies during shipping, they don't need to worry about the headaches involved with failed breeding attempts, males getting killed and eaten, egg sacs getting eaten or going bad, shipping the male back (if he survived), etc and trying to explain all of that to the other person of the 50/50 that was a complete loss. In a straight up purchase, the owner of the male got their compensation already via the purchase price. Of course if the breeding turns out successful, the former owner of the male loses out big time in not getting any of the babies (nor his male back if it survived) and the owner of the female can make a much nicer profit in selling off the excess babies that hatch. The new owner of the male can then take that male (if it survived) and pass it out to other people in risky breeding loans or just sell it outright to make up for the cost they originally paid for him. It's a lottery.. do you take a risk on a 50/50 and possibly no compensation at all for your time and effort in raising the male if it goes badly, or do you sell him outright but lose out on possible profits/joy from babies if all goes well?
I really wanted to buy a male Grammostola pulchra outright this year to pair up to my large female. It was my first attempt at breeding her and I also knew how notorious they could be for breeding well, but not producing egg sacs. Mature males were not easy to come by this year. The best deal I could find was to buy a male at a reasonably reduced price, but in return if she does produce a successful egg sac, 25% of the babies are to go back to the former owner of the male. I accepted this deal, because at the very least I would not have to feel guilty about the other person possibly winding up getting absolutely nothing out of it. If there is going to be total loss on someone, it would only be on ME. He at least got some form of compensation upfront for what I paid for the male so it's not a total loss for him. The first pairing up of the spiders went great. The second, ended up with the male dead (female could not be physically pried off of him either - she spent a little over two days eating on him till there was nothing left but 6 legs and fangs). The other person was notified of the breeding results and of the death. Now, I can only sit back and hope that there was a silver bullet in the first mating and that, in the spring after being warmed up from a winter cool down, she gives us an egg sac instead of a molt.
