Breeders Association

xVOWx

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
235
Well, I'm sure it's come up before (I wouldn't doubt that something similar to this already exists) but I thought I would post "just incase". There are several well established members of AB who are known for their experience and success in scorpion breeding. Well I thought it would be beneficial to the hobby if they got together and seriously talked about forming some kind of 'Breeders Association' where they openly share rare, endangered, or 'popular' specimens. For example if someone just had a brood of H. swammerdami, instead of selling ALL of them they could divide most of the brood among the most successfull breeders, making what is now an extremely rare species a bit more easily available in just a few years. This could also work well to support the sell of captive bred inverts and help to stop over collection of species like P.imperator. Maybe there could be different 'levels' where less experienced keepers would be responsible for 'producing' two broods of P.imp(no pun) a year or something. This would all be done for the purpous of increasing captive bred and rare species that are ussually over collected or hard to find in the wild, and not to corporatize the hobby or treat these animals like they are a product to manufacture. Anyway, it's kind of a long topic but I thought it would make for some interesting discussion.
 
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Arachno Kid

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 26, 2006
Messages
225
Well that actually sounds cool, I would love to see that start happning, a breeding program for arachnoboards would make alot more species avalible. and not to mention, less expensive. Have that happening each person being incharge of a scorp species, breeding them until their broods are big enough to re-animate Starcraft: Brood War, mission, "The Swarm" Which I easily counter with Protoss war fleets of scouts corsairs and some of those command ships :p,

Back onto the topic, That would be rad.


Cheers
Eli
 

Andre2

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 17, 2006
Messages
117
This is a nice idea, but in some ways a bit naive, I think.

1) As a breeder you can't compete with the prices from (African) exporters.
If you are concerned with over-collecting, then you must make a small
sacrifice in the for of a much higher price for a captive bred.
2) I can not believe that the number of scorpions bred in captivity can match
the demand in any way..
3) There are lots of scorpions (also very rare) for sale, I buy them also. It
just takes much effort, time and money to get them.
4) I don't think many of the "established breeders" are interested in making
their rare species more generally available. It's what sets their collection
apart from others, you know.. Also they may be concerned about the future of their precious scorplings and not willing to sell to just anybody..;)
 

Nick12007

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 30, 2006
Messages
74
I think it's a good idea, and only naive if you immediately link Breeder with Seller. This sounds like it would be more of a conservation project than a hobbyist resource for the latest new species. It wouldn't be about matching demands at first, it would be about establishing a captive bred population among people who can be trusted with their breeding practices, which would not be "just anybody." And yes, the price for supporting captive bred scorpions would be higher, but there are so many such niches in life: "organic" markets, non-sweatshop labor, and non-animal tested cosmetics are all things that have been established despite the higher cost of money and effort that may be required to support them.

So yes, if I ever become an established breeder, I'd love to join! :D
 

Crono

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 18, 2006
Messages
530
I'm not sure many people would go for it, when the informal method works rather well.
A lot of "experienced breeders" already swap rare species without any structure in place, and there isn't a real hierachy in place for who could be an "established breeder" anyway.
Also broods can die for various reasons, or the mother could just eat the offspring without provocation. Someone has a few instances of bad luck and then what? Throw them out of the program? Make them pay?

I don't want to discourage any captive breeding, but I'm not sure a system like this would be a solution.
 

xVOWx

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
235
I just thought I would throw the general idea out on the table before I went to bed and forgot the whole thing ;). I figured discussion would work out the details and evolve this theoretical idea. I'm going to work now.. again... today.
 

skinheaddave

SkorpionSkin
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Aug 15, 2002
Messages
4,341
I think the association idea only has real merit for larger communities. Things like dogs, cats ... even some reptiles now (corns, balls) are bred by so many people that there is something to be said for establishing an association with guidelines to set apart the serious, ethical breeders from the average joe who picked up two of x from the local pet shop. That way, as someone looking for an x or someone looking to breed x, I can look at the list and know that even someone I've never heard about who is on said list probably lives up to a certain set of standards. There is also some effort being made to keep track of genetic lineage in the interest of preserving viable populations of animals.

The scorpion world is much, much smaller. There really aren't many serious breeders and everyone knows everyone else. Specimens already get moved around as needed, be it gratis, trades or sales. Nobody is really pumping out sufficient numbers of young to stem the imports because scorpion biology does not lend itself to that sort of scale. The exception may be with some Buthids -- but look at something like Hadogenes and you have scorpions that are relatively difficult to breed and raise, put out only a few young, and may take 5-10 years to mature. If you want to track the lineage of that sort of thing, it is usually as simple as chatting with the couple people who ended up with your stock and seeing what they've been up to in the last decade. :D

Cheers,
Dave
 

H. cyaneus

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
May 2, 2006
Messages
301
Most people that breed the rarer species talk to eachother and get the ones around they need to keep breeding. I.e. one person has a male, one person has x females. That guy will send the male to keep breeding the species. There are some hobbiest that breed wanting to see the spread of the hobby, not the money.

Mike
 

Brian S

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2004
Messages
6,526
There are some hobbiest that breed wanting to see the spread of the hobby, not the money.

Mike
Thats what we all need to be doing in the first place;) . Besides, nobody is going to make much $$ selling scorps. I breed about 20-30 species now and my goal is to make all the less common species more common and to encourage others to breed the species they keep. Sure its fun just to keep "pet" scorp or 2 but nothing is as rewarding as being able to successfully breed them:)
 

xVOWx

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
235
There are some hobbiest that breed wanting to see the spread of the hobby, not the money.

Mike

That's what this whole idea is all about :). There are just so many neat species that are hard to come by. I'm still looking for someone with a girly A. mauritanicus they either want to sell or borrow my male for awile.
 
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