Buying expensive t’s

[Spaceman]

I’ve been keeping my eye on a Poecilotheria Metallica (Saphire Gooty Ornamental Tarantula) and noticed that the price is $85.00 .. not including shipping. I’ve bought 2 tarantulas already but not for that big of a price. Would it be worth it to order it and have a 50/50 chance it’s a male or female?

Idk what to do but it is a very beautiful species and I want to get one badly..

And it says it’s 11/2’ if anyone’s wondering

 

[l4nsky]

Do you want it and can you afford it? If you can answer yes to both of these questions, go for it (assuming you have the experience and confidence to work with an OW arboreal). Even if it turns out to be male, it's not the end of the world. There will always be a demand for this species and that means you can easily do a breeding loan or sell him off for 1-2 more slings and try again.

 

[TriMac33]

I’ve been keeping my eye on a Poecilotheria Metallica (Saphire Gooty Ornamental Tarantula) and noticed that the price is $85.00 .. not including shipping. I’ve bought 2 tarantulas already but not for that big of a price. Would it be worth it to order it and have a 50/50 chance it’s a male or female?

Idk what to do but it is a very beautiful species and I want to get one badly..

And it says it’s 11/2’ if anyone’s wondering

If that says 1.5", that's actually not a bad price at all. Where I'm from in Canada, that same T with that size would be about $140. As long as you're experienced with OW aboreals, I'd say do it.

 

[Arachnophoric]

I’ve been keeping my eye on a Poecilotheria Metallica (Saphire Gooty Ornamental Tarantula) and noticed that the price is $85.00 .. not including shipping. I’ve bought 2 tarantulas already but not for that big of a price. Would it be worth it to order it and have a 50/50 chance it’s a male or female?

Idk what to do but it is a very beautiful species and I want to get one badly..

And it says it’s 11/2’ if anyone’s wondering

Depends on how badly you're wanting a female.

Sexed females depending on the size can cost anywhere from $200-$400, from what I've seen. I purchased two slings of this species, both turned out male. I might be wrong, but this particular species seems to have a slightly higher male to female sex ratio.

However, you can always take a gamble, and if it ends up male, it isn't the end of the road; P. metallica mature males are regularly in demand and easily sell for $100, which means in the very least you'd make your money back and then a little. You could also trade him off, OR lastly you could try doing a breeding loan and bank on the possibility of getting a viable egg sac, in which event you'd get a portion of the resulting slings (50% is standard).

If the prospect of getting a male isn't the end of the world for you, you can save money and go with one. If you're really wanting a female, you're better off either purchasing a minimum of 3-4 (which doesn't guarantee one will absolutely be female, but also could end up with you getting MULTIPLE females, in which you can sell the extra Ts and turn profit) or buying a sexed female outright.

 

[Liquifin]

Prices are fair, but if you're looking for a female then it's your call. Poecilotheria favor males over females for me and most people, but some people have really great luck getting females for some reason which I could use some of that luck myself. I think it's a win either way, whether male or female, any Poecilotheria will sell because anything that's a Poecilotheria is always in need to a breeder or a breeding project.

I might be wrong, but this particular species seems to have a slightly higher male to female sex ratio.

That's basically all Poecilotheria species, if you get a female then it's a jackpot no matter what species of Poecilotheria. A person I know bought half a sac of a Poecilotheria (forgot what species) from a breeder and the end sexed ratio was 26.7.0 (26 males, 7 females) in the end. I get envious with people with luck of getting females from slings and i'm still praying that one day I don't have to pay for sexed female Poecilotheria. I have yet to obtain a female Poecilotheria from a sling stage despite after going through 18 different Poecilotheria specimens from slings.

 

[l4nsky]

I have yet to obtain a female Poecilotheria from a sling stage despite after going through 18 different Poecilotheria specimens from slings.

That is some extremely bad luck. Hear I thought O. violaceopes was the worst in regards to x.x ratios, but I've never heard of a male streak like this.

 

[Arachnophoric]

That's basically all Poecilotheria species, if you get a female then it's a jackpot no matter what species of Poecilotheria. A person I know bought half a sac of a Poecilotheria (forgot what species) from a breeder and the end sexed ratio was 26.7.0 (26 males, 7 females) in the end. I get envious with people with luck of getting females from slings and i'm still praying that one day I don't have to pay for sexed female Poecilotheria. I have yet to obtain a female Poecilotheria from a sling stage despite after going through 18 different Poecilotheria specimens from slings.

Woof. I knew that seemed to be the overall case, but I didn't know it could be that bad.

I've had fairly decent luck on my end - besides a metallica I'm picking up on Friday, all the Poecilotheria I've purchased have been unsexed. Of the 8 specimens I've purchased as unsexed up to this point, 3 have turned out female, 2 are confirmed males, and 3 are still unsexed with one that appears to be male and 2 that are too small to sex. But not a single female out of 18 specimens? Ouch.

 

[Liquifin]

That is some extremely bad luck. Hear I thought O. violaceopes was the worst in regards to x.x ratios, but I've never heard of a male streak like this.

But not a single female out of 18 specimens? Ouch.

I'm hoping I do get a female pokie from one of my current 3 slings (2 P. ornata, 1 P. metallica) right now. And yes, I have the worst luck of Poecilotheria, which I almost never buy juveniles unless they come as an extra for free or getting them for a friends breeding project that needs a male. So basically i'm just getting rid of males to breeders, due to my luck which isn't all too bad. I think i'm getting closer to a female soon, so lets see if I can get a female pokie from a sling before I hit the 20 record mark with my 3 slings now. I've also come to the point where I'll just breed my own sac (soon) and test my luck then.

 

[cold blood]

its chance....i have raised 19 versicolor slings....never a female....17 O. schioedtei, all males...Pokies Ive never had a problem, two ornata, one female, one vitatta, one female, one striata, one female....i breed regalis regularly and always keep 3-5....and generally get a female out of the small group...i have 5 from a sac now, 2 are female...violaceopes about the same.

But males do outnumber females, and its certainly true that some species lean more heavily one way or the other....so odds tend to be in favor of the male kind of luck like liquifin spoke of. But its not written in stone.

While I had terrible luck going 0 for 17 with schioedtei, i got my female from someone who bought 3 and got 2 females.....and i know plenty of people who bought one to three versicolor and got a female.

As for the metallica price....search and be patient, you can occassionally find them much cheaper....50 would be my personal top dollar and i turned down mets for $35 a couple years back. I cant believe prices have gone up for them in the last couple years, but sadly, it appears so.

 

[Vanisher]

I’ve been keeping my eye on a Poecilotheria Metallica (Saphire Gooty Ornamental Tarantula) and noticed that the price is $85.00 .. not including shipping. I’ve bought 2 tarantulas already but not for that big of a price. Would it be worth it to order it and have a 50/50 chance it’s a male or female?

Idk what to do but it is a very beautiful species and I want to get one badly..

And it says it’s 11/2’ if anyone’s wondering

If you want it and you have experience, buy it! Not too bad price for a P metallica i assume. Me myself have always liked the "gambling aspect" of getting slings from a speicies i really wanted. It is a luttle thrill to sex it later and see if it is a female? If it is a male, it is not the whole world

 

[KaroKoenig]

Somewhat off-topic, I know... but the male:female ratio makes me curious.

Does anyone have any knowledge of studies dealing with an eventual temperature-dependance of the male:female ratio during egg development in tarantulas or spiders in general? I remember it happens e.g. with crocodiles.
I don't have very high hopes that there are any studies... Got to raise quite a few Pokey eggsacs under controlled conditions and wait till all offspring can be sexed. Not exactly a research project PhD students dream about...

 

[Vanessa]

You have to spend money to make money. If you are interested in breeding at some point, even if you are not ready yet or undecided, then invest in some higher demand species now. Then, when the time comes that they are mature, you are prepared.
There are lots of people spending $10 on and LP and maybe... maybe getting $1 a spiderling later on, but less people are spending $200 on a couple of spiderlings that will be paid off in full the first egg sac you produce.

 

[FrmDaLeftCoast]

For us poor folks, the shipping cost forces me to order multiple slings...but that's just me. Good Luck!

 

[l4nsky]

You have to spend money to make money. If you are interested in breeding at some point, even if you are not ready yet or undecided, then invest in some higher demand species now. Then, when the time comes that they are mature, you are prepared.
There are lots of people spending $10 on and LP and maybe... maybe getting $1 a spiderling later on, but less people are spending $200 on a couple of spiderlings that will be paid off in full the first egg sac you produce.

This is my philosophy exactly. Cant wait for the next import.

 

[scooter1685]

I didn't want to pay around 80-100 for a quirogai sling. Instead, my wife ordered several less-expensive slings and made an order large enough to get one for free. Sort of the opposite philosophy there, spend more all at once to get a better deal but only buy one or two times per year.

Whatever you feel good about at the end of the day is the right answer for you. If you like the Gooty enough, know how to care for it properly and can afford the price, then get it. If you really don't want to spend that much money on a spider, get a picture instead and put that up on the wall. You'll still get to see the beautiful spider all the time, but it's free. That would be my solution, anyway.

 

[Kitara]

Dang. I didn't realize $85 was expensive for a sling. Now I'm wondering how much I overpaid for my Ts.

 

[Colorado Ts]

You have to spend money to make money. If you are interested in breeding at some point, even if you are not ready yet or undecided, then invest in some higher demand species now. Then, when the time comes that they are mature, you are prepared.
There are lots of people spending $10 on and LP and maybe... maybe getting $1 a spiderling later on, but less people are spending $200 on a couple of spiderlings that will be paid off in full the first egg sac you produce.

Spider Economics 101.

Somewhat off-topic, I know... but the male:female ratio makes me curious.

Does anyone have any knowledge of studies dealing with an eventual temperature-dependance of the male:female ratio during egg development in tarantulas or spiders in general? I remember it happens e.g. with crocodiles.
I don't have very high hopes that there are any studies... Got to raise quite a few Pokey eggsacs under controlled conditions and wait till all offspring can be sexed. Not exactly a research project PhD students dream about...

I spent 2 weeks in September researching this very topic and found nothing. I found an article on the movement and activity of Aphonopelma hentzi and temperature. A person here expressed interest in the article, and I cannot find it.

Near as I can tell, no one has done that study.

 

[Ungoliant]

Somewhat off-topic, I know... but the male:female ratio makes me curious.

Does anyone have any knowledge of studies dealing with an eventual temperature-dependance of the male:female ratio during egg development in tarantulas or spiders in general? I remember it happens e.g. with crocodiles.

For spiders, sex is determined at fertilization, not by later environmental factors to which the embryo is exposed.

Aside from the "regular" chromosomes (the autosomes, A), two special chromosomes represent the sex chromosomes (X chromosomes). Whereas female spiders possess a dual set of these X chromosomes (2A + X1 X1 X2X2), male spiders have but a single set (2A+ X1 X2). Consequently, after meiosis the haploid egg cells have A + X1 X2 chromosomes, but the sperm cells are of two types: either they likewise possess A+ X1 X2 or they lack sex chromosomes altogether (A + 0). Sex determination is thus dependent on the type of sperm cell that fertilizes the egg. Some spider species have only one X chromosome in the male, others even three. A Y chromosome, as is typical for many insects and mammals, is very rare among spiders (Maddison, 1982).

 

[Poonjab]

If you have the money and plan to care for them properly, then buy them.

 

[Spaceman]

Thank you everyone who responded!! After reading all the information I decided to go ahead and try my luck, and I purchased one yesterday and I’ll get it January 6th!