Female P. Metallica purchase

[Abyss]

Well, a mom and pap reptile store is better than a Petco. But even so, reptile stores specialize in reptiles and know a lot about reptiles. Yes, many of them happen to also carry inverts because they fall into the "unusual pet" category. But it doesn't always mean they know a lot about them. Unless the owner happens to be really into T's as well. That, we don't know.

Agreed about the oet store itself but i wouod still get a guarantee for sure or no deal IMO

 

[Angel Minkov]

at 3" even if its male thats not a bad price. if it IS female thats about half what it COULD go for. Even if it is male, at 3" it wont be too long until it matures and becomes a very valuable bargaining chip for trades or loans.

3'' females COULD go for 300$ in the US? Gosh, sucks to be an american hobbyist.

 

[Haksilence]

3'' females COULD go for 300$ in the US? Gosh, sucks to be an american hobbyist.

It's definitely on the extreme high end, but yeah some of the prices would shock you.
It's crazy when the cost of a spider varies so much from NA to EU that it's cheaper to buy overseas AND pay for the priority shipping than to buy in the US.

 

[awiec]

3'' females COULD go for 300$ in the US? Gosh, sucks to be an american hobbyist.

It's all about demand, I have adult females of way more rarer species that I could maybe sell the the offspring for $35 a piece even though P.metallica is in no short supply in the hobby.

 

[Poec54]

Don't buy adult Poecs unless you know the seller. Females live 10 years or so, and you could easily buy one that's winding down, maybe someone's burnt-out breeder. I made that mistake when I was building up my Poec collection, buying adults from collectors/breeders, some turned out to be short timers.

As fast as Poecs grow, get immature ones.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

3'' females COULD go for 300$ in the US? Gosh, sucks to be an american hobbyist.

Indeed, but bit of solace, they have all of those exquisite Petco & such

 

[Angel Minkov]

The solace would be their acrylic enclosures lol

 

[Walker253]

It's definitely on the extreme high end, but yeah some of the prices would shock you.
It's crazy when the cost of a spider varies so much from NA to EU that it's cheaper to buy overseas AND pay for the priority shipping than to buy in the US.

You're not suggesting "Brown Boxing", are you?

 

[Haksilence]

You're not suggesting "Brown Boxing", are you?

I'm not "suggesting" anything illegal if that's what you are implying.

 

[Andrea82]

You're not suggesting "Brown Boxing", are you?

I think he merely stated that as an example

 

[Walker253]

I'm not "suggesting" anything illegal if that's what you are implying.

I think he merely stated that as an example

It was a little "tongue in cheek". Hak has taken a bit of exceptions with something I said in the past and I saw a moment for a bit of "Touche".
Take it easy

 

[Haksilence]

It was a little "tongue in cheek". Hak has taken a bit of exceptions with something I said in the past and I saw a moment for a bit of "Touche".
Take it easy

I don't remember this exchange, but I don't doubt it. I'm a dick

 

[Christian Jocson]

So did the OP buy this 3" female? At 2.5-3" it's pretty easy to tell the sex of a Metallica in my experience. I have 3 at that size and all are females.

The local pet store ordered 12 p.metallica slings and sold them for $100 a piece at 3rd instar. I randomly chose 3 because I thought they would sell out fast. Out of the 3 all of them turned out female. Fast forward 6-7 months,I went back recently to pick one up again, and upon examination of the p.metallicas it was fairly easy to spot "the dot" on the male specimens. So I picked up another female for $100

 

[Anoplogaster]

Honestly, I really think P. metallicas need to start getting cheaper. I could understand if they were rare and hard to find, like they used to be. But they're EVERYWHERE now! They breed just as easily as other pokies do. When I go to a reptile expo, just about every T table has metallicas for sale. I agree with how gorgeous they are. But they're not the only blue spider in the hobby.... lol

 

[Christian Jocson]

Honestly, I really think P. metallicas need to start getting cheaper. I could understand if they were rare and hard to find, like they used to be. But they're EVERYWHERE now! They breed just as easily as other pokies do. When I go to a reptile expo, just about every T table has metallicas for sale. I agree with how gorgeous they are. But they're not the only blue spider in the hobby.... lol

I completely agree with most of what you stated. I remember when I first got into the hobby around 2006 or so, a sling cost $300-$500 if my memory serves me correctly. Now they are virtually available in all online stores and are even avilable in some normal pet shops here in NorCal.

To me they are the perfect tarantula because they have no urticating hairs, decent webbers, grow to a good size and are blue.

However, from what I've gathered online and with learned from breeders, is that they can be difficult to breed. Not exactly sure why, but more often than not they are troublesome when it comes to producing a successful sac, and the numbers of viable slings are less than other poecilotherias.

 

[Tanner Dzula]

Honestly, I really think P. metallicas need to start getting cheaper. I could understand if they were rare and hard to find, like they used to be. But they're EVERYWHERE now! They breed just as easily as other pokies do. When I go to a reptile expo, just about every T table has metallicas for sale. I agree with how gorgeous they are. But they're not the only blue spider in the hobby.... lol

agreed. they are beautiful, but it can be very off putting when you see a shop/expo stand with like 5-10 P. Mets and all are $100+ for 1-3" "unsexed" Specimens(especially when even i can sit there and tell more then half of them are for sure Male)

especially for somebody like me, who would absolutely LOVE to get my hands on a P. Met but i really don't want to spent 140$ for a Male or 200$ for a "female"(heavy emphasis on it having a Big button down there)

the worst I've seen was a shop(that i now refuse to even step into these days, Who's known for there heavily overpriced specimens, IE: 50$ for a B. albo Sling, 45$ for OBT Slings and even 35$ for a ~1" LP sling) who sold a buddy of mine a "confirmed" freshly matured MF for $345, only for it to die within 5 months. When my friend contacted the Guy who supplied the shop he told him that particular one was going on 8 1/2 years old(when he had given to the shops owner, this was not 6 months after that) and was his old breeder he had given to the shop owner for free when he picked up the last sac she had.
shop owner refused to do anything about refunding the money and claimed it must have died due to his care for the T.