Gynandromorphs in the Pet Trade?

[dord]

Out of curiosity, has anyone ever seen a bilateral gynandromorph tarantula for sale before? And if you somehow acquired one through breeding, would you keep it or sell it- and for how much?

Personally, I would keep it and buy a lottery ticket.

 

[KezyGLA]

Never seen any for sale. Can't imagine breeder selling them deliberately.

 

[Wolfspidurguy]

honestly a T with both male and female traits isnt that interesting so i would probably end up keeping it instead of selling it. if i were feeling like livin like larry i might make a tumblr for it and give it the persona of a drag queen (just kidding i dont wanna offend anyone)

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

If I had a gynandromorph, I would keep it and when it died put preserve it alcohol with a note saying "if something happens to me, send to the arachnid collection of the American Museum of Natural History." Gynandromorphs are so rare in spiders, and even more so in tarantulas and other mygalomorphs, that any that come up need to be preserved and deposited in a museum. Come to think of it, I might document it with many pictures along with a written description for publication then send it off to a museum collection myself.

 

[dord]

I wonder what the chance of gynandromorphism occurring in tarantulas is approximately, in one study a team raised about 30,000 butterflies and 5 were bilateral gynandromorphs. I dunno what the sex chromosomes of tarantulas are or how they work but they must be different from butterflies, otherwise we'd probably see gynandromorphic tarantulas a lot more! Well, how about we find out how many LP sacs it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop...