Rumors about P.smithi? Who can give me some informations?

[Sleepwalkah]

Hi,

a few times I heard/read some rumors about the very rare P.smithi:

I was told/I read that it's nearly impossible to breed this species in captivity (?).
The females don't build eggsacs or destroy/eat them only seconds after finishing them (?). Or they molt after mating (?).
And most of the WC P.smithi just die after a while (?).



Is there anyone who has already bred this species or who knows more about it's behaviour in captivity?

It would be nice, if someone could give me some informations...

Greetz
Joscha

 

[Talkenlate04]

P smithi? Do you mean B smithi?

 

[ShadowBlade]

P smithi? Do you mean B smithi?

No, Poecilotheria smithi.

They're not in the American Hobby, they have them in like Germany.
Here's a pic of a spiderling. http://www.sklipkani.cz/full.php?id=1263

-Sean

 

[Talkenlate04]

Is that a valid species?
I have never heard of them........

 

[Sleepwalkah]

Hi,

Is that a valid species?
I have never heard of them........

yes of course it is. It's also listed here: The World Spider Catalog.

Here's another file which shows that P.smithi is a valid species: ID-Key

P.smithi is not a very spectacular spider but is is probably the rarest species of the genus Poecilotheria.

Here you can see a pic of it.

Yes, this species is traded in Germany and other european countries, but I already asked so many people and most of them laughed and said it would be nearly impossible to get it, because nobody would be able to breed it...

Greetz
Joscha

 

[Alice]

i don't know about the breeding in captivity really, but i know that someone in germany has had at least one viable sac. there were slings for trade here not too long ago. as i wasn't interested, i don't know who it was though.

 

[Sleepwalkah]

Hey Alice,

do you remember how much the slings were? I don't want to buy some - just to get an idea of the prices.

Greetz
Joscha

 

[Alice]

um, yeah, i remember - they were 100 euro each. i only remember because that's the price you pay for p. metallica over here.

 

[Lorgakor]

A thread of interest, since you posted the same question on that site, you might want to try pm'ing Angelarachnid for more info, he is currently breeding these.
http://www.the-t-store.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=7259&hl=

 

[syndicate]

a beautiful spider.very few adults are left in captivity and there habitat in the wild is in danger so hopefully these will not be lost for good :[

 

[Tony]

P smithi, was that P bara in the states, long ago?
I thought at some point there were a couple females in the US, but males were near zero....
Europe should be better off , and yes I hear that the eggsacs never made it far..

 

[Schlyne]

There was a BTS article a while back on P. smithi. It was theorized that it may have been accidentally hybridized with another pokie species (I can't remember which one) when it first came into the hobby. This may be one reason why it's so hard to breed the remaining smithi. The author was also concerned about habit destruction and since it is known in very few locations, it's at higher risk for extinction.

 

[Sleepwalkah]

Hi,

There was a BTS article a while back on P. smithi. It was theorized that it may have been accidentally hybridized with another pokie species (I can't remember which one) when it first came into the hobby. This may be one reason why it's so hard to breed the remaining smithi. The author was also concerned about habit destruction and since it is known in very few locations, it's at higher risk for extinction.

I got a link to an old thread about this: Any luck breeding Poecilotheria smithi????

Veeery interesting...

Greetz
Joscha

 

[C_Strike]

There seems to be a considerable population here in the uk too.
I know of two people that have a fair number and i also have seen them for sale ONCE at thespidershop.co.uk
They are out there, but kept as a personal secret treasure