To breed or not to breed

Neonblizzard

Arachnomoron
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Mar 3, 2021
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611
This is just a casual question that I'm interested to hear fellow tarantula owners opinions of.

I mentioned to my friends that if my G pulchra sling is a male i would probably loan him out for breeding, as one T born in captivity is one less taken from the wild. and they found it incredible that i would risk my beloved pet being eaten.

My thoughts were that although it can be risky and sad if were eaten, it's kind of what they were born to do. We can't exactly neuter a T Like we could an animal to remove that instinct to mate; could you consider it cruel to let a mature male frantically wander its enclosure looking for a mate it will never find? Although i understand they don't feel emotions or frustration the way a mammal does...

Would love to hear people's opinions and feelings about this ☺
 

emartinm28

Arachnoknight
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Mar 29, 2020
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271
Well first, even though it’s possible for a male to be eaten, it’s very uncommon especially if the breeder is monitoring the situation. So I don’t really think the marginal risk of the male being eaten is grounds in itself to not send him off to breed.

in terms of wandering, it’s my understanding that they will continue to wander around even if they get paired successfully. In the wild if they mate with one female it doesn’t give them any sense of “satisfaction” nor does it kill their drive to mate with more females, though if I’m wrong about that someone can correct me.

at the end of the day, neither are inherently wrong or abusive. It’s purely your choice, if you want to help make sure the hobby will be well supplied with G. pulchra for years to come then by all means send him off, but if you just can’t let go of him then of course that’s your choice too and you should enjoy the time you have left with him when he matures. Just my thoughts
 

Neonblizzard

Arachnomoron
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This is a very good point, they would surely perpetually wander the wild for females rather than settling down with with the wife and kids 😅
 

Matt Man

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considering they
A) sometimes get eaten in the wild
B) Sometimes are preyed upon while looking for a mate
C) and are at the end of their existence
I really don't see much downside to breeding them. If they happen to get ate, it is sad, but they are dying soon anyhow.
Better to try to attempt passing on those genetics.
 

Edan bandoot

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The risk of the male getting eaten with a keeper's supervision is pretty low, and even if it does get eaten, it did so pursuing it's only goal in life.

I have a personal policy to send off or breed all my males because I feel that it's important to support the longevity of the hobby and it gives me personal fulfillment to help the males achieve their purpose in life, whether they care or not.
 

Neonblizzard

Arachnomoron
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Mar 3, 2021
Messages
611
The risk of the male getting eaten with a keeper's supervision is pretty low, and even if it does get eaten, it did so pursuing it's only goal in life.

I have a personal policy to send off or breed all my males because I feel that it's important to support the longevity of the hobby and it gives me personal fulfillment to help the males achieve their purpose in life, whether they care or not.
Very good point, it leads back to the more babies in captivity, less taken from the wild, and will bring the overall costs of tarantulas down which is always nice

The risk of the male getting eaten with a keeper's supervision is pretty low, and even if it does get eaten, it did so pursuing it's only goal in life.

I have a personal policy to send off or breed all my males because I feel that it's important to support the longevity of the hobby and it gives me personal fulfillment to help the males achieve their purpose in life, whether they care or not.
If i could just ask out of curiosity, when you send your males off to breed, what is the typical arrangement you have with the breeder? I've heard people have half of the slings each but there's no way I'd want to take on 100+ pulchras 😅 I'd maybe want a few of them at most
 

Edan bandoot

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If i could just ask out of curiosity, when you send your males off to breed, what is the typical arrangement you have with the breeder? I've heard people have half of the slings each but there's no way I'd want to take on 100+ pulchras 😅 I'd maybe want a few of them at most
Common arrangements are:
- 50/50
- they buy your half wholesale off you
- some people buy the male directly
-some vendors will allow you to send your male in to them for store credit or cash aswell
Choose what's right for you
 

Neonblizzard

Arachnomoron
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Mar 3, 2021
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611
Common arrangements are:
- 50/50
- they buy your half wholesale off you
- some people buy the male directly
-some vendors will allow you to send your male in to them for store credit or cash aswell
Choose what's right for you
Ohh that's really interesting, i didn't realise there were so many options, thanks for enlightening me
 

Matt Man

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If i could just ask out of curiosity, when you send your males off to breed, what is the typical arrangement you have with the breeder? I've heard people have half of the slings each but there's no way I'd want to take on 100+ pulchras 😅 I'd maybe want a few of them at most
yes, some split of the slings to be determined by the parties involved. Our local shop had a MM C versicolor. 2 of the employees knowing we were looking for one for our MF bought it and loaned it to my daughter and I so they can get slings.

and if you supply the male and only want say, a handful of slings, they will typically purchase the rest of your allotment @ wholesale or trade for an adult, sub adult
 

Tarantuland

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Mar 19, 2020
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I would do it, he's only gonna live so much longer after maturing. Try to make sure as best you can it's not gonna be a Quirogai/Pulchra hybrid though. There's always that risk he will be eaten, but he's gonna be staring at certain death anyway, so....
 

Matts inverts

Arachnoangel
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Jan 17, 2021
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866
it’s sad if you do lose him but you get way more and have a chance of still having him. You can sell some to pay for the supplies for them and have tons of cash. No way to lose in this situation. Just do it.
 

Scorpiobsession

Arachnobaron
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Mar 1, 2021
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I'm from the reptile hobby and this isn't super rare for reptiles, one thing that always applies is, how do you make sure the breeder you're sending him to is reliable and holds up to the agreement and sends some babies back? Or is that just a risk you take.
 

Matts inverts

Arachnoangel
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Who do you mean. Are you talking about the T or the person. If your talking about the T, that’s a little messed up
 

Scorpiobsession

Arachnobaron
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Who do you mean. Are you talking about the T or the person. If your talking about the T, that’s a little messed up
I'm pretty sure the T, which makes sense, once breeding age he's not going to live much longer and if he's bred he'll either get eaten or survive and then die of old age a bit later.
 

Matt Man

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in my response, the T. You are talking less than a year for most MMs, some a matter of months or weeks.
IMO they are better off going out trying to breed than just dying in an enclosure.

speaking of Versi Pairing.jpg
 

Matt Man

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What a lovely boy! To be honest i don't think the males get the love they deserve! I've just got an L.parahybana juvie that I'm kinda hoping is a male because I'm creased laughing every time i see one 😂 they are so gangly and derpy
if you look carefully in the enclosure behind him you can see his girlfriend. She is just post molt, we want to let her fangs harden, feed her a few times and then let them at it. Here's the lovely lady
Lucretia 2.jpg
 

nicodimus22

Arachnomancer
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Sep 26, 2013
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715
Unlike most pets, male tarantulas aren't going to live much longer when they sexually mature. People outside of the hobby don't know this, so it's shocking to them that we'd risk it. To us, it's like 'he's going to die soon even if I do nothing with him, so we might as well try to get _____ species bred if it's in short supply.'
 
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