Value of Tarantulas

EulersK

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There's been a lot of talk on here recently about the monetary value of spiders. I figured that it was about time I move on from tarantula 101 and start talking about more advanced topics, and where better to start then to ask why some spiders cost more than a used car? As always, feel free to critique! I'm all ears.





So, what do you think? Did I miss anything major? And out of curiosity, what's the most you've paid for a single spider? I can't say I've paid through the nose for any specimen, but my most valuable is probably my MF B. emilia that I got for the steal price of ~$100USD.
 
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Marijan2

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Most i've paid for spider is 80 euro(~$100) for my adult female robustum few years back
 

Estein

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Great vid. My Ts get shipped to my workplace and I'm always getting asked how much tarantulas are, but I've never had a very concise answer for why the prices vary so much.

I love NW terrestrials so I've got the cheapos--my most expensive was a sweet $35 female B. vagans.
 

chanda

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The most I've paid for a single spider is around $100 - and I've done that more than once! (MF T. stirmi, subadult L. parahybana (which unfortunately turned out to be male), sub-adult female G. pulchripes) Fortunately, most of my spiders were significanly cheaper than that - usually in the $35-$50 range. (I keep predominantly NW terrestrial species, with a Pokie and an Avic thrown in for variety.)
 

Bugmom

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May 28, 2012
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Most I've paid was $225 or $250 for one spider - a mature female B. baumgarteni. Who needs a boyfriend, btw. I also paid quite a bit for my M. mesomelas slings back when they were a lot more than they are now. Like, twice as much :hurting:

Still cheap compared to my snakes.

Just finished the video. @EulersK. You. I like you.
 
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Misty Day

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The most I've ever paid for a T was my female P.cambridgei for 50 euros, I always buy slings/juveniles so the price is never too high. Which just means I can get more!
 

EulersK

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The most I've paid for a single spider is around $100 - and I've done that more than once!
I'm in the same boat. It's not that I don't want some of these more expensive species, it's that I'm just not willing to drop that kind of money. Luckily, I've been very fortunate with expo and Craigslist scores, so I've got several jewels in my collection.
 

Tfisher

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I think the vid is great. Stand up job explaining prices for new comers. (Btw youll be seeing your vid linked when I see the question come up) hahah
 

Moonohol

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I paid $80 for my confirmed fem L. difficilis. I know most people here will scoff at paying that much for a Lasiodora, but to me it was completely worth it as she is a fantastic T. If I see a T I want, price isn't something I pay much attention to apart from "can I afford this or nah?" That's because I care more about who the T is coming from than how much I'm paying for it.
 

chanda

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I'm in the same boat. It's not that I don't want some of these more expensive species, it's that I'm just not willing to drop that kind of money. Luckily, I've been very fortunate with expo and Craigslist scores, so I've got several jewels in my collection.
Yeah, Craigslist can be good - except I've noticed as they've been molting that a suspicious majority of my "unsexed" Craigslist Ts have turned out to be male. It makes me wonder if maybe some of them were molt-sexed as male by their previous owners, then dumped as "unsexed" before it became obvious!

Still, I can't really complain. The reason I was buying on Craigslist (and buying adult/subadult) was that I needed a bunch of impressive-sized South American Ts in a hurry for a Geography Day presentation. (This also gave me the excuse to increase my T collection from 9 to 21.) Between Craigslist and a couple of expos, I was able to present species that could be found in most of the countries in South America.
 

EulersK

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Yeah, Craigslist can be good - except I've noticed as they've been molting that a suspicious majority of my "unsexed" Craigslist Ts have turned out to be male. It makes me wonder if maybe some of them were molt-sexed as male by their previous owners, then dumped as "unsexed" before it became obvious!
I personally have no problem with that... on fact, I prefer to get males from Craigslist. Look at it this way. Obviously you can't choose whatever you want, you get what's being offered. When they mature, send them out to a breeder for a trade for something you actually want.
 

sdsnybny

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Great video as usual.
$125 ea for H. pulchripes slings
$95 ea x 3 for Ami sp Panama slings at <1/4" none survived ;(
 

sdsnybny

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Yikes, that gotta sting. That reminds me when i bought 5 P. brachyramosa slings and every single one of them died in next 3 months
I do way better with the tiny ass slings now, thank god. i will do the Ami again soon, I just love the looks of them.
 

chanda

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I personally have no problem with that... on fact, I prefer to get males from Craigslist. Look at it this way. Obviously you can't choose whatever you want, you get what's being offered. When they mature, send them out to a breeder for a trade for something you actually want.
You have no problem with someone intentionally passing a sub-adult male as unsexed?
Yes, when shopping Craigslist, you don't have a choice in what's available - but you do have the choice of whether to purchase any given spider or pass on it in favor of the next one - and whether to try negotiating a different price. (Fortunately, I live in a relatively tarantula-rich region in Southern California, so there are usually quite a few Ts available.) It is possible that I would have purchased some of those that turned out to be male anyway, even if I had known that they were male up front - but I might not have been willing to pay as much for some of them as I did. I based my acceptable purchase price on the assumption that they were truly unsexed and at least some of them might be female. Out of six spiders that were purchased "unsexed" on Craigslist, 4 turned out to be male. (The other two are small juveniles and are still unsexed.) Two were purchased as female and the one that has molted is confirmed female. (Still waiting on the G. pulchripes for confirmation, but I have no reason to suspect otherwise.) While I have no proof that people are intentionally passing males as unsexed to get a better price for them, the results I've seen lead me to suspect this might be the case.
 

EulersK

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You have no problem with someone intentionally passing a sub-adult male as unsexed?
Yes, when shopping Craigslist, you don't have a choice in what's available - but you do have the choice of whether to purchase any given spider or pass on it in favor of the next one - and whether to try negotiating a different price. (Fortunately, I live in a relatively tarantula-rich region in Southern California, so there are usually quite a few Ts available.) It is possible that I would have purchased some of those that turned out to be male anyway, even if I had known that they were male up front - but I might not have been willing to pay as much for some of them as I did. I based my acceptable purchase price on the assumption that they were truly unsexed and at least some of them might be female. Out of six spiders that were purchased "unsexed" on Craigslist, 4 turned out to be male. (The other two are small juveniles and are still unsexed.) Two were purchased as female and the one that has molted is confirmed female. (Still waiting on the G. pulchripes for confirmation, but I have no reason to suspect otherwise.) While I have no proof that people are intentionally passing males as unsexed to get a better price for them, the results I've seen lead me to suspect this might be the case.
Well, it's ethically wrong for people to be doing that, but I'm certainly benefitting from it. Think about it - I buy a 'confirmed female' B. smithi for $30 off Craigslist from an owner that doesn't know any better. It matures, and suddenly it's worth way more than $30 in a trade. For that spider (this is a real example, by the way) I ended up walking away with about $100 worth of various slings.

Sure, someone else got screwed and that's too bad, but I ended up benefiting from it.
 

louise f

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Great video friend as always. :) About 5 years back, i will never forget it. I really trusted the guy, he said It was an confirmed AF P.metallica, the price $148 I was so happy for her. Guess what?
2 month later it was a MM. I never found the guy again. That sucked. :( If i ever see him again I`ll beat the crap out of him.
 

Kodi

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The most I've paid is $150 for my electric blue sling. It was worth every penny.
 

magicmed

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Most expensive I purchased was my b. boehmei pair at 250 I believe I paid. so realistically probably paid around 200 for the adult female.
 
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