What is the most Rare Tarantula in Captivity or available in the Hobby??

Arachnoholic420

Arachnoangel
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Hey all, I was just wondering... i've used the thread search and only came up with these Sp's..... M balfouri and P metallica... i know ther would be other sp's rather than just these.... so my question is what would be the rarest T specimen in captivity , or currenly available in the hobby?
 

Edd Eskimo

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P.Smithi would be one and a couple of other pokies like P.Hanumavilasumica and P.Uniformis..Oo and those 2 are nothing compared to these in rarity..I don't even think P.Metallica or M.Balfouri are rare but rather expensive display T's..
 

Falk

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Poecilotheria metallica is not really rare.
P. metallica is just trendy imo just like Theraphosa blondi was 10 years ago.
 

Scorpendra

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a few candidates:

Encyocratella olivacea
Ornithoctonus sp. "Koh Samui"
Pamphobeteus sp. "Chicken Spider"
Monocentropus lambertoni
Poecilotheria smithi
Augacephalus junodi
Phormingochilus everetti
Sphaerobothria hoffmani
 

presurcukr

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not too many Brachypelma baumgarteni that I know of (i have a immature male if anyone out there has a fm)
 

mma316

Arachnosquire
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Rare T's

I'd have to go with Haplopelma Schmidti would qualify!
 

Bill S

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.... so my question is what would be the rarest T specimen in captivity , or currenly available in the hobby?
You've got two distinctly different questions there. If it's available in the hobby, then it's being bred in captivity or imported in large enough quantities to make it to price lists. There are no doubt many collectors out there who have one or two specimens of varieties not otherwise seen in the hobby, and possibly not described yet. You are not likely to get lists of them on internet forums because the vast majority of people on the forums will have no way of knowing about those extremely few specimens being in captivity.

For example - if a commercial exporter of wild caught tarantulas in some small tropical third world country sends a bunch of tarantulas to an importer in Europe, there's always the chance that one or more of the tarantulas in that shipment are poorly identified. They might be common species mistaken for something else, or might be something altogether new and undescribed. If new and undescribed, that becomes technically one of the rarest in captivity. Not because it's necessarily rare in the wild - but just because there aren't others being captured and exported. Doesn't mean that it will be commercially valuable, either. Might be a dull brown tarantula that looks a lot like a common dull brown tarantula that it has been mistaken for.

I can't offer any tarantula examples, but I can give you a couple examples with scorpions. My wife and I have been working with cave arachnids. We've currently got two species of scorpions in captivity that nobody else in the world has. Each is a new, undescribed species, each found in a single locality (cave) that has very restricted access. So are they among the rarest in captivity? Technically, yup. Are they economically worth anything? Nope. (OK - there's probably a collector or two out there with more dollars than sense who would pay something for them - but we're not bothering to market them.) Rare does not always equal desirable or exciting.
 

forrestpengra

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I go with P.hanumavilasumica. There are 20 CB in Canada that came from Europe a few months ago. I really should have got my hands on one. There was one of the 20 for sale at the expo yesterday, more than I could afford after the rest of my purchases.
 

AzJohn

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You've got two distinctly different questions there. If it's available in the hobby, then it's being bred in captivity or imported in large enough quantities to make it to price lists. There are no doubt many collectors out there who have one or two specimens of varieties not otherwise seen in the hobby, and possibly not described yet. You are not likely to get lists of them on internet forums because the vast majority of people on the forums will have no way of knowing about those extremely few specimens being in captivity.

For example - if a commercial exporter of wild caught tarantulas in some small tropical third world country sends a bunch of tarantulas to an importer in Europe, there's always the chance that one or more of the tarantulas in that shipment are poorly identified. They might be common species mistaken for something else, or might be something altogether new and undescribed. If new and undescribed, that becomes technically one of the rarest in captivity. Not because it's necessarily rare in the wild - but just because there aren't others being captured and exported. Doesn't mean that it will be commercially valuable, either. Might be a dull brown tarantula that looks a lot like a common dull brown tarantula that it has been mistaken for.

I can't offer any tarantula examples, but I can give you a couple examples with scorpions. My wife and I have been working with cave arachnids. We've currently got two species of scorpions in captivity that nobody else in the world has. Each is a new, undescribed species, each found in a single locality (cave) that has very restricted access. So are they among the rarest in captivity? Technically, yup. Are they economically worth anything? Nope. (OK - there's probably a collector or two out there with more dollars than sense who would pay something for them - but we're not bothering to market them.) Rare does not always equal desirable or exciting.


I agree with you. I live in a rather remote part of Arizona. I've had in my posesstion 2 MM of my local dwarf species, over the last 8 years. I've never seen a female. I've taken it to local experts in native species and it is very likely a undescribed species. Does that make it rare. I would say yes. But valuable. Probably not unless the female was amazing looking.

John
 

Tindalos

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i consider full grown B.smithi in captivity pretty rare.

but i think the some of the rarer species in captivity are so because no one has interest in them, not only that some species arent fully described so its kinda hard get that particular T if you dont know what it is.

for example i would like to see more of the ami genus available.
plus cost is also a factor.
 

azgbb

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I agree with you. I live in a rather remote part of Arizona. I've had in my posesstion 2 MM of my local dwarf species, over the last 8 years. I've never seen a female. I've taken it to local experts in native species and it is very likely a undescribed species. Does that make it rare. I would say yes. But valuable. Probably not unless the female was amazing looking.

John
Is it the paramoguli? (sp????)
 

Endagr8

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Haplocosmia spp. are extremely rare in captive collections, IIRC.
 

KoffinKat138

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Not the most Rarest,but Adult Female Aphonopelma bicoloratum's are Pretty dang hard to find.
 

dantediss

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Pretty sure the rarest t's in the hobby not many of us besides a few breeders and keepers have even heard of . It seems the rare and hard to find t's make their way into private collections annd are kept secretive so as not to stir the pot . Its a catch 22 , Keeping rare t's leads to a very hairy situation as to how it was aquired and or found and or collected , legal or not .
 

Arachnoholic420

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I go with P.hanumavilasumica. There are 20 CB in Canada that came from Europe a few months ago. I really should have got my hands on one. There was one of the 20 for sale at the expo yesterday, more than I could afford after the rest of my purchases.
indeed...

a few candidates:

Encyocratella olivacea
Ornithoctonus sp. "Koh Samui"
Pamphobeteus sp. "Chicken Spider"
Monocentropus lambertoni
Poecilotheria smithi
Augacephalus junodi
Phormingochilus everetti
Sphaerobothria hoffmani
ive seen a few these avail...
but not these...
Poecilotheria smithi
Augacephalus junodi
Phormingochilus everetti
Sphaerobothria hoffmani
 

Arachnoholic420

Arachnoangel
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Pretty sure the rarest t's in the hobby not many of us besides a few breeders and keepers have even heard of . It seems the rare and hard to find t's make their way into private collections annd are kept secretive so as not to stir the pot . Its a catch 22 , Keeping rare t's leads to a very hairy situation as to how it was aquired and or found and or collected , legal or not .

Yes i agree... very touchy subject on how to acquire certain sp's... you are right is a double edge sword....
 

JimM

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For many it seems rare automatically equals desirable...I've never understood this mind set. I've seen people pay silly money for a rare, but otherwise nondescript animal.

Across the board, regardless if we're talking about fish, reptiles, tarantulas etc, very beautiful species are often overlooked because they are common. Never mind that if those species were difficult to find, everyone would be jumping over each other for them.

There are many species of tarantula that are either rare, or not in the hobby at all.
 

Tindalos

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Where did you come up with this idea??? I have 6 right now. And can get them just about any time i want.....
i consider them rare because a fully mature B.smithi arent cheap, take a long time to grow from 30$ 1/4 slings, well legally. plus they are not easy to aquire in my area from a LPS. my selection is limited LPS and expos, i wont buy online.

i think OP should of asked instead what species are hard to acquire.
for example P.metallica though not rare, it is not easy spider to come buy, due to price and availability but its not impossible to get one its just may take a little effort compared to other species.
 
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