Where are all the Adult Females?

[TechComMike]

No, I'm not talking about a Justin Bieber concert. Just that I have no interest in the whole multiple deli cup raising slings saga and can remember back to the 2003-2008 period when you could buy 6" females of numerous genus easily (because I did), even with choice among sellers so that prices remained stable. Nowadays there are slings for sale everywhere but large females are a rarity and it's not lost on me the economies of scale (pun) for a Seller with regard to having 200-300 little'uns to flog versus the time to raise or search to find a good supply of adult T's. Even so, does anybody know of reliable Sellers who frequently have larger adult females for sale (not small ones who only just became sexable with their latest molt either)?

 

[Liquifin]

I don't think anyone is going to sell any females easily, whether breeders or the simple hobbyists. People have become more reserved on selling females now because a good number species of T.'s in this hobby are being more harder to find because people are only wanting females and not breed any of those females beside the T. albo's, A. avic, and those hobby staples. Kinda sad to see a bunch of females from hobbyist who are not willing to breed them.

If there is one seller that is selling larger females of rarer species, it would be 03Arachnids (@Austin S. ). They have some very rare and unique species of females for sale, but there's not much or no males at all for those species, so it's going to be rough finding a male. I personally wouldn't buy a T. unless I know a male or female exists in the hobby.

 

[chanda]

The majority of those large spiders that were readily available 10 or 15 years ago were wild caught. These days, there are fewer adult spiders (particularly females) on the market because there are a lot fewer wild-caught spiders being imported. There have been a lot of restrictions imposed on the importing of tarantulas - and a lot of species have been labeled as endangered or threatened, or their export restricted by their native countries - so you're not seeing those relatively cheap wild-caught spiders (perhaps of dubious legality at times) that used to flood the market. Instead, what you're seeing is an upturn in captive-bred spiders - and of course, the breeders would rather sell them early, rather than hanging onto them and raising them for years to get them to that desired size, which requires a significant investment in time, cage space, feeders, and other resources.

 

[mack1855]

Question is really obvious,clamping down on wild-caught imports.

 

[Rigor Mortis]

^^^ What they said. But also you'll find juvenile-subadult females of species if you're patient enough to wait for someone to be selling one. I waited a few months until someone had a female B. hamorii I could buy but she was worth it! Unless of course you're wanting a harder to find species.

 

[viper69]

Females are just as available now. I see adult females alll the time.

 

[Rhino1]

I love raising slings, my biggest female now, could fit on my pinkie nail when I first got her.

 

[Arachnophoric]

I regularly see large females for sale in the classifieds on here and decent sized juvie females from popular online dealers.... But it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for a breeder to be selling off a bunch of their of-breeding-size females, does it?

In combination with restrictions put on import/export, people might be a bit more stingy with selling off adult females, but they're certainly out there if you look.

 

[TechComMike]

I'm certainly looking but not overwhelmed with the availability to this point, although I recognize the arguments made by those of you above - was just a much more customer friendly biz ten to fifteen years ago, even if that was due to w/c spiders.

 

[Theneil]

Likely the main culprit is as other have mentioned, that there is less option for Wild caught animals, as well as more and more hobbyists who don’t want WC anyway.

The other half to the equasion is that the US still isn’t any where near self sustaining on the breeding side. A HUGE amount if what you see for sale is from european imports, and of course, the large females cost more for the importer to bring in compared to slings, and also they are quick to sell ince they get here, leaving just the slings again. If we had more US breeders, they would be cycling in and out more of the females to breed and then retire also, which would cause more/better availability.

Restrictive legislation is also playing a part, as well as hobbyist reactions to said legislation.

 

[Vanisher]

Try to avoid buying adult females unless you are certain it is captive bred and raised to maturity. Buy slings of the same spricies you want, is much better cos there are much higher chance that slings are captive bred than cought in the wild. I have nevet heard of wild cought slings. I dont say that it does not exist, but most likely slings are CB.
This is the reason i always buy slings, that and the fact that i think it is way more intresting to raise slings, than keeping adult tarantulas

 

[RezonantVoid]

I took them all, sorry

 

[TechComMike]

This is the reason i always buy slings, that and the fact that i think it is way more intresting to raise slings, than keeping adult tarantulas

And alas as they say, it takes two views to make a market because I hold the absolute pole opposite opinion to this. I have zero interest in raising slings - I have half a dozen display enclosures in my office at home where I naturally want large and impressive examples of my preferred species (genus). Subdued blue moonlighting kicks in for all enclosures at 5.30pm and switches off at 10pm. I don't want fiddly little spiders and I don't want fiddly little crickets - just not a single cell in my body inspired by any of that. My kids are grown up so maybe my child rearing juices have just plain fizzled!!!

 

[Vanisher]

And alas as they say, it takes two views to make a market because I hold the absolute pole opposite opinion to this. I have zero interest in raising slings - I have half a dozen display enclosures in my office at home where I naturally want large and impressive examples of my preferred species (genus). Subdued blue moonlighting kicks in for all enclosures at 5.30pm and switches off at 10pm. I don't want fiddly little spiders and I don't want fiddly little crickets - just not a single cell in my body inspired by any of that. My kids are grown up so maybe my child rearing juices have just plain fizzled!!!

Yes. I said i find it more intresting to raise slings. Other people may like adult tarantulas best. I like adult tarantulas too off course, especially mating them which i did alot before. I see what you mean. If you have display terrariums you wanna fill them with something

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

I love raising slings, my biggest female now, could fit on my pinkie nail when I first got her.

I can get behind that. My LP was about that size when I got her. And now she could cover most of my face, I think. Hold on, I'll check...

Ow! My eyes! My eyes!

Okey, I gueff that waf a prerry stupio wey to meke the pnt. Plse wxcice mu tupos, I cam't seer woll.,

 

[SonsofArachne]

You definitely need to be patient and look everyday, especially if you're not willing to take sub-adults. And if you're looking for rare species, be prepared for a long wait, if you ever find them at all, and know that you're going to be paying big bucks for them. I was like you at first, only wanting females, but I soon realized that some species I wanted were not going to show up anytime soon as females so I started raising slings and found I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.