Wild Caught vs. Captive Bred

[Tym Hollerup]

This may end up to be a stupid question. I guess we'll wait and see. I hope I'm going to explain what I'm trying to get at the best I can. So here goes nothing...

Let's say for example person A were to catch a 3" OBT in their homeland of Africa, and that person then takes the specimen home and keeps it as their new pet. Now on the other hand, let's say that person B finds a 3" OBT online that was breed in America and buys it as his/her new pet.
Being that Person B's new OBT was born and raised in captivity and has never lived "real life" in its native land, how much will the behavior differ from the two Tarantulas? I hope I'm making sense here. I guess I'm trying to ask if both T's will act and behave in the same exact way no matter where it is that they were raised? I understand each spider is different and will have their own patterns. But will an OBT (or any OW for that matter) bought online be the same thing that you'll find on your trip to Africa?

 

[xhexdx]

Shouldn't be much difference. It's the same as buying an OBT from a pet shop and buying one that was CB from a breeder. Anything in the pet shop will (most likely) be WC and imported.

 

[Bill S]

Spiders will react to their environment according to the limits of their instincts. It's giving them way to much credit for memory and intelligence to expect that they might think "This is the way I used to do things back in Africa".

 

[Croaton]

Spiders will react to their environment according to the limits of their instincts. It's giving them way to much credit for memory and intelligence to expect that they might think "This is the way I used to do things back in Africa".

Agreed. The T`s don`t know the difference between Africa and a 5 gallon enclosure.

 

[HairyCelt]

Yup - I totally agree.

Spiders (with a few noteable exceptons within the Araenomorphs) largely behae in a genetically pre-determined way to any given stimulus - eat, hide, run, threaten and (mostly as a last resort) attack.

That said, there is anectdotal evidence that wild-caught Pokies are more jittery and actively defensive than those captive bred. However, how this was determined I don't know - there is a ban on the export of Indian spiders - quite rightly so, especially given the relative ease of breeding.

 

[synyster]

IMO, the only difference between WC and CB are the parasites that can come with WC's and the disturbing of the ecosystem. Otherwise, behaviors observed in my specimens (both CB and WC of the same genus) have been exactly the same.

 

[LV-426]

interesting that this thread came up I have something interesting to add. I have a book: Pterinochilus murinus Exothermae-Vol. 1, N' 2 by Philip Charpentier. In this book the author has WC P. murinus males and females, with some CB males as well. He did experiments showing WC P. murinus males emit pheromones that lower the females aggresion, in turn higher chance of succesful mating without the male being killed. The author states that 2nd, 3rd, 4th gen males somehow lose this ability to lower the females aggression, and that 3rd and 4th gen males, except those from respected wild lineage, are more often than not destroyed prior or during mating. the reason i added this it met the requirments of the OP: WC, CB, behaviors, though i feel its distantly related to the OPs topic

 

[Londoner]

interesting that this thread came up I have something interesting to add. I have a book: Pterinochilus murinus Exothermae-Vol. 1, N' 2 by Philip Charpentier. In this book the author has WC P. murinus males and females, with some CB males as well. He did experiments showing WC P. murinus males emit pheromones that lower the females aggresion, in turn higher chance of succesful mating without the male being killed. The author states that 2nd, 3rd, 4th gen males somehow lose this ability to lower the females aggression, and that 3rd and 4th gen males, except those from respected wild lineage, are more often than not destroyed prior or during mating. the reason i added this it met the requirments of the OP: WC, CB, behaviors, though i feel its distantly related to the OPs topic

That's quite an interesting hypothesis. Does the book go into much detail about his experiments?

 

[gromgrom]

That's quite an interesting hypothesis. Does the book go into much detail about his experiments?

yes, and may it be a natural diet that causes these pheromones, such as poison dart frogs being poisonous?

 

[Bill S]

The author states that 2nd, 3rd, 4th gen males somehow lose this ability to lower the females aggression, and that 3rd and 4th gen males, except those from respected wild lineage, are more often than not destroyed prior or during mating.

Yet people breed them in captivity - probably several generations into captivity - without seeing their males routinely chomped. At least mine showed no aggression, and I think I've read of other people's experience here that are the same.