cross-breeding ??

[lee smith]

i was just wondering is it possible to cross-breed tarantulas?? (eg.brachypelma.** with another type of brachypelma)

i am curious about this as ive done lots of cross-breeding in other types of animals and wasn't sure if this is possible with tarantulas

[Phil Rea]

i was just wondering is it possible to cross-breed tarantulas?? (eg.brachypelma.** with another type of brachypelma)

i am curious about this as ive done lots of cross-breeding in other types of animals and wasn't sure if this is possible with tarantulas

Possible, yes. Sensible, no. In my humble opinion, there is enough of a problem with hybrids at the moment within various genera. Avicularia is a prime example. No one can be sure (with a few exceptions) of what they're actually keeping.

Why dilute species further by deliberately breeding hybrids? Personally if I were in ANY doubt of a species ID, then I wouldn't breed them.

There is a thread on the Tarantulastore at the moment regarding the possibility of crossbreeding P. murinus RCF and P. murinus TCF. Not strictly the same because they're the same species, but a terribly bad idea nonetheless.

[Mark Pennell]

i was just wondering is it possible to cross-breed tarantulas?? (eg.brachypelma.** with another type of brachypelma)

i am curious about this as ive done lots of cross-breeding in other types of animals and wasn't sure if this is possible with tarantulas

Lee

Every so often this posts re appears and the whole can of worms kicks off again.

Yes it is possible to hybridise tarantulas’ of the same genus, but as Phil rightly points out why do it?

Theraphosidae are a taxonomic mess at the best of times and creating such hybrids will just compound the problem. Plus the selling of any progeny would be pretty difficult without resorting to underhand tactics and then basically within no time your name would be mud and no one would even purchase spiderlings even if they were genuine same species breeding.

My advice is to leave such things well alone. As a society we condone such practices and they are indeed detrimental to the hobby as a whole….


Regards
Mark

[Adam Smith]

There are a few brachy species that are shown to be a seperate species but too me they seem too much like a hybridised species like brachy bauger(how its spelt?). Any how as i said in the thread on on tarantula store forum and im sure ive said this a couple times before that cross breeding is a bad idea and do not agree anyonedoing it or even attemp to try. For millions of years tarantulas have survived through every extremes that some species couldnt survive and we mere humans have been here for a smidge of time compared to anything else and as humans have to mess and interfere with everything and make a balls of it. IMO any cross breeding of ts those people simply should not be allowed to keep any kind of species, what gives them right to play god and mess about with their dna, people wouldnt agree with human siblings breeding which is the same principle as same specie argument.
As human has tried to breed animals in captivity we have screwed up far too much in the past let alone make it worse. We have seen the dog pedigree breeding go down the pan and have so many mutts now that will always be there. Snakes are becoming more common with colour varients, admittdely I like some of the corn snake colour forms and are fab but is getting too much, there is a limit on what is acceptable and what isnt. cross breeding of any tarantula whether same so or just colour varient will be chaos to the taxonomist and breeders not to mention would have an affect on the whole hobby. There are many animal rights and pain in the butts who are against the keeping of animals in captivity and would just prove their point. Breeding ts can be great and im trying myself tho am new in this area but anyone who wants to jump into breeding and mess the dna is irresponsible.

[lee smith]

ok, i understand all your points and now understand that it is a bad idea.

i was just being curious about wether it was possible or not, but now see its a Extremely bad idea.

thanks for putting me straight and i hope that i havent offended anyone by asking.

thanks again

lee smith

[Adam Smith]

Doubt very much that everyone is offended, its really just that to the arachnologists if you will see it as a big no no as the whole tarantula specie is confusing enough as it is without mixing it up

[Simon Batten]

maybe you could breed a huge mutant spider like a liger

[Phil Rea]

thanks for putting me straight and i hope that i havent offended anyone by asking.

Nobody's offended Lee. That's what discussion boards are for

[Mark Pennell]

thanks for putting me straight and i hope that i havent offended anyone by asking.

lee smith

Lee
I was certainly not offended, and happy you asked... its what the forums for matey..

Cheers
Mark

[lee smith]

cool, im always worrying about accidently offending peolpe by asking daft questions.

one other thing i was wondering is how many types of Theraphosa are there?? is it 2 or is there any more??

[Adam Smith]

no question is daft really, thats why they are quesions info you dont know and need info on. These days can get answers within seconds, when I started which wasnt all that long, less than 10 years there wasnt nearly as much internet info available as there is now.

[Mark Pennell]

cool, im always worrying about accidently offending peolpe by asking daft questions.

one other thing i was wondering is how many types of Theraphosa are there?? is it 2 or is there any more??

Lee
Ask away any question dude...

Gen. Theraphosa Thorell, 1870 N.B.: considered a senior synonym of Pseudotheraphosa Tinter, 1991: 6, type P. apophysis Tinter, 1991, by Bertani, 2001: 316.
mf apophysis (Tinter, 1991)....................Venezuela

mf blondi (Latreille, 1804) *....................Venezuela, Brazil, Guyana


Usefull link:

The World Spider Catalog, Version 7.0
by Norman I. Platnick


Regards
Mark

[lee smith]

wow thats really interesting that theraphosa apophysis are a relatively new species.

are they considered to be a fast growing species or slow growing??, as im really interested in getting one of the theraphosa family and the newer rarer one (apophysis) would be great to get as a sling.

[Mark Lynes]

16 or so years ago when I was last in the game hybrids involving B albopilsoum ( or pilosa ) were common; I cannot precisely recall the other usual suspect, however from memory it was vagans. I had some spiderlings myself prior to my departure.

Whilst hybrids have a certain amount going for them - the introduction of new genes for example - they can ultimately do nothing but dilute what is an effectively inbred captive popuation. Unless you have regular inflow from 'pure' species', which can only now come from the wild in the case of Brachypelma ( which none of us I hope would encourage ), you will simply end up with a hybrid 'swarm'.The captive population is too precious for that.


Mark.