Cross breeding

[Neil Ashby]

I know this a bit of a taboo subject but i was just wondering about a couple of things ...........

Is it generally considered wrong to cross breed tarantulas in the hobby . The reason i ask is that how do we know that they dont do it anyway in their natural environment .

For example , a Nhando chromatus looks like the offspring of a vagans and a seemani !!! . An Apophysis could be the lovechild of a blondi and an avicularia !!

I know these examples seem a little far fetched , and obviously they dont all live in the same environments totally but it is a possibility dont you think ?

The other thing was , if it were an acceptable practice , which 2 tarantulas would combine to make the ultimate tarantula ?

1 T blondi and a GBB = an amazingly coloured 12" tarantula !!!!!
2 H lividum and a seemani = a blue, black and white striped tarantula
3 A avicularia and a p murinus = orange and black pink toe with the temperament of Mike Tyson !!!

any more you can think of ??

[Mark Pajak]

Well, just say you did somehow manage to cross breed two different species of tarantula to produce some super spider with the exact characteristics that you were looking for, the result would only last as long as the first generation offspring survived (or at least this is what I understand from my uni work)...

..because a species by definition can only reproduce to give fertile offspring with other members of this species - so any offspring resulting from a cross breeding between different species would be infertile.

For example a chiwowa could mate with a wolf to give a new breed of fertile offspring because they are essentially the same species (canis lupus) but an Avic and a Blondi are different species so if by some chance the sperm did fertilise the egg to produce a new spider - chances are differences between the recombined sex chromosomes between the two species would mean that the offsprings germ cells/ DNA would be messed up, a bit like putting the wrong peices into the jigsaw.

Please ignore me if I'm boring, correct me if I'm wrong, or accept my apologies if you were merely hypothesising for the fun of it!

[Neil Ashby]

Mark , yes im am doing it for the fun of it but i did wonder , cheers !!

Would this also be the case for the closely related species like smithi and emelia ?

[Mark Pajak]

well theoretically speaking, if you could breed those two brachypelma species to get a new breed of fertile offspring, it would mean that the taxonomists got it wrong and they are actually both subspecies of the same species, and so emilia and smithi would be subspiecies of a previously un-named but more widespread speices of tarantua that exists as two different populations with morphological differences.

I'm sure there are people on this forum more qualified to deal with this than me, but generally speaking (dangerous territoty already!) differences between species are there for a reason, such as adaptation to a particular habitat/climate/behavior etc..... and once a species has divided into two (over thousands/millions of years) thats it, there's no going back, and it would do the population no good to try and mate with a different speices because the result would be a pointless waste of genes.


you wouldn't expect to come home and see your cat mating with your guinnea pig..... would you?!

[Neil Ashby]

lol

saying that , our 6" guinea pig tried to mount our 18" rabbit yesterday

[Colin D Wilson]

To throw a spanner in the works the same species of some spiders change shape, size and coloration from one end of a river to the other thus appearing (and being sold as) different species, same genus though (avicularia comes to mind as the genus is in such a state). technically they are the same species and would mate successfully.

[James Box]

is the Avicularia genus in a state in the wild, or just in captivity?

[Colin D Wilson]

both from what i gather, the main guru's in the field are trying to sort things out regarding taxonomy, so if anyones got any dead Avics contact Ray Gabriel, he may be able to make use of it in his studies.

[James Box]

strange... i could only assume that they're crossbreeding themselves, or people are releasing hybrids into the wild, or perhaps one local species into the wrong area, causing it to interbreed with the locals T's.
both would obviously be a hideous example of carelessness.

but back to fun! for my hybrid, i would want to breed for size, strength, ferocity, and intelligence. the end goal would be for a tarantula with a leg span of maybe 20 feet who was intelligent enough to be trained as a mount.
i would create an army of giant tarantulas with which to take over the world! mwahahahahaha!

[Colin D Wilson]

The only thing that stands in your way, Giant Tarantula Man, is my army of Millipede legged, giant tree frogs with whom i shall protect the world from all evil !!

Hey this is fun !!

[James Box]

Neil had a great idea there!
i'm hoping to protect the world from evil too! it's evil that the world is ruled by people other than me, so it's up to me to take a stand and say "no more shall the poor people of the world be victimised by rulers who aren't me!"
now, who's with me?
hmm...more inspirational phrases needed perhaps...
"they can take our lives, but they can't take our freedom to be ruled by James!"

i knew you were up to something with that millipede ecosystem!
luckily for me, though...they can't jump with all those legs!
but i'll be concerned about the sticky tongues lashing out, and the rather disgusting "defense mechanism" that, in my opinion, millipedes are FAR too free with.

i'll have to blend some scorpions with my giant tarantulas as well to counter your slimey and stinky legion!

[Neil Ashby]

James

you havent taken your tablets today have you !!

[James Box]

James

you havent taken your tablets today have you !!

i forgot!

[Colin D Wilson]

Leave it Neil, i prefer him when he's forgotten to take 'em

Makes me laugh when "the overlord" comes to the surface

[James Box]

haha, he's never far from the surface... always lurking, the overlord. it's kinda what he does.
lol