Theraphosa

[Guy Edwards]

Hey all,

Many years ago when i worked in the pet trade, cb T. blondi were very regularly available, with wild caught adults specimens available seasonally. Now I do not want to support people plundering larg goliaths from the wild; I would be interested to know why there seems to be a lack of the cb slings and juvies around.

can anyone shed any light on why this might be?

thanks for you time,

Guy

[James Box]

think they're proving a bit tricky to mate...so spiderlings are still fairly expensive.
for example, some CB apo slings recently sold were £25 each, if i remember correctly, with bulk deals... that was considered a fair price!
it's not quite on par with P metallica, but apo's and blondi's still command a fair price and are not all that common.

[wesley flower]

to be honest i have not seen a regular supply of CB T. blondi since Bob Bustard stopped. occasionally you see some for sale tho.
but as james said they are proving tricky to produce slings in the captive state.

[Guy Edwards]

Thanks Guys,

I am not too concerned with the price, i am more worried that the species seems to be slipping out of culture? Do you agree or disagree? I suppose there is no one around with any blondi slings at the moment?

best Guy

[wesley flower]

i think if there was no WC T. blondis with in a few yrs the species would die out in captivity. it seems to me that many many people rely to heavily on WC and are not putting in the time or effort to establish a captive breeding nucleus of such species.
i have a mated/gravid T. blondi here, she was mated with my own male who after i loaned out, i had a list of people that wanted to borrow him, but he stopped at the second person to die in a cage with out being used, in my eyes that is a waste. so this male has mated with 2 females when he could had mated with 5-6, the ratio of getting CB slings would had been greater if he had been used by more.
i do not know the last time this species was last bread in the UK. come on people something needs doing.

[James Box]

yeah come on!
they are popular, and fetch decent prices...not a bad investment to start breeding them.
i will have to do this soon

[Guy Edwards]

Thank you for the insight.

I think that is very bad that in this day and age we, as probably the most successful group of exotics culturists, are letting that happen. when you look at the successes and the vast range of species that spider keepers in the UK are keeping in culture; the big one should definitely be there. i personally have never bred the sp. so i am as bad as anyone for not doing so. is there a reason that they are not bred, i.e that they are particularly difficult to breed...? I am very interested in culturing them now.

As captives i found them very hardy as long as they were humid and hot, the several i had grew like weeds.

thanks for your time and replies,
Guy

[wesley flower]

Thank you for the insight.

I think that is very bad that in this day and age we, as probably the most successful group of exotics culturists, are letting that happen. when you look at the successes and the vast range of species that spider keepers in the UK are keeping in culture; the big one should definitely be there. i personally have never bred the sp. so i am as bad as anyone for not doing so. is there a reason that they are not bred, i.e that they are particularly difficult to breed...? I am very interested in culturing them now.

As captives i found them very hardy as long as they were humid and hot, the several i had grew like weeds.

thanks for your time and replies,
Guy

this is my first time breeding blondis, but yes i do believe that they are difficult, i have heard of some speaking of conditions that promote natural behaviour and easy breeding, i am trying a few things with mine.

[James Box]

on the plus side, Wes...yours is fat...fingers crossed!!!

[wesley flower]

on the plus side, Wes...yours is fat...fingers crossed!!!

limited food since mating and she is like a golf ball, heres hoping me lovers

[Guy Edwards]

Where did you get yours from Wesley? Are they all adult? I suppose i need to look further into Europe to get some, maybe Germany?

Ideally i would love to get some that have location data with them, start as i mean to go on so to speak.....I wish you all the best with your mated female.

You mention natural conditions, do they breed at the end of the wet, when flood waters have subsided? I imagine they live high enough to escape immersion? I know Marshall states that he found large concentrations in Kaw and Rau mountains in French Guiana. So very wet, but high enough to avoid any flood risk???

Best

Guy

[Chris Sainsbury]

Hi

so this male has mated with 2 females when he could had mated with 5-6, the ratio of getting CB slings would had been greater if he had been used by more.

Used by more people or used for more females in your own collection?

Cheers
Chris

[wesley flower]

Hi



Used by more people or used for more females in your own collection?

Cheers
Chris

more people chris, if i had more females in my collection i would had mated them before giving the male out to loan

[Chris Sainsbury]

Hi

In that case IMHO this is why you see less captive bred T. blondi in the hobby.
Sorry to say but I think a big part of successful T. blondi breeding is being selfish, by NOT passing on the male.

(A little thought and you can understand this point)

Cheers
Chris

[Mandy Willis]

T Blondi

Hi all
I had terrible time searching for male T Blondi also took a while to find female but there doesnt seem to be anyone with male of this species as i have found, advertised on several places but no replies, and also noticed neither did other people i will just keep looking as this is one of my favourite t's and there just aren't enough of them about mandy