Univeristy Project.... need a little help, just a few q's

[Journey2Anywhere]

Hello all,

I am taking a final year module at University which involves me writing up a business plan. I have decided to write a business plan regarding Tarantula breeding. It would make life a lot easier writing about something i'm interested in!

I am still a beginner in the hobby. I was wondering if anyone could answer the following questions for me?

I don't mean to be a nuisance... but if you don't ask you'll never learn!

anyway.........


What is the average number of slings produced in an egg sac?

The average cost required to raise a sling to adult (breedable) size?

What is the average time it takes to raise from slings to adult size?

I'm sure the answers to these questions vary greatly across the different species... but an average figure would be extremely useful for me... it gives me something to work with. The lecturers marking are business lecturers who won't really know the difference.

Thank you for your time

[Bentrix]

Spider q's

Its kindof hard to say without choosing a species. for example easily bred species tend to be hard to sell as most people have one, same goes for species which have egg sacs that hold many eggs. T breeding can be (as far as i know) a rather hit and miss thing.

Maybe using different species as case studies you could expand your business plan. Compare profit margins, expences, rate of production. Many of these you will find differ between species.

Once chosen im sure that many people on this forum would be able to give you correct figues, as i personally have never been particulary sucessful at breeding T's.

[Journey2Anywhere]

Thanks for the reply.

Like you suggested, I think I shall have to focus on a handful of different species….


With that in mind... would you be able to tell me the names of a few of the most sought after Tarantula's....

I would want to focus on rare species which are in demand and hold a high value.


I know that probably comes down to opinion....


Once I have idea what sort of T's people are really after then I can find their individual requirements.


Thanks a lot

[Catherine Procter]

I've been thinking about this. In theory you could work out an extremely rough estimate of the feeding cost of raising a sling to adulthood. If you work on some basic principals and stick to them. This of course would not be set, because each species grows at a different rate and can take larger crickets at different times. But say if it was fed micros for the 1st year, small the 2nd, medium the 3rd etc. You could work something out.
If you could get some info on prices and average contents per box you could get a very rough ball park figure.
For example. (This is going to sound like a maths exam question now!)
If you had a box of micro crickets containing 500 crickets and it cost £3.00. This is where actual dealer data would come in!
Theoretically, it would cost 0.006p per cricket. If the sling was fed an average of 3 crickets a week, every week for the year. Food cost would be 0.936p for the year. Then I would do it for the next cricket size up until sufficiant years had passed for the spider to mature. You may have to add on some money if you supplemented their diet with locusts etc. But say at the end of five years, you should have a rough total for food costs.
My apologies if the maths is wrong. But you could get a rough idea that way I suppose. I need to get out more!

[Journey2Anywhere]

I was going to follow the same principals you suggested. It won't be particularly accurate but it should do..... hopefully my business lecturers won't know any better!


I'm still trying to find our which species sell for the most.......


any help appreciated still

thanks