One of the (many) things that I'm not quite clear on is what the options are when your beautiful T molts into a randy male.

Please help me fill in the blanks?

1: Find a female, do the bookwork, dim the lights and get out the Barry White.

2: Watch the T run around its enclosure looking for a mate then hold its hand as it slowly withers away.

3: Sell the bugger, get some moolah.

4: Breeding loan. How does this work? 'Loan' makes it sound like the risk is on the male's owner. No compensation for death in transit or the male getting chowed?

5: 50/50 split. Again, what are the rules?

6: Other?

Thanks!

1,2,3 - Up to you.
"Usual" rules:
4. The risk is on the owner of the male's side. If the male dies in transit it is unfortunately the owner of the male's loss. If the male gets chowed, its the owner of the male's loss too.
5. The norm is 50/50, but this can be discussed by the owners BEFORE the male is sent or attempted to mate. I have heard of 20/80 splits or in the case of HS's loan, that he gets 10 slings if its successful. It is entirely up to the owners of the spiders, but as I said, it should be discussed before any mating attempts are done and agreed apon.

Right, so if I understand it correctly, with a breeding loan, the owner sends away his property for no benefit with all the risk for the betterment of the hobby and perhaps if they are lucky, some personal gain?

People do this?

Cool!

Well there is actually a lot to gain.
The male has a limited lifespan after maturing anyway, so might as well risk it for some potential replacement slings.
The owner of the male doesn't do alot after sending the male off. The owner of the female has to worry about getting conditions right for breeding and trying to convince the female to drop.
I personally don't do breeding loans with anyone (except for a few people that i trust), because people are always out to make a quick buck and money seems to talk more than ethics and morals.
I have been screwed over, and a few close friends as well, from owners of females claiming that the male was eaten before mating and then sending my male out on breeding loans behind my back. Or saying that the female moulted out only to see slings appearing on the market a few months later.
I refuse to send males out where I cant see what happens to them after mating attempts, and insist on keeping the females to make sure that the owner of the female doesn't try pull a fast one on me. This thread could be directly linked to the 'people' thread on here actually.

I would like to add my 2cents to the thread. People who send males away do their homework on which breeder has bred the specific species. Like if I had a P.miranda I would most likely send my Poecilotheria to Ceratogyrus, because he has so far been breeding and "specializing in Poecilotheria's".

But if I had a Brachypelma smithi I would send it to a person who has had numerous success in breeding them, multiple times so I go and look up Fangs. Yeah 3 successful eggsack

Okay there are loads of breeders out there who do specialize in certain species, have a look at the breeding report page. P.metalica, M.balfouri "Scarab", C. cyanopubescens, C.elegans "Hendrjis and PinkT" and the list goes on. If my male died at any of the above breeders then at least you know there was no better place to send your Mature male. This forum carers for each individual. but when it comes down to "I have a mature male" you have two options "Risk it and learn" or "Sell and pray you don't see a breeding report with your male's name at the top"

Sorry, I'm slow. Blame the heat. And the wine.

So on a breeding loan, the male's owner would negotiate for a percentage of the slings if he so wishes, and items 4 and 5 on my list are actually one?

Thanks for the heads up iclazion.

@ Ceratogyrus. Yeah. I can see how that could happen. Unfortunately.