I have not paid much attention to this subject until another member made a comment a while ago and it made me wonder…

The way I understand things to be, is that there is a general price for male tarantulas that is around R400. Normally the females are the desired sex to own in most tarantula species, mainly because of appearance, greater size, longevity and the benefit of the chance of getting offspring from her. My involvement in the hobby is from the perspective of a collector and not a breeder, therefore the above mentioned perception applies to me.

My question is this: Say I now go and purchase a sling of whatever species at a price of R700. I then keep and raise the spider in the hopes that I will one day own a beautiful female that would be considered a collectors item in some respects. But as we all know, most of the time the spiderlings turn out to become males (especially in Poecilotheria). So now I want to sell the male and "try again" by purchasing a new sling of the same or another species to achieve my objective. Obviously I would like to get more than I paid for the guy to start off with, remember, a year or more has gone by caring and feeding the spider, but now, because it is a male, it seems that I might not even get what I paid for him?

This might not be the case for all species due to the mating process to be more successful and less chance of the guys being eaten by the females.

What are your guys' views? Hope I am not misunderstood…

I would imagine a subadult male will still fetch a decent price. MM are another story, unless it is a much sought after breed. I paid R1700 for a MM T. blondi. Some might think that is too much, but I find a date for him, and it pays off... well, then R1700 would be a small price to pay.

Here is an example for you:

I purchased a G. pulchra sling for R500 at the expo. If at 7cm, I discover it is male, I should still be able to get about R800 or R900 for him. If it were female, I'd probably be looking for about R1100 or R1200.

MM are the issue, because they only live for a short period of time after their penultimate molt. So unless you are able to breed with him, or it is an extremely sought after species, you will get peanuts for it. Which is to be expected.

It's like buying a house in Sunnyside for R350,000 in 1985 and trying to sell it for R1,000,000 in 2010. There are more factors to consider than just the original purchase price.

If you look at the current drop in prices for most of the common T's, unless the male is usefull as a trade for other slings or as part of a breeding loan, I would just keep the male in my custody until death do us part.

All Correct in the end.
But now the next question.
Breeding loans....
I have been done in twice already with lending my males out......
Who do you trust?
Or do you just take a chance?

I am a collector, bordering on a hoarder :silly:

When I started collecting spiders, I often bought two of a kind to have more chance of having a female. I realized that I was just not going to have enough space for all the spiders.

So I have taken on the view that each spider, whether male or female, is an experience on its own. If I can breed them then great, that means I can get a sling or two to start again when he dies (or is eaten ). But for me, its all about the individual spider.