San Francisco Bay Area Tarantula Society

CodeWilster · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:04 pm Post subject:

The abdomen size is usually fairly small on the wild specimens but that is only becuase in nature they don't have all of those yummy crickets running around and also suffer long droughts. There are probably a few times a year where food is much more plentiful and they can be found with much more swollen abdomens though.

BTW, Diablo is a well known tarantula hotspot. You may not be hurting much by taking one specimen, but consider everybody else that will eventually take one or has taken one. I can think of about 4 others including myself who own specimens from there. With slow growth and probably low survival rate for the slings, those "bazillions" could dwindle quite quickly if people are not considerate.
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A considerably greater amount of faith is required to believe that the complexity of this world happened by chance alone, rather than to believe there is a God.

daveemory · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:30 pm Post subject:

CodeWilster · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 3:30 pm Post subject:

In that post I did include myself and that I do have a spider from there. I am not against collecting as long as it is to some extent ethical. I agree dealers are one of the bigger problems but even then so far they probably aren't hurting wild populations too bad (in regards to North America). Usually pesticides and habitat destruction are the real destroyers of any ecosystem. The demand for a bunch of Aphonopelmas I would imagine is much less than Avics and T. blondi anyway. And trust me I did notice that shortly after my thread a few new Mt. Diablo threads popped up.

As for Trapdoors, why do you ask? If you are calling me hypicritical then so be it but do you currently see any B. californicum on anybody's pricelists? My goal is to establish this species as CB, as well as the other spiders I collected (all in very small amounts in very healthy populations). Not to mention trapdoors are at WAY less demand than Ts and other inverts. Also not to mention they are for research purposes as well. I am trying to get into an internship program over the summer at berkely that pays $3,500 plus school credit for about four months of basically what I am already doing (unfortunately it is still quite difficult to get into).

You will also NEVER see me collecting stuff in my backyard in bulk amounts to sell for profit...something in my gut just doesn't allow that.

Bottom line, I was a bit hesitant putting up the post since I knew it would stimulate a little bit of demand. There is absolutely nothing wrong in my book for what you or anybody (again, including me) did and you are probably right about there will likely never be enough magnitude of demand for a bunch of locals to collect some Ts and hurt the populations severely . However I wouldn't go running around telling everyone there are hundreds and hundreds of them up there.

Also, my friend took a male and a female. Our goal when we caught them was to breed them and give away the slings :)
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A considerably greater amount of faith is required to believe that the complexity of this world happened by chance alone, rather than to believe there is a God.

daveemory · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 3:43 pm Post subject:

daveemory · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 4:38 pm Post subject:

Well, what goes around......... the Aphonopelma in question, which was so nice and calm yesterday, kicked huge amounts of hair on me today, twice, as I tried to rehouse it to a bigger tank. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea!

PC

CodeWilster · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 5:25 pm Post subject:

Understood. Don't forget the fact that captive stock only got here one way and that is from the wild. I just wish more people had some sort of values and cared for the natural environment, not that anybody here doesn't. That being said I would not have bothered taking any trapdoors from San Diego if they were available CB. As further proof it is research I told my friend who offered to send me some just to wait around for me to fly down there and see them in the wild myself.

Anyway enough of that nonsense. It's good to know that somebody with a lot of experience there says that their populations are that healthy. I have been there three times for a few hours and usually only find about 3-4 burrows. Partly because I am looking for other stuff as well and just enjoying the hike, and partly because we are probably looking in different areas.

In regards to your 2nd post; Lol I noticed that with them as well, what's funny is unlike some Brachys or others that sort of kick quick and run, I've noticed these guys will sit in one spot and kick, and kick, and kick, and kick, and kick, and kick...
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A considerably greater amount of faith is required to believe that the complexity of this world happened by chance alone, rather than to believe there is a God.

daveemory · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 6:05 pm Post subject: