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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tortoise Tom" data-source="post: 131389" data-attributes="member: 27883">It takes many many generations for an animal species to become domesticated. Hundreds or thousands of years in many cases, and even then the wild instincts persist. I make my living off of understanding these instincts and how to manipulate them in my favor. Just because an animal is born in captivity, does not make it domesticated. Even 100th generation animals are not domesticated. My hissing roaches can attest to this. I started with 3 adults from the San Diego reptile show in 1992. No other blood except those original three founders. Who knows what generation they are on, but I can assure you, they are not remotely domesticated. Their behavior is no different than their wild caught parents was 26 years ago.As far as releasing them back into the wild in their native habitat areas, the attrition rate would most likely be similar to any other animal, in this case spider, of the same species that hatched in the same area. Most spiderlings, like the young of most species don't survive to adulthood. Using an example that I've studied more extensively, I've read that somewhere around 300-1000 baby tortoises die for each one that survives to maturity. I'd imagine baby tarantulas have a similar or higher rate. Many many vertebrates and inverts eat little spiderlings along with any other bug or insect they can catch. Releasing adults into a suitable habitat would likely result in more of them surviving, assuming they found suitable shelter. Like the alligators in Louisiana, release a baby into the swamp and dozens of predators will be in line to gobble it up. Release a 4 foot juvenile into the swamp and its chances of surviving are very high.Also, releasing captive born animals back into the wild is a very delicate process that is full of potential hazards and problems. Many animals pick up new and novel diseases in captivity, often from other continents. Releasing these foreign disease organisms into the wild is an environmental catastrophe waiting to happen. It nearly drove the CA desert tortoise to extinction. It can be done, but its a long, tedious process with lots of regulatory and veterinary hoops to jump through before it can happen. Further, as in the case of the Burmese star tortoise, if the problem that drove them to extinction in the first place, namely humans and their shenanigans, isn't dealt with and corrected, any newly introduced animals will meet the same fate as the extinct ones.</blockquote>

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