The spider shop UK - are these REALLY captive bred?

[Gizalba]

Hi,

I have a love-hate relationship with the spider shop UK, as their range of species and sizes is fantastic, as is their live food and equipment/decor range, so you can get everything in one place. However they sell a lot of cheap adult tarantulas - cheap because they are wild caught, which really upsets me :'( Not all of them are wild caught but I would say the majority are, and will attract people because the captive bred ones stand out as more expensive. They also seem to be becoming increasingly flippant about labelling which are wild caught or captive bred. A lot are 'blank' now regarding that info, which I suspect means they are wild caught but they don't want to put people like me off.

But what made me extra suspicious when I logged on today are their new Aphonopelma and Brachypelma Mexican imports. Some of these adults they say are captive bred (CB), for example the below B. albiceps. However these take 10 years to reach adulthood!!! Are you telling me there's someone in Mexico growing lots of tarantulas for 10 years then selling them cheap enough for UK shops to price them at just £89? It's more expensive than some of the others but the rate my B albiceps grows (it's 1cm and hasn't put on any size for 2 years lol bless her) I'd want at least £500 for it if I did that

What do you guys think? I'd like to think they wouldn't lie about it as they do have a good reputation, but I'm struggling to believe it.

 

[Gizalba]

P.s. I know these spiderlings aren't exactly hard to look after for 10 years, I guess if you only had a few. But wouldn't you get much more money by focusing on breeding then selling tons of spiderlings off and repeat? Unless there is actually a Mexican superhero growing them to adults for moral reasons not money.

 

[Lentulus]

They were all wild caught at some point—probably not long ago. These aren’t domesticated farm animals. If it was important to me, I’d make it my business to know the sellers business. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time to wonder X about Y and Z. Retailers are in the business of making money, and the money is what they will follow. I suppose the buyer needs to put their money where it won’t keep them up at night.

 

[Gizalba]

They were all wild caught at some point—probably not long ago. These aren’t domesticated farm animals. If it was important to me, I’d make it my business to know the sellers business. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time to wonder X about Y and Z. Retailers are in the business of making money, and the money is what they will follow. I suppose the buyer needs to put their money where it won’t keep them up at night.

Thanks for the response. I know I can't make a difference being a single person refusing to buy them wild caught, but I just wish people would care more rather than turning a blind eye, so I guess I'm partly making the post to spread awareness. Maybe I need to make a petition to stop wild caughts being sold in the UK, as it seems to be more of a problem here than in the US and I don't understand why we care less here about snatching wild animals away from their homes. Especially species like huntsmen, as they always have a ton of wild caught true spiders too.

 

[m0lsx]

If a dealer like TSS say they are captive bred, then that is what they will be.

As you observe. UK dealers have no issues with selling wild caught arachnids when as advertised as such. So why lie?

 

[Enn49]

The problem is that WC are needed at times to boost supplies of healthy stock for us hobbyists.
An example of how things can go wrong would be the Spider Royal Pythons. Only one example was ever caught in the wild unfortunately it had a defective gene that caused a head wobble so now every Spider Royal or morph that carries the Spider gene will display the head wobble to some lesser or greater extent.
In breeding can cause similar issues in any creature so new stock will always be needed to refresh breeding stocks.

 

[Gizalba]

The problem is that WC are needed at times to boost supplies of healthy stock for us hobbyists.
An example of how things can go wrong would be the Spider Royal Pythons. Only one example was ever caught in the wild unfortunately it had a defective gene that caused a head wobble so now every Spider Royal or morph that carries the Spider gene will display the head wobble to some lesser or greater extent.
In breeding can cause similar issues in any creature so new stock will always be needed to refresh breeding stocks.

Thanks for this info, I'll refrain from the petition then! That makes sense, in that case I just feel it's done more than necessary, especially with species that seem well-bred like T. albopilosus.

 

[Konstantin]

Hi
if Im not mistaken in Mexico there are tarantula farms that are in place to counter act on the past excessive collections of wild caught tarantulas.They release certain number of spiders back in the wild and sell some of them of course to the hobby.Also its not unheard of breeders selling their older females once they are past their breeding prime age gap.
I am usually refraining myself of buying Adult females from big retailers as even with longer living species their time with me might be limited.
Regards Konstantin

 

[x_raphael_xx]

If a dealer like TSS say they are captive bred, then that is what they will be.

As you observe. UK dealers have no issues with selling wild caught arachnids when as advertised as such. So why lie?

I believe TTS also sometimes mark some as 'TTS Bred'. So they have their own stock and also buy stock.
Possibly they bought from a private hobbiest?

 

[m0lsx]

I believe TTS also sometimes mark some as 'TTS Bred'. So they have their own stock and also buy stock.
Possibly they bought from a private hobbiest?

https://www.thespidershop.co.uk/surplus-stock/

If your breeding it we are buying it!


We are always interested in your captive bred young, we can usually buy in batches of 50 – 500 depending on species. We can either pay in cash or give generous credit towards livestock of dry goods we stock. We look after breeders that supply us on a regular basis with discounted livestock, first choice on the more desirable stuff and mature males.


Please note we are only really interested in Captive bred Spiders, Centipedes , Scorpions and sometimes Mantids. We are not looking to buy things like Millipedes, Stick Insect, Roaches or Snails.


Looking to sell your collection?


We are always interested in buying full collections or surplus stock. If you have a collection to sell please e-mail us a list of species with quantities, legspans and sexes if known and we will get back to you with an offer. If need be we can arrange for a box to be sent down for shipping and arrange for a courier to collect them. For really big collections we will send someone to collect and help pack the animals.


Please note we are not able to buy single or small numbers of animals. let us know what you have and we will let you know if it is viable.


Mature Males


We are only interested in mature males that we need for our own breeding programmes. We breed a wide range of species so let us know what you have spare. If we don’t need the males you have spare you can always post and advert on our facebook page.