Comments and arguments on this topic are as predictable as Malemas next public outburst... and as sensitive as Bryce Lawrences' next appearance at Loftus.

As with everything us humans touch, it has potentially catastrophic consequences. As Mommon indicates, some dipshit might sell such offspring under false pretenses. There are detailed blueprints for building weapons available on the interweb, can I be held responsible if someone makes a bomb at home and kills 200 people (and hopefully himself)?

As I said:

It must be clear that any (possible) offspring will be culled to manageable numbers and the results published by me for public scrutiny.
When this is done in secret for personal gain, it is wrong. When such offspring are sold under false pretenses, it is wrong.

In principle, the buck stops with the individual, nothing more, nothing less.

Lol why we havin this discussion again? Cerat we agreed to disagree and pretty sure Scarab and Mammon was part of the discussion 2.

I dont like the idea of Hybrids, but with that said and now saying it again. Like Scarab said last time and I agreed. Do your project and please give us feed back as I am interested in the results. But please do not sell them into the market Not for a while at least.

Scarab wrote:
It must be clear that any (possible) offspring will be culled to manageable numbers and the results published by me for public scrutiny.
When this is done in secret for personal gain, it is wrong. When such offspring are sold under false pretenses, it is wrong.

In principle, the buck stops with the individual, nothing more, nothing less.

I will get my tomatoes in the mean time.

Not a fan of hybrids, but the curious scientist within would like some answers on the question of hybrids though.

This experiment can only be conducted by responsible people, as Scarab rightly said - The buck stops with the individual.

No some preliminary scrutinization...

Do you intend on raising the lucky hybrids that survived the culling spree to adulthood?, and further, will you attempt to mate the hybrid offspring?

TH

Yes and yes...

I am not to sure what you are implying with "culling spree" ?? "Spree - A spell or sustained period of unrestrained activity" ??? Surely not, and surely not a pleasant activity, like my odd and occasional drinking sprees... That being said, both are necessary, depending on the circumstances. :whistle:

Culling is an excepted activity in commercial farming, albeit a very sensitive topic in its own right. Combined with hybridizing spiders, it is bound to give some folks a serious rash. When/if you breed spiders with the aim of selling it into the hobby, you are a farmer of spiders and that is that. If the volumes of (possible) offspring becomes impractical, culling is the only option and has more merit than selling or giving away.

There is no proof to my limited knowledge that hybridized spiders are sterile. If I live long enough, I would like to breed the hybrids when they mature. I would also like to see the spermathecae of hybrids versus both P metallica and P fasciata females for comparison.

I am no Mad Scientist, just a curious hobbyist looking for a new challenge. You can print and file this:

I, Scarab, hereby confirm on 18 October 2011 that NO hybridized Tarantula will EVER leave my premises, no matter the circumstance.

Scarab wrote: Yes and yes...
I, Scarab, hereby confirm on 18 October 2011 that NO hybridized Tarantula will EVER leave my premises, no matter the circumstance.

This is what I meant. Scarab is responsible enough to attempt this. Its what others will do that freaks me out.

Very very interesting, time to join the discussion

I think we have to be clear on the subject, I please want some help to understand this:

As far as I know when breeding P. fasciata and P. regalis as an example you get a cross breed not a hybrid

and if you breed P. murinus and M. balfouri you get a hybrid.

So what is a hybrid and what is a cross breed?

There has been talk that when you hybridize two species the egg case will be infertile, therefore hybrids can't exist

does anyone know if this rumor is true or not?

I know with snakes there is hybrids between ball pythons and reticulated pythons, from what I have read is that the fertility rate of this is very low, lets say out of 20-30 eggs, 2-5 eggs will be fertile and produce offspring, these offspring are fertile and can be interbred to give viable offspring.

Please go and check out this site:

www.roussisreptiles.com/collectionpages/balls/f2superball.html

In my personal opinion all the different sub species in a species such as poecilotheria might all be genetic variations from years of cross breeding or inbreeding that have produced different sub species in different regions, this is how ever my opinion and has no scientific foot to stand on. O how I wish I was geneticist right now :dry:

I am totally supportive of cross breeding and hybridization just as long as it is done for scientific reasons and not to line your pockets with green :S

This process needs to be documented fully and I would say that the first few generations of offspring should not be sold.

There might be some increased genetic short comings such as high mortality rate or such that will only become evident with the careful study of multiple generations.

So the cat is out of the bag :whistle:

I am currently busy with a project of my own and will share it with you guys in a short while

that's it from me for now