so about h. minax...

i've read some grumblings on identification on this species. if i was to buy an adult female from one of the better known dealers what would the chances be that i would get a properly id'ed one? i guess as long as it is nice and black and velvety, i won't care too much about the classification unless i want to try and breed her.

word said:

i've read some grumblings on identification on this species. if i was to buy an adult female from one of the better known dealers what would the chances be that i would get a properly id'ed one? i guess as long as it is nice and black and velvety, i won't care too much about the classification unless i want to try and breed her.

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I would think that if you bought from one of the breeders recomended on these boards, you should have no problem at all. I have also heard that they are becoming harder to find in the hobby, so go for it now! I recently got one, and although it hasn't taken to its burrow, it has made quite the hammock web, and fun to watch.

Yeah - it's a very big mess in trade. We have many "pet trade" spiders for example H.hercules (almost all are pet trade).

I think you should be ok.. Ask them if they know for sure if it's minax; I spoke to one of the online stores recently and they had a female minax listed that *should* be minax but *might* be a different species. There seems to be either some confusion on minax or a lot of folks selling other Haplopelmas off as minax; I had a hard time finding any. If it helps at all though I've got two, and they do seem pretty different in appearance (at least in my little realm of experience, anyway). They're both a uniform off-black color with no striations on the abdomen at all. Lots of serious 'tude too.. haha

cool. i have some tarantulas on order but when they arrive i gotta see if i have room for one more

Perform a search on this site for "Haplopelma minax" and you will find many threads that have discussed this topic. There are some REAL H. minax spiderlings coming into the US, but any adults advertised are likely to be Haplopelma sp. "aureopilosum" or some other species. It's not that the dealers are being intentionally deceptive. They are imported into the country as "H. minax" and any dealer that doesn't have a serious specific interest in Haplopelma might not know any differently. And unless your name is Volker von Wirth it is doubtful that any of us would be able to say with certainty that something is H. minax - especially without sacrificing both males and females and having them examined by someone like Volker.

actually, a search of the site is what prompted this thread. most of the ones that i had pulled up were pretty old, tho, so i thought i'd see if there was a fresh perspective out there

i appreciate the info!