I am an example of how someone's opinion can change due to exposure. Originally I was dead set against breeding spiders or even owning one. I had experienced too many bad things in my horse days and had formed the opinion that breeding anything with a defect was just plain irresponsible. I bought what was advertised as a Super Mojave from a now questionable source that turned out to be a Super Mojave Spider. He is basically a train wreck. In the beginning I couldn't even watch him when he began to corkscrew. I decided not to get rid of him though and to study him instead, besides my daughters fell in love with him. His disposition is wonderful and he has quite the personality for a snake. At any rate I soon realized that this "defective" snake could teach me a lot about ball pythons. Now, by observation, I personally believe with spiders for whatever reason have a hard time telling which direction is up, and that the crazy stuff only starts when they are worked up about something such as feeding or there is something wrong in their environment. I now had a ball python that could tell me when something was wrong. I know when he has defecated, is hungry, not happy with his hides, etc. This little snake taught me to begin to recognize things with my "normal" snakes that I just not see before. He makes a wonderful pet for my daughters and a great barometer of my own husbandry skills. I like him so much that I was given a x-mas present of a Lavender Spider this year. He has the same temperament as my first one. He also wobbles but is not a train wreck. Long story short, both these guys will be bred next season. I will breed them because in my opinion they make wonderful pets especially for a new keeper because they will "tell" you when something is wrong. I do not think it is unethical to breed them as pets. To release one into the wild however would be a mistake. The only thing I would recommend is that if someone decides to sell spiders they need to make it very clear to the buyer what they are getting.
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