Hello there.
Let me start by apologizing for how long it has taken me to make the first blog entry. I had every intention of doing this quite a while ago, but life happens and I'm getting to it now.
This post is being written to help explain one of the commonly used formats/notations you will see not only in the Spider community, but exotic animal communities in general. It may even be used by some in the more 'Traditional pet' groups, i just haven't seen it... The notation is a simple numbering system generally used before listing the type of animal and it will be either 2 or 3 numbers each separated by a period. ex: 0.1.0 or 1.0 or 0.0.52
This number is used to indicate two different pieces of information. First the placement of the number in the sequence indicates the sex of the specimen being referred to. From left to right, the first location indicates male specimens, the second location indicates female specimens, and if present, the third location indicates unsexed specimens. Secondly, the value of the number can be used to indicate the quantity being referred to.
For example, lets pretend you have the following tarantulas, and you want to make a neat, consolidates list to share with your favorite tarantula group:
a female B. boehmei, 3 unsexed B. hamorri, On male G. pulchra, 2 female G. pulchra, 5 unsexed G. pulchra, 2 female K. brunnipes, and 3 unsexed K brunnipes.
To make a list with the numbering system, you can simply write as the following:
0.1.0 B. boehmei (or 0.1 B. boehmei either is correct and means the same
0.0.3 B. hamroii
1.2.5 G. pulchra
0.2.3 K brunnipes
See how neat and clean that looks, and how quickly you can identify the sex of anything on the list extremely quickly? That's why it is so commonly used, and once you understand what it means, I hope you will make good use of the knowledge.
Now that we know what it means generally, I want to very briefly apply it to the ShanesSpiders.com website and how it is used there. I add the 3 place numbering system to the beginning of the name for every animal available for purchase on the website but the quantity indicated by the number is representing the quantity of spiders represented by the price shown, not necessarily the quantity available. For example. 0.0.1 Kochiana brunnipes - sling would be used to list purchase of 1 K brunnipes sling at a time. I may have group deals available on species some times and they may start with a 0.0.5 (or other number) and that is stating that the price shown and for every "1" added to the cart, you will receive 5 (or other corresponding number) of the particular animal selected. Another somewhat common example will be 1.1.0 on a listing. That indicates that the price shown is the total for 1 male AND 1 female.