What got you interested in keeping tarantulas?

[Prudance]

I've been wondering what got people started in keeping tarantulas. I know my story and I'll share it. What's yours? What got you into tarantulas and how did your collection get started?

I've always loved little critters. I remember playing with insects and spiders I found in my yard as a kid. I always wanted to keep them as pets but my dad always said no. I gave up and forgot about such things but always loved to look at them at zoos or science centers. That is until my daughter fell in love with a T. blondi at the zoo when she was 2.

Then we both we both campaigned to get a couple, just two, pet tarantulas. Eventually the husband gave in and we got one. Then a month later she was in premolt and we needed another T to feed the crickets too. So we got our second one. Well when our first tarantula molted, my husband was hooked. Our next purchase about two months later was for 4 more and some enclosure supplies. Today we have 20 tarantulas and the whole family loves having them.

 

[Martin Oosthuysen]

I've been wondering what got people started in keeping tarantulas. I know my story and I'll share it. What's yours? What got you into tarantulas and how did your collection get started?

I've always loved little critters. I remember playing with insects and spiders I found in my yard as a kid. I always wanted to keep them as pets but my dad always said no. I gave up and forgot about such things but always loved to look at them at zoos or science centers. That is until my daughter fell in love with a T. blondi at the zoo when she was 2.

Then we both we both campaigned to get a couple, just two, pet tarantulas. Eventually the husband gave in and we got one. Then a month later she was in premolt and we needed another T to feed the crickets too. So we got our second one. Well when our first tarantula molted, my husband was hooked. Our next purchase about two months later was for 4 more and some enclosure supplies. Today we have 20 tarantulas and the whole family loves having them.

Hello
Very fun way to hear peoples stories and to see people's views,hope more reply. Well I always loved snakes tarantulas scorpions and other creatures,but my main focus was tarantulas. I grew up poor,so there was never an opportunity for me to have these. This is why I started late in the hobby, finances had to be right. Now I can fully enjoy my love for them,knowing I can care and collect them without worry.

 

[CrystalRose]

I actually used to be scared of them. I forced myself to learn to overcome it. I started watching a lot of youtube videos on tarantulas. The more I watched the more fascinated I became. Then one night I saw a female rose hair advertised on a local craigslist group for 10 dollars with enclosure. I ended up buying her and have been adding to my collection ever since.

 

[Tongue Flicker]

Still looking for an answer to this question. For now,
I find their ease of care practical and cost of maintenance cheap

 

[StoptheInsanity]

I've been wondering what got people started in keeping tarantulas. I know my story and I'll share it. What's yours? What got you into tarantulas and how did your collection get started?

I've always loved little critters. I remember playing with insects and spiders I found in my yard as a kid. I always wanted to keep them as pets but my dad always said no. I gave up and forgot about such things but always loved to look at them at zoos or science centers. That is until my daughter fell in love with a T. blondi at the zoo when she was 2.

Then we both we both campaigned to get a couple, just two, pet tarantulas. Eventually the husband gave in and we got one. Then a month later she was in premolt and we needed another T to feed the crickets too. So we got our second one. Well when our first tarantula molted, my husband was hooked. Our next purchase about two months later was for 4 more and some enclosure supplies. Today we have 20 tarantulas and the whole family loves having them.

Well, I'm a retired nurse, aged 72...When I was a child, we didn't not have the toys that kids have today...We had to make our own entertainment...I used to have "pet" wild spiders...They would set up their nets in my step father's garage...I used to catch bugs and flies for them, and spend hours doing this and feeding them...However, every so often he would clean the garage and ruin my pets nets...I used to get so upset, but soon they would be back in business again, and I would start my routine again...I have always respected spiders, and have always rescued any house spider and released it outdoors...Then forty years ago, we moved to Texas and there were large wild tarantulas on our property...However, after a few years we never saw them any more...I've had every animal you can think of from monkeys, sugar gliders, iguana, turtles, cats, dog, bunnies, chickens, pea****s, goats, cows, goats, and now at my age, I've settled in on tarantulas, and am having a great time caring for them...

 

[TJB13]

I too have always been fond of little critters. When I was younger I loved to find snakes or frogs. I was very scared of spiders for as long as I can remember. However when I was 17 I bought an Emperor scorpion, which soon turned into a communal tank with 4. Eventually after obsessively reading about tarantulas I bought a G rosea. I now own many tarantulas and scorpions and really enjoy keeping them.

 

[Denny Dee]

It started for me when I studied Entomology. I became fascinated with a whole new world that seemed endless with interesting sizes, shapes, and behaviors. While studying it, I took a job at a pet shop and the rest is history. Once I saw my first live T I had to have it. But, I was still living at home and there was no way my Mom would allow one. So, my first T (a "bird eater" since back in the day, scientific names were rarely used in the pet trade) lived happily for four months in my closet until I finally moved out and got my own place. I went a looong time with no inverts as my wife was not a fan and I was too busy with work, kids, etc. but got back into the hobby about three years ago and am loving it.

 

[pcsguy88]

I HATE spiders. I have always liked the jumpers due to their beautiful colors, inquisitive nature and the fact you can see them calculating in their little heads, but the rest can go. I grew up in the Seattle area where our spiders were not poisonous and stayed on their webs or in their flowers where they belonged. Moving to Kansas in my teens is where my fear revealed itself since we have giant wolf spiders that roam and terrorize all bipeds in their homes. Last year I lived on a lake and the house was overrun with Brown Recluse to the point I could not put out glue traps since the amount I caught caused me to lose sleep. Seeing the wounds those buggers can inflict is enough to give anyone nightmares considering 99% of bites are in your sleep when you pin them against you. Anyways, I had to come to terms with my fear of the BR's in order to live my life and I have decided to do my best to completely eradicate my fear of spiders once and for all (which seems to be a common theme for first time owners).

So last week I was at the petstore with my young daughter (who is fearless with the exception of wasps) looking for a cat for my grandmother. Looking at the reptile section as always, I got this idea about getting a T. Well, the idea made more and more sense and on Memorial Day my daughter and I found an Avic Avic at Petland. I did not want a pet rock, but boy was my perception of tarantulas way off due to always seeing the rosies just sit there. I had NO idea about the tree dwellers or how incredibly fast and nimble they are. This is good because my fear is of real spiders and I need something that moves like a wolf spider to truly help overcome that fear. Since I use to have reef tanks, I wanted to do this right, not just a plastic tub sitting on a dresser, so luckily Petland had a perfectly attractive used Ecoterra cube that they sold me for cost. It ended up being perfect after learning about the Avics and their needs and the tank is attractive. I think I have the enclosure set now and Potter looks to be perfectly happy in his new Saddam hole. He has not left the hole since chasing a cricket into it on his first feeding Tuesday.

So let the journey begin and see where this crazy idea takes me. Will I be capturing spiders and releasing them into the outdoors or will I continue to relish in watching them freeze up from the hairspray of doom (my favorite way to kill intruders with more than 6 legs)? Time will tell.

 

[pcsguy88]

I think Potter and I bonded this evening. I was watching tv, looked over and saw him on his log and a shotgun blast of poo on the glass between us. I snatched a cricket and dropped it in to reward him for coming out and watched him hunt it. Once he caught it, he literally paraded it around like a cat and then crawled into his hole to eat it. I think we are going to get along famously.

 

[pcsguy88]

Potter started spinning a web in his log. I take this as a sign I have given him a proper home.

 

[Prudance]

Thanks for sharing all you stories here. It's so cool that we can be brought together for both different and similar reasons. I hope to read from more people.

 

[Josh]

Always wanted one, then I started this site! Then Kenny sent me a P pulcher!

 

[Charmyknux]

As a kid, I never liked the "normal" kinds of animals. I loved hyenas and snakes and Gila monsters and wasps and anything that I could find that was bizarre.
My mom Told me that she had had a Mexican Red Knee when she was a teenager (to make her sister move out of the house!), and then I started researching them and decided I had to have one.
My mom said that we had too many pets already (snakes, birds, dogs, horses, lizards, horses, frogs, you name it), so I had to put my new obsession on hold.
Then for my 18th birthday I got a juvenile B. Smithi from a friend, and I was hooked. I doted on her (and I still do 11 years later the day after tomorrow), and within six weeks I had bought a juvenile A. Seemani.
Now I have 25, and I've had quite a few in between, as well as some other inverts.
Next?

 

[Denny Dee]

Those Moms and their "no's". Perhaps it was the early rejection that feeds our fire to own a bazillion T's now

 

[HungryGhost]

I've always loved bugs, spiders, snakes, lizards, frogs, etc. One of my earliest memories is of catching bugs in a mayonnaise jar when I was three or for years old in a vacant lot near our house in the city. When I was five we moved to the suburbs and I was in heaven. I was born this way I guess.

 

[MichK]

I have always wanted a T, but I never realised that they would be this easy to care for. Only once I researched it did I see it was not so difficult. I also found that if you are willing to take the time to raise slings the hobby is more affordable than I imagined. I purchased my first T from a shop specialising in reptiles. This for me was quite a big deal as the place was full of snakes and I have a morbid irrational fear of snakes. Now I go to the shop often just to chat to the owner and I dont even notice the snakes anymore! I purchased the rest of my T's at a reptile expo were, as one can expect, there were lots of snakes. That was a bit of an ordeal for me, but I went home with 6 new T's anyway. Who knows, maybe my fear of snakes will be conquered. Incidentally, I used to be married to a total arachnophobe who would turn into a screaming blubbering mess at the mere sight of the tiniest spider. Sometimes I giggle at the thought of what he would do now, had we still been married, what with 7 tarantula's suddenly sharing the home!

 

[.MIC]

Seeing some of these types of stories is cool becusse its basically the same way I started getting hooked on tarantulas being a little kid I would go in the backyard of my house and look for any type of bugs and insects pick them up look at them then put them back and look for more. My parents thought I was crazy but out of all the people my grandfather understood he too was an animal lover and even had his own pet store. The first pet I owned was a frog ( Coqui) which are from Puerto Rico every since for about 12 years now I have researched and collected some of the most exotic reptiles and amphibians that are in the pet trade. During my first year of college It was close to my birthday and wanted to get something cool my brother said get a tarantula, i laughed at first but then realized how stupid was i not to get one in the past. I ended up getting a aphonoplema Chalcodes female and all my friends in my dorm said we should name her Charlie. Such a sweetheart of a T, she is our little mascot in our building that we live on campus lol... And i guess like a regular T owner there is no such thing as enough tarantulas because its been 4 months now and i have like 4 all together. By far the best pet hobby ever!!
Aphonopelma Chalcodes-Charlie
Heterscodra Maculata- Snowwhite
Avicularia Avicularia- ?? Just got this one today
Pterinochilus murinas-Simba

 

[LauraMI]

Wanted one about a decade ago but never did get one. Married a reptile guy & while vending a reptile show, I sold my Hermanns tortoise pair to a tarantula breeder. He gave me a G. pulchripes & promised a B. vagans when I next see him. Have two new mini-viva set up too! Looking for a Red Knee sling too now but the post above about the jumpers has me thinking!