Thoughts on Exotics Lair??

[shatteredpast7]

What is everyone's thoughts on Exotics Lair on YouTube? Genuinely curious if others watch him or think he is a good voice for the community. Watching his videos inspired me to get a tarantula.

 

[Poppy2020]

What is everyone's thoughts on Exotics Lair on YouTube? Genuinely curious if others watch him or think he is a good voice for the community. Watching his videos inspired me to get a tarantula.

Do you ever watch Tom Moran’s videos?

 

[shatteredpast7]

Do you ever watch Tom Moran’s videos?

I have not, I'll look it up. Always on the look out for new tarantula/reptile channels!

 

[Konstantin]

Hi
Tom Moran is a good source of husbandry and care information and promoting good tarantula keeping practices.
Exotics Lair and Dark Den are mainly for viewers entertainment rather than the best care for the animals.Their practices are sometimes questionable too.I don't consider them good source of information as they don't put animals well being first.
Regards Konstantin

 

[shaun]

Totally agree.
Tom is great for information, i always go to his videos for the correct advice.
Petco on the dark den is very entertaining, i always look forward to watching his latest post.

 

[shatteredpast7]

Hi
Tom Moran is a good source of husbandry and care information and promoting good tarantula keeping practices.
Exotics Lair and Dark Den are mainly for viewers entertainment rather than the best care for the animals.Their practices are sometimes questionable too.I don't consider them good source of information as they don't put animals well being first.
Regards Konstantin

I agree, I don't usually go to Exotics lair for info. This is the first place i come for info or even just search online. But i like how he makes them seem not as scary as people make them out to be. I don't see him particularly putting his t's in danger or purposefully stressing them out, but i would not go there first with a question.

 

[Poppy2020]

I agree, I don't usually go to Exotics lair for info. This is the first place i come for info or even just search online. But i like how he makes them seem not as scary as people make them out to be. I don't see him particularly putting his t's in danger or purposefully stressing them out, but i would not go there first with a question.

I have seen a video where he constantly prods his T’s to encourage a threat pose. !!! Also, I’ve seen a rehousing video where the T (an OBT) was not in a safe place and actually leapt and landed on the floor, not once but like 3x. Ugh. Not for me.

Check out—>
Tarantula Haven
Dave’s little beasties
The Tarantula Collective

These guys are much better all around. And of course, Tom Moran.

 

[AdamG]

I have seen a video where he constantly prods his T’s to encourage a threat pose. !!! Also, I’ve seen a rehousing video where the T (an OBT) was not in a safe place and actually leapt and landed on the floor, not once but like 3x. Ugh. Not for me.

Check out—>
Tarantula Haven
Dave’s little beasties
The Tarantula Collective

These guys are much better all around. And of course, Tom Moran.

Agree with all of these recommendations.

Regarding Exotics Lair, at best it's ignorant negligence and at worst it's animal abuse for clicks and revenue. I cannot support that.

 

[Gizalba]

I have seen a video where he constantly prods his T’s to encourage a threat pose. !!! Also, I’ve seen a rehousing video where the T (an OBT) was not in a safe place and actually leapt and landed on the floor, not once but like 3x. Ugh. Not for me.

Check out—>
Tarantula Haven
Dave’s little beasties
The Tarantula Collective

These guys are much better all around. And of course, Tom Moran.

Yeah that OBT one was horrible. He tends to keep saying 'I shouldn't be doing this...' then continues to :/ I defo agree with all the ones you've mentioned above.

 

[PanzoN88]

I agree with the above statements as well, specifically what @Konstantin said. I will add my own two cents however.

I would never recommend youtube as a source for good information, while some may put out information that is pretty good, but forums like this are the way to go.

For the youtube channel in question, I maybe watched one video a few years ago when T-tube (I made up this term on the spot) started to explode and that was it. While I follow all hobbyists, youtube or not, clickbait titles with stunts for views never ends well, but as I said, I only watched one video, so I can’t really comment any further.

 

[Jeremy-psychonaut]

I’m not at all a fan of exotic layer personally
I’m a huge fan of Tom Moran and the tarantula collective

 

[octanejunkie]

I’m not at all a fan of exotic layer personally
I’m a huge fan of Tom Moran and the tarantula collective

Both Tom and Richard have accounts here, tho Tom has not been active in a while and Richard only recently joined and posted

 

[shatteredpast7]

I agree with the above statements as well, specifically what @Konstantin said. I will add my own two cents however.

I would never recommend youtube as a source for good information, while some may put out information that is pretty good, but forums like this are the way to go.

For the youtube channel in question, I maybe watched one video a few years ago when T-tube (I made up this term on the spot) started to explode and that was it. While I follow all hobbyists, youtube or not, clickbait titles with stunts for views never ends well, but as I said, I only watched one video, so I can’t really comment any further.

I agree, like i said earlier this place is the first place i go for info and if I can't find it here, i search the web.

 

[Arachnoclown]

I was invited to a Facebook YouTube group that all the Youtubers were in. He was very arrogant and was only worried about how many subscribers he had. He should have been more worried on how to care for spiders.. He made many posts complaining on how many subscribers he had lost. Or how in 24 hours YouTube was losing his subscribers by the 1000s like a U.S. election. This didn't sit well with him and another unnamable gal that led the group. They started conspiring on doing group videos or collaborations to boost everyone's subscribers. Ofcourse all the bigger YouTube guys would go first with their collaborations. When it got time for the smaller Youtubers turn it lost momentum and they switched gears to the next collaboration...again starting with the big guys. When they started doing plugs to plug another Youtuber, it was always the big guys plugging the next big guy. They are greedy and by watching their crappy videos you are lining their pockets.
BTW Tom Moran isn't one of those guys. He generally is in it for spreading good info of the spiders and promoting the hobby.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[AdamG]

I was invited to a Facebook YouTube group that all the Youtubers were in. He was very arrogant and was only worried about how many subscribers he had. He should have been more worried on how to care for spiders.. He made many posts complaining on how many subscribers he had lost. Or how in 24 hours YouTube was losing his subscribers by the 1000s like a U.S. election. This didn't sit well with him and another unnamable gal that led the group. They started conspiring on doing group videos or collaborations to boost everyone's subscribers. Ofcourse all the bigger YouTube guys would go first with their collaborations. When it got time for the smaller Youtubers turn it lost momentum and they switched gears to the next collaboration...again starting with the big guys. When they started doing plugs to plug another Youtuber, it was always the big guys plugging the next big guy. They are greedy and by watching their crappy videos you are lining their pockets.
BTW Tom Moran isn't one of those guys. He generally is in it for spreading good info of the spiders and promoting the hobby.

Just my 2 cents...

This more or less confirms what I suspected. I'd much rather learn from guys like you and the other solid YouTubers than be at the receiving end of a sales push and questionable husbandry practices.

 

[Gizalba]

I was invited to a Facebook YouTube group that all the Youtubers were in. He was very arrogant and was only worried about how many subscribers he had. He should have been more worried on how to care for spiders.. He made many posts complaining on how many subscribers he had lost. Or how in 24 hours YouTube was losing his subscribers by the 1000s like a U.S. election. This didn't sit well with him and another unnamable gal that led the group. They started conspiring on doing group videos or collaborations to boost everyone's subscribers. Ofcourse all the bigger YouTube guys would go first with their collaborations. When it got time for the smaller Youtubers turn it lost momentum and they switched gears to the next collaboration...again starting with the big guys. When they started doing plugs to plug another Youtuber, it was always the big guys plugging the next big guy. They are greedy and by watching their crappy videos you are lining their pockets.
BTW Tom Moran isn't one of those guys. He generally is in it for spreading good info of the spiders and promoting the hobby.

Just my 2 cents...

After reading this I have just unsubscribed to exotics lair on both my channels, his videos tempt me for entertainment but you're right that it's just lining their pockets and supporting bad handling of tarantulas. I guess that's exactly why he's losing subscribers by the 1000s. The showy drama videos may make him successful in the short term, but hopefully in the long term he will fizzle out for doing that.

I think Dark Den was mentioned above as maybe being similar. Personally I feel Dark Den seems like a decent guy who cares about his Ts, but as I think he's mentioned himself he's not there for educational purposes, more for just sharing his enjoyment of the hobby.

 

[octanejunkie]

Dark Den is the comic relief of the Tarantula youtubers, IMO. He doesn't put his animals in harm's way for ratings, he does seem to genuinely care and wants to do better as a keeper.

JM2C

 

[WolfSpider]

I would add our own Tarantula Collective as a reputable you-tuber whose main concern is T welfare.

 

[octanejunkie]

I would add our own Tarantula Collective as a reputable you-tuber whose main concern is T welfare.

And a new contributor here

 

[Frogdaddy]

This is a generational issue. I think if you took a poll, younger millennials would love Exotics Lair, and older, more seasoned keepers would totally dismiss him. I understand that many people viewed Exotics Lair videos and that's how they got into Tarantula keeping. Yea give him an award. Again, signs of a different generation as older keepers were exposed to Tarantulas through their LPS or these weird things called books.

The problem is the very myopic view that Exotics Lair is a good keeper. Especially when newbs who don't know any better try and emulate or copy what he does. He is there for one thing and one thing only. Clicks. I'm sure what ever money he earns from YouTube is a significant income in whatever 3rd world country he's from. But make no mistake Exotics Lair is not about education, husbandry, or hot topic issues related to invert keeping, it's all about entertainment dressed up as education. To me Exotics Lair is a misrepresentation of the hobby and the animals themselves. He doesn't deserve a first view much less multiple videos. But the more sensational his videos are the more click he will receive. I can't wait for his first bite video which he'll never post because it's recognition of what a piss poor keeper he really is.
I look at Exotics Lair just like all the Real Housewives reality shows. Sure, you could watch it, but why waste your valuable time with crap.