Getting started in the hobby in Asia (Taiwan)

[Uptick]

Hello!
I guess this will be my first post as well as my introduction.

First of all, I must say, this is quite a site - it's well designed, organized, friendly, and most importantly, filled with a cast of incredible people willing to share their wealth of knowledge and experience. Keep up the good work! I'm really glad I found this community

I've recently moved to Taiwan, but as Mandarin isn't my first language, it's made it a little difficult to find all the resources I need to get started in the hobby. Most sellers don't seem to have their own web sites; forums or groups don't seem to have a centralized webpage, and everything seem to be scattered all over the place on facebook, third part forums, etc.
Is anyone from Taiwan or in Asia by any chance? What are some reputable breeders/sellers you would recommend?
In addition, Does Taiwan have any laws regarding importing/exporting of Tarantulas/Spiders? and are there any good forums for hobbyists in Asia that are worth looking into?

Being in a new country certainly makes it a little difficult, but on a positive note, Taiwan seems to have an abundance of Spider species , especially those giant orb weaver spiders.

Currently, I'm trying to get ahold of these books: The Tarantula Keeper's Guide, Tarantulas and Other Arachnids, and perhaps a book to discover the species that are native to Taiwan.

As for actually getting started on the hobby. The reason why most people keep tarantula as opposed to spiders is because generally spiders have a short lifespan (1 - 3 years) right?

Now, I might be jumping the gun here, but just out of curiosity, do a lot of you breed your own spider/tarantulas for sale as a way to perhaps offset the cost of purchasing new species and growing your collection? (and to give away extras to friends and other hobbyists of course.) I'm way ahead of myself here, but figured I would ask anyway

Sorry for the wall of text

 

[Walker253]

I don't know about your importation laws, but there seems to be a lot of availability in the Philippines. Check some of the arachnid sales FB groups. When you find one, which isn't hard, many will start popping up.

 

[su3cl3a8]

Hi there, I know it's an old forum, but I couldn't help replying as I am a Taiwanese hobbyist living in Taiwan. As far as I know, there used to be 2-3 active tarantula forums a couple of years ago, but they’re pretty much dead now.

Pet stores in Taiwan used to sell 2-3 commonly seen specimens of tarantulas and centipedes, but in recent years they stopped selling them as no one seemed to be interested in these furry creatures. Even if they do sell them, the prices are relatively high.

The most active forums now that I know of are facebook groups. Both buyers and sellers are in these groups. You can see general discussion, selling, or willing to exchange posts quite frequently. But these are all in Chinese and we tend to use common names rather than scientific names, which can be a pain in the ass for you lol.

In terms of reputable breeders/sellers, there is a few, I bought all my Ts with one of them. Let me know if you still need the info.

And yes, we have huge orb weaver spiders everywhere in the woods, seeing a face sized orb spider happens from time to time.

 

[Bob Lee]

There is huge amount of sellers in China and the price is usually a lot lower.