How were you introduced to Tarantulas?

[Nokturnal1980]

Well here is our story. Nine years ago I was working at Audio Hack in a mall and became friends with one of my coworkers. He started dating a girl that he said really like spiders. So, he got this brilliant idea to buy a G. rosea to impress his new girl. She eventually broke up with my coworker. Around two to three weeks later he was going on vaction and did not trust his roommates to take proper care of the then named "Mr Biggelsworth". He asked me to watch "him" for a little over a week. I must admit I was fairly scared of spiders, but waking up and seeing a big one staring at you every morning will kinda break the fear. Well fast forward back to now we still have "her" and she is donig well and we now have 66 of these wonderful creatures.

Now here is her take on it. I was adamantly against the petsitting. I was the girl who yelled for her daddy to kill spiders because I was so terrified. I finally agreed if he swore that he would come home no matter where he was and catch it. the deal was he had 1 hour to catch her or I was getting a shoe and a can of raid. Eventually I warmed up to the first one. Now I have several that are my babies.

 

[Chaika]

I've known for years that there were people who kept tarantulas as pets though it never occurred to me to try keping one until last May. Up till then, I'd kept all sorts of furry animals, amphibians, phasmids and later mantids (which I kept at university when I was an undergraduate and later, as a 'postgrad office pet'). Anyhow, when my last mantid died after only a few months (it was a male) I started looking for something longer lived that I could keep in its tank and settled for a Giant Asian scorpion. Well, one thing led to another and a month later I had bought my first T slings, Psalmopoeus irminia.

I now have 6 T's and would almost certainly get more but I promised my slightly shocked husband that I would stick to 6 for the time being . It was probably just as well that I got into arachnids after leaving home, I seriously doubt that my mother, who is quite scared of insects large and small, would have been happy with having a tarantula in the house. A giant mantis was scary enough for her

 

[Drachenjager]

seems like we been here and done this before. When i was a kid that was who i played with. no other kids just the tarantulas in my yard.