Is it actually possible to stop buying new Ts?

[poisoned]

My last order was two weeks ago. I was pretty calm for a few days. But! One of them was P. irminia, and now I am feeling strong urge to buy more from Psalmopoeus genus. And I found an amazing offer (3x P. cambridgei 2nd instar slings for 15 € and P. reduncus 2"LS for 15€). I just need to trick my girlfriend into it. Not sure how

 

[moghue]

It is pretty hard to stop buying T's. I got back into keeping T's i believe it was last november. I started with a G.rosea and now i have over 50 different T's and have 3 more coming in today hopefully. Longest i went with out buying any was 3 weeks lol

 

[Vespula]

My most recent order is due today! I ordered four Aphonopelma sp. Flagstaff Orange. I'm excited to get them.

 

[beaker41]

Being broke is a good way to go , until someone starts selling slings for < 5$ each , then there's no way to resist

 

[Zeph]

I guess I lied about waiting a year, bought another one today. Would have purchased more if I didn't need to be frugal right now. Hell, at the rate of 5 every two weeks...

 

[pocock1899]

It's a great hobby and it's gotten better over the years. But like any hobby, pace yourself. There may be a time when, ...*gasp* ...you Grow Up, and you find other priorities (wife, kids, career, other pets/hobbies, a house) and you could end up regretting the money, space and time that your inverts take. With some, it may never happen, but it might. You never know.

When you have just a few choice ones, you'll treasure them and learn more from them than if you have over a thousand (I'm speaking from experience here).

If you have shelves and shelves of spiders, taking a vacation, moving to a new job or going to school can become problematic. Eventually, you may yearn for a life that involves travelling to where the spiders are found, not just studying the ones in your spider room. It's significantly more feasible to go to those places and enjoy your travels when you aren't taking care of hundreds of spiders and spiderlings.

I doubt it this will make a difference to you right now, I know it took me about ten years in the hobby to come to this realization, but eventually, most people either learn moderation, or they burn out and leave the hobby altogether. Good luck on finding which choice is best for you.

 

[SamuraiSid]

Of course its possible to stop buying T's. Heck, I havnt added to my collection in... 6 weeks!

 

[wierdscaryguy86]

I havent been able to stop since i was 18, im 25 now and i have almost 30. My advice, make homemade enclosures and buy slings-at least that way you wont spend so much $ on this "hobby" haha

 

[apophysis]

I started the hobby again for about 4 months ago and soon up in 50 species and 100+´t`s lol

 

[kwacky]

It's a great hobby and it's gotten better over the years. But like any hobby, pace yourself. There may be a time when, ...*gasp* ...you Grow Up, and you find other priorities (wife, kids, career, other pets/hobbies, a house) and you could end up regretting the money, space and time that your inverts take. With some, it may never happen, but it might. You never know.

I did that. Took a break in my early 20s. Now I'm 41, married with 2 kids and I've got the bug again.

I had about 30 Ts last time. So far I'm on 4, but I've only been back in it for a couple of months.

 

[LucN]

When I started over 3 years ago, I got the typical pet shop WC G. rosea. I waited almost a year before getting my 2nd T which was a B. boehmei juvi. Then within a few months, got a C. darlingi (unsexed), B. smithi (unsexed) and N. chromatus (unsexed). After a while, I decided that I'd only buy and keep a guaranteed female of B. smithi and B. emilia to go with my B. boehmei.

Sold the G. rosea, C. darlingi, B. smithi and N. chromatus. Kept the B. boehmei since I knew that one was definitely female. The others were a gamble. The G. rosea could only have had a couple of years to go and I wasn't ready to lose a T just yet. The C. darlingi was becoming more defensive than I thought it would be. I didn't want to risk an eventual bite. The B. smithi could have been a male and was a terrible eater while I had it in my care. The N. chromatus was just too skittish to really enjoy.

The B. boehmei was the one to keep for then since it was always on display, a fantastic eater and has a good lifespan potential since it was likely less than 2 years old when I got it as a 1.5" juvi. A year and a half later, I got my 100% female B. smithi juvi. 6 months later, I finally complete my dream trio of Brachypelma females with the purchase of a 2" B. emilia.

I have no intention of getting any other Ts since they possess traits that turn me off, such as being arboreal, old world, obligate burrower, short-lived (compared to Brachypelmas), too fast to work with, drably colored and unreliable eaters.

So yes, it is possible to stop buying Ts. Where I come from the exotic pet hobby is near non-existent. There are no expos that come here. Our one and only LPS only carries G. rosea and P. imperator. Another way I'm planning on keeping my collection to 3 is to not visit tarantula dealers' sites. I got the ones I really wanted and will enjoy these as long as I can. If I'd get anymore, the fun and enjoyment would be replaced by a feeling of it being a chore.

 

[meghanbe]

I hope so!

I got my first T in the beginning of April and am up to 4 (E. campestratus, G.pulchra, A. versicolor, A. avicularia), with the 5th (P. cambridgei) on its way next week. I've also been promised a "birthday tarantula" in August (or "tarantulas", if I spend my money wisely). I never imagined the hobby being so addictive, especially when I entered it as an arachnophobe. But the more I learn about different species, the more I want.

I can safely say that I'll never have 50 T's. I'm pretty sure I'd wind up single, for one thing. Also, I do have other hobbies (and a family), so I don't want tarantula-keeping to ever dominate my free time. I imagine it's a fine line between "one more doesn't require much additional care!" and "it takes hours to feed all my T's"--one I don't really want to cross! At the moment caring for my T's (and my crested geckos) is actually stress relief for me. I really don't want that to change.

That said, I'm hoping to cap my collection at 10-15 (she says now, hoping she won't look back on that statement in a year and laugh). The challenge then becomes choosing which species to keep! As long as I have a goal of not letting my T collection explode, choosing "the next T" feels like a task of the utmost importance. Luckily I'm pretty focused on the NW species at the moment, so that does cut the options a bit. I'm not sure whether I'll ever try an OW or not. If I do, it'd be a P. regalis. My birthday T will almost certainly be a NW terrestrial (or two?), but it's terrible trying to decide. Currently at the top of my wishlist are a GBB, Euathlus sp., Paraphysa parvula, or Pamphobeteus (antinous or "platyomma"). Of course, then I start thinking about how I really should have a Brachy...or an Aphonopelma of some sort...

And so it goes.

 

[sbullet]

yea. it is.

 

[le-thomas]

Luckily enough for me, I have two major limiters on the amount of tarantulas I have; I don't make money and only have money to spend a few times a year, and my interests are SOMEWHAT narrow. There are very, VERY few Ts I would pass up for a good deal, but when it comes down to it, there aren't all that many species I'd actually go out of my way to get. So yeah I'd be more of a generalist if I could be, but that isn't possible right now.

 

[Ahmet29992]

Hell, I 'only' have four, in this order:
- Grammostola pulchripes (about 5'', female)
- Avicularia versicolor (bought it when it was about 2'', now it should be around 3'', female?)
- Brachypelma smithi (bought at 3/4'', now it should be 1,5'', unknown)
- Theraphosa blondi (I estimate the size to be around 6'' and 7'', it's too defensive to measure, male)

I'd like to buy more, but I keep them in my bedroom and my parents don't like me buying any more. Took me one month to convince them to get the first one (Grammostola rosea), which I eventually traded in (plus paid some money) for a G. pulchripes. Later, I made up with the excuse to 'buy a smaller tarantula to watch it grow', and that ended up being A. versicolor. Then I wanted 'an even smaller one, it's very cheap anyways', and that became B. smithi. And finally, two weeks ago, I went to the pet shop and saw T. blondi for sale. Three days later, I went back to buy it. Told my parents that 'I have read a lot about this one, it's the biggest one in the world and I've really wanted it'. Now I'm out of ideas, and my mother told me "You're not getting any more." On top of that, I can't have any old-world species (or like they say 'dangerous ones').

tl;dr version: I want my own house, then we can count to a hundred, if not more. Not just to four

 

[Armstrong5]

It is addicting and like others said its easy and I mean very easy to say whats one more and before you know it you have around 70. I think the key to not having so many is to really slow down and figure out waht you want in a T which is hard if you have never had one and it can change. I used to want big huge T's that were always in the open and NW only...now all want is OW T's. So it can and probably will change but thats the beauty of it I think I have about what i want so I figure I will let them grow and go on I think I have around 70 I just choose not to count. If you only want a few start with a P.metallica, you wont regret it.

 

[BobGrill]

Yes it is when you're parents won't let you get anymore.

 

[Gerulf]

Well I had a B. smithi, and then I got a G. rosea. I had those for a few months and then I bought eight more over the last week or two. So... its a no for me.

 

[grayzone]

yea. it is.

lol.. I like the bluntness

I personally havent bought any ts for a few months. I do a lot more trading than buying. I havent even done THAT in a bit.
I have a couple diff ts I really need RIGHT NOW, but im in no position to be buying (lets face it) spiders
I MAY have to break down soon and pay out of pocket, but a new project almost isnt worth the nagging id hear if i did

 

[Rich65]

My motto..."what happens on AB, stays on AB " LoL it is hard to hide new T's.. Women can do it with shoes, Us men can hide new fly rods or at least try....I get caught eventually.. But it's easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission ...RIGHT ????