Keeping tarantulas-Just a hobby?

[Aquacat]

I have an adult female chilean rose haired tarantula. She has a name, and I consider her to be a pet. I love her The other day, I was talking to another tarantula keeper and they told me that I'm an idiot, and that tarantulas are not pets, they are strictly specimens-part of a hobby. What do you guys think about this? Do most people consider them to be just 'specimens' and have no emotional attachment to them?

 

[DannyH]

I feel like my tarantulas are my pets, and I love them. When one of mine died, I cired a lot. Just remember that they are bugs and cannot love you back. People often assume tarantulas are smart because of their size, but there is really no evidence that they have any more intelligence thn your average house spider, but once you take care of something for a while, its hard not to get attached to it.

I would ignore him, and enjoy the hobby in the way you like too.

 

[stewstew8282]

I love my lil 8 legged critters. I always tell my coworkers about them like a proud parent. I even said i was adopting another one when my new lil e. murinus arrived. Also when i let my gf know im off to the lps for crixs, i tell her im off to grab some food for the kiddies. Screw your acquaintance . Enjoy your little.ones however u choose.

 

[Dr Acula]

My assumption would be, once you start breeding them and have over 50 different specimens, you would just have particular favorites or ones that you've grown close to for years. I know that if I thought of every single one of them as pets, I'd never be able to breed. You don't buy male dogs to have the risk of them dying, do you?

 

[Rob1985]

They are my pets, but I'm not so attached to them that give them names. It is also a hobby, after-all I am an active member of a forum devoted my pet of choice. lol

 

[beccahosierr]

Its not just a hobby to me... its my passion I'm still a newbie, but I LOVE these little Cuties

 

[Amoeba]

As cold as it seems I could get rid of all of my Ts and just buy all new ones without batting an eyelash. If I think of it as a pet trade it loses the scientific aspect and then I might as well keep snakes. That being said I've named a few of mine.

 

[jayefbe]

Definitely not pets to me. I do not name mine and never will. To be perfectly honest, I don't understand people that do. I consider my dogs to be a member of my family, they sleep in my bed, they recognize me, they have a strong bond to me, they get names. Tarantulas are giant bugs that I keep in plastic tubs in my closet. I also keep a lot of plants, I don't name them either. Don't get me wrong, everyone's free to do what they like with their tarantulas, and if it makes you happy, then do it! But I'm not going to have any emotional attachment to an invertebrate that can't tell me from a shaved chimpanzee.

 

[OphidianDelight]

It doesn't matter what they are to anybody but yourself. Enjoy your pet and others will enjoy their hobby. It's all just released dopamine at the end of the day anyways.

 

[Jim1990]

Enjoy them the way you want to. Ignore the guy who told you that. I consider mine somewhat like pets. But after doing this for a while and after the ammount of T's I have traded and aquired from the past few years I dont get attached to them like I would my 2 snakes or my cat for instance. I even had a family member ask me why I dont name my T's. I think that they are a beautiful creature to observe and learn about. Just the same concept as keeping fish.

 

[SuicidalSock]

@Jayefbe

You let your dog sleep in bed with you? Eww

You have a problem with owning a tarantula as a pet , but your fine sharing your bed with a dog?

Weird.

 

[jayefbe]

@Jayefbe

You let your dog sleep in bed with you? Eww

You have a problem with owning a tarantula as a pet , but your fine sharing your bed with a dog?

Weird.

Where did I say I had a problem with owning a tarantula as a pet? Where? That's right....nowhere. To ME, I PERSONALLY don't consider tarantulas "pets" in the classic sense, because to me that implies an emotional attachment to them and I don't have one just as I don't have an emotional attachment to my television. I honestly could not care less what anyone ELSE considers THEIR tarantulas. If THEY want to name them, and sing lullabies to them, that's completely fine with me. I do not care what anyone feels about their tarantulas, I was merely stating how I feel about mine. Get it? Or is that too complicated a concept for you?

While I do share my bed with another human being, there are plenty of humans that I would never be caught dead sharing a bed with. Yet, that's perfectly acceptable. So what is any different about letting a dog sleep on your bed? I highly doubt I'm the only one, and anyone who has truly had a dog as a member of the family would not find it weird in any way.

Truly though, the most astounding thing about your post is that this thread begins as a response to someone's close-minded view of a relationship between a human and an animal, and you respond in a deeply critical manner about my relationship with another warm-blooded mammal.

 

[boosh96]

Personally, I've developed somewhat of an attachment to my T (soon to be T's!). I've named my current T, and I plan on naming the rest of my T's in the future. However, I develop a much stronger attachment to my snakes and, especially, my dogs!

 

[xhexdx]

It's a hobby for me, but I still have certain spiders I have more of an attachment to.

 

[Shrike]

your fine sharing your bed with a dog?

Weird.

Out of the millions of dog owners in the world, I'm sure that NOBODY lets the dog sleep in the bed. If they haven't already, they should feature this unspeakable behavior on an episode of Taboo.

Tarantula keeping is a hobby for me. However, I do have a soft spot for my first T.

 

[SuicidalSock]

Your abit touchy about the dog issue.

Look. What you get upto in your own bed, with your dog is your business.

I think giving a tarantula a name and treating more like a pet then a specimen is a lot less strange that cuddling your smelly dog to sleep on a night.

But hey.

Dogs are mans best friend. Just don't cross the boundaries between man and beast.

 

[xhexdx]

Your abit touchy about the dog issue.

Look. What you get upto in your own bed, with your dog is your business.

I think giving a tarantula a name and treating more like a pet then a specimen is a lot less strange that cuddling your smelly dog to sleep on a night.

But hey.

Dogs are mans best friend. Just don't cross the boundaries between man and beast.

If you're the one insinuating being sexual with a dog, then methinks you are the one who has issues...

 

[SuicidalSock]

Hey.

You brought up sex with animals. I didn't.

Cuddling is cuddling. Maybe you need to look up the definition.


Maybe you also have an issue?


But like I said. Each to their own.

 

[Hobo]

I name nearly all my tarantulas, or have other people name them, yet I do not really consider them pets. I don't consider them "specimins" either. I like to think of them as small slices of nature that I keep to make my living space more interesting. Like a slightly more involved exotic houseplant or a tank of fish. Just because I don't cry when they die, or talk to them, or whatever doesn't mean the care I give is any less than one who does otherwise. I hate that kind of logic.

Also, just because you name something, doesn't mean you consider it a part of the family or whatever. I give people I don't like names all the time!
I find that having hilarious names for them entertains me, and those who may not think spiders are the greatest thing in the world.
"Yeah, this is my cobalt blue, or H. lividum. Her name is "Lindsay Lohan goes to jail".

 

[matt82]

To the OP, yeah it is a hobby, but not just a hobby ; it is a hobby that revolves around the successful maintenance of a very interesting animal in captivity... the tarantula! Nothing wrong with developing some sort of attachment to a T, or naming it should you so wish, after all, it is your hobby.

The debate on whether exotics are pets, as such, is one I have read lots of times on different forums, and in essence, I am of the opinion that they are not pets, not in the traditional sense, after all, as T keepers for example, we will have far more interaction with the mini habitats/enclosures needed to maintain them in captivity than we will with the actual spider!

But that is not to say that it is ridiculous to develop an attachment; Ts are fascinating creatures to observe, from watching slings come through molts successfully, watching them hunt and ambush prey, observing the sheer dedication and time they invest into building their lairs or sculpting the territory you provide for them, to ultimately having them reproduce under your care (I haven't bred Ts, but you know what I mean!).

Pretty difficult not to develop some kind of attachment after all of that, so just because it is a hobby does not mean that should be seen as some sort of major negative; it is a hobby and a fascinating one at that!