What made you leave the hobby in the past?

[TwiztedNinja]

To those who have left and come back - what made you decide to leave? Im new and its hard to imagine me losing interest or desire to have or keep tarantulas. There are a couple things I used to do all the time that I no longer do, but the thought of getting back into it, has never gone away completely

Im curious as to why people leave

 

[scooter1685]

I had to leave the hobby several years ago. My wife and I had to move on short notice, and the place we found to rent at the time was willing to allow my boas but refused to allow Ts. I think the owner was just afraid of spiders. It was almost 2 years before I was able to have more, and by then I was busy learning how to breed boas and it just didn't occur to me that I could buy some. I had a couple friends with Ts, but I didn't have any for over 12 years.

Just got back into the hobby a couple months ago. 5 slings at the moment, and another 8-9 I plan to pick up in March or April. Promised my wife I won't have more than 25 total at any point in time. She thinks that sounds like a ton, and I think it sounds like a fairly small number. Of course, that wouldn't count things like scorpions and such. They aren't spiders after all...

 

[Colorado Ts]

My pathway through life played a huge role in my wandering away from the hobby. The hobby has changed so much, there are amazing resources that I never had access to many years ago.

The main event that took me away, I got a degree in Chemistry with a minor in Biochemistry & Math, and started working in a lab. I began as a lab rat, but within a year I was the lab manager...and spent 9 years building the company for my unappreciative boss. During this same 9 year time frame, I started breeding African Cychlids...very lucrative hobby. Sold mostly locally, and shipped to Southern California.

After I had enough, I became a high school educator, teaching chemistry & physics.

I was concerned that teaching may not workout, so I also completed an Interdisciplinary Masters Degree in Applied Chemistry & Physics. All the while avoiding calls from my previous boss begging me to come back & run the lab again.

I had 3 college professors telling me that I wasting myself teaching at the high school level, and tried for years to recruit me as an adjunct professor, but I passed on those opportunities.

While working on my masters degree I did manage to take a few summer credits that allowed me to collect wolf spiders with a graduate student on the Pawnee Grasslands. I also enjoyed teaching students the subject of entomology as a 4-h leader...taking several of my kiddos to County Grand & Reserve Grand Champions...and State Grand & Reserve Grand Champions...many many times.

So even though I was away for many years, I was always nearby.

Trigger for my return: I took my Adv Chemistry class to southern Colorado to see the fall Tarantula Migration on Sept 6th of this year...we saw between 100 & 150 tarantulas, Aphonopelma hentzi and dang it, I'm back...no excuses.

 

[Vanisher]

I left the hobby some years ago. Sold 95% of my collection. I am still consider myself "out" of the hobby. I have around 15 tarantulas left, but i very seldom buy any new once and i font breed them anymore. I just enjoying the ones that i currently have

 

[viper69]

There weren't enough species.

 

[donniedark0]

Sometimes life changes and you get really busy with other stuff so you dont pay as much attention to your hobbies. It happens to me with a couple of my hobbies I drift in and out of. Its weird because you always come back to some of your hobbies one way or another. It feels almost seasonal.

I always kept some tarantulas but I would take a mental break from them. Like, I would not think about them , or visit these forums, I would just feed them once every couple weeks, sometimes once a month, give them water every week or 2. It was just something I made sure I did eventually but then I went back to whatever I was doing.

Moving alot, busy with school, relationships, seasonal changes, etc......

It will always be with me but sometimes I may drift mentally from it. but it sure makes me feel happy when I am involved in it, its just very fun and loving to me.

 

[ArachnidSentinl]

I had this discussion with a few old timers a while back, and the consensus seemed to be that there was a shift in the culture at some point which made it less desirable. Each person I've talked to quantifies it differently.

I'll be honest though, the main I initially left was the terror known as grad school

 

[Willa]

I had this discussion with a few old timers a while back, and the consensus seemed to be that there was a shift in the culture at some point which made it less desirable. Each person I've talked to quantifies it differently.

Interesting! Care to expand?

 

[ArachnidSentinl]

Interesting! Care to expand?

Well, there was a fair bit of "hey you kids, get off my lawn," but I think it had some merit. Most of my friends that have either stepped back or even completely left the hobby were frustrated by a perceived change in the arachnocultural zeitgeist...a shift that emphasized stamp collection over husbandry, pursuit of novelty over more grounded genuine interest, etc. I think this had a lot to do with the increased accessibility and popularity of the hobby, the general morph craze in the parallel subculture of herpetoculture (and subsequent attitudes of commercialization), and the intersection of the hobby with social media. I suspect that it's the latter factor that truly alienated those more used to a localized, personal subculture. Or so I recall. It's tough to remember the specific complaints as readily as the general emotional states that accompanied them.

I'll admit, I continue to struggle with the subculture, myself. My local expo is filled with Brian Barcyzk-worshiping juggalos hawking hybrids and phasmids, convincing the local beardie-mommies to impulse buy old worlds, varanids, and giant constrictors which will end up on craigslist six weeks later as a means of funding their next illicit suboxone deal. I get in, get my feeders, and get out. Yikes. Thankfully, bastions of sanity remain online, as long as one is judicious.

 

[AracnoDreams]

It wasn't lost of interest when it comes to us . It just came down to where needed our resources more . We spent the last 7 years or so in IVF ... and that will suck all your $$$ that you use to spend on Ts and the time we use to spend on Ts had to go to travel big citys ... but as soon as our time and income was again ours to spend we began acquiring again .

 

[donniedark0]

Well, there was a fair bit of "hey you kids, get off my lawn," but I think it had some merit. Most of my friends that have either stepped back or even completely left the hobby were frustrated by a perceived change in the arachnocultural zeitgeist...a shift that emphasized stamp collection over husbandry, pursuit of novelty over more grounded genuine interest, etc. I think this had a lot to do with the increased accessibility and popularity of the hobby, the general morph craze in the parallel subculture of herpetoculture (and subsequent attitudes of commercialization), and the intersection of the hobby with social media. I suspect that it's the latter factor that truly alienated those more used to a localized, personal subculture. Or so I recall. It's tough to remember the specific complaints as readily as the general emotional states that accompanied them.

I'll admit, I continue to struggle with the subculture, myself. My local expo is filled with Brian Barcyzk-worshiping juggalos hawking hybrids and phasmids, convincing the local beardie-mommies to impulse buy old worlds, varanids, and giant constrictors which will end up on craigslist six weeks later as a means of funding their next illicit suboxone deal. I get in, get my feeders, and get out. Yikes. Thankfully, bastions of sanity remain online, as long as one is judicious.

I know exactly what you mean. I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who experienced this. It’s never been a numbers game for me. It loses its beauty IMO if it just becomes a numbers game with husbandry on the bottom of the list. I have met a lot of reptile keepers who tent to fit in that stereotype.

 

[Colorado Ts]

Well, there was a fair bit of "hey you kids, get off my lawn," but I think it had some merit. Most of my friends that have either stepped back or even completely left the hobby were frustrated by a perceived change in the arachnocultural zeitgeist...a shift that emphasized stamp collection over husbandry, pursuit of novelty over more grounded genuine interest, etc. I think this had a lot to do with the increased accessibility and popularity of the hobby, the general morph craze in the parallel subculture of herpetoculture (and subsequent attitudes of commercialization), and the intersection of the hobby with social media. I suspect that it's the latter factor that truly alienated those more used to a localized, personal subculture. Or so I recall. It's tough to remember the specific complaints as readily as the general emotional states that accompanied them.

I'll admit, I continue to struggle with the subculture, myself. My local expo is filled with Brian Barcyzk-worshiping juggalos hawking hybrids and phasmids, convincing the local beardie-mommies to impulse buy old worlds, varanids, and giant constrictors which will end up on craigslist six weeks later as a means of funding their next illicit suboxone deal. I get in, get my feeders, and get out. Yikes. Thankfully, bastions of sanity remain online, as long as one is judicious.

I never got into the numbers game.

I select species that hold a certain appeal, or meet a set of criteria. Then I acquire themes slings, usually in quantity (5 to 10 of each), and raise them up...learning about them and researching published information on each species as I go.
For me, this hobby is essentially a Pure Science; the acquisition of knowledge for its own sake.

I also enjoy reading real books...the smell of the ink, the turning of actual pages, and the weight of the book in my hands has personal meaning and importance.

 

[lostbrane]

I wound up going to trade school, and didn’t think it’d be a great idea to bring my L. klugi and B. boehmei along. Which considering how living up there went, was an excellent decision.