Why did you get into spiders?

[Exo]

I always thought scorps were cool, but didn't know that people kept them as pets. When I found out where to get one, I ended up geting two desert hairies. As I was doing reserch on my new pets I came across a lot of T stuff, and ended up falling in love with them. Now I like Ts more than scorps.

 

[jayefbe]

I was always interested in bugs at a young age. My kindergarten teacher once told my mom that she wouldn't be surprised if I became an entomologist. She wasn't too far off. I'm applying to grad school this fall to study plant evolution.

In the past I've kept dozens of pythons, boas, dart frogs, and crested geckos. My first T was a rosea that I purchased online, and it was in every sense of the term a pet rock. It simply bored me to tears. If I only knew then that not all tarantulas were like that.

My interest in tarantulas has been reignited, and I'm working up to getting that pokie I've always wanted. At this rate, I'll be setting up a communal pokie sling setup in a couple weeks!

 

[Mack&Cass]

Well, I was working at an LPS and they'd get the occasional tarantula in. I thought they were fascinating so I bought a book, read it, did some more research. Then I bought my first T, a G. rosea who is now a MF.
Fast forward about 2.5 years later (Jan 2009) and I'm up to 5 T's. I move in with my fiancee. She gets insanely attached to the B. albopilosum. Then she becomes addicted to this site, reading up on anything and everything. In April of '09, she makes her first order, a G. pulchra sling and a C. darlingi sling. After that it all just kept snowballing and now we have 52 with 6 more coming on Wednesday.
As far as why we keep T's aside from mammals is because we discovered through the purchase of an innocent little hamster that we're not mammal people. We have a dog, but that's it. We actually ended up getting rid of the hamster because he was pretty noisy at night and my fiancee kept threatening to feed him to our ball python, so we gave him away before her threat became reality.

 

[Stopdroproll]

I was pretty in to snakes when I was younger, but never got one because my parents would not approve (possibly superstitious). My friend had snakes, and he also got a tarantula (G. rosea), but I was never really in to it. I was on some forum awhile ago and someone posted that they got a tarantula and I think it was an A. geniculata and I never knew tarantulas had awesome designs and patterns. I found this forum and learned more about them and it re-sparked my interest. Learned how to care for them and what not because I didn't have success with a red-eared slider I had. :8o RobC's awesome videos helped a lot too haha.

 

[iluvcreepystuff]

I am only 12 but ever since since i was born i have lived in Kentucky so i am surrounded by nature. When i got to about age 4 i started finding frogs and turtles and snakes and all the other creepy crawlies around here terrifying my mom to death. Well after about 5 more years it became a hobby and my mom was well used to it by then. The first captive bred animal i purchased was a baby ball python wich died because it wouldnt eat and the same happened to a baby corn snake i got for my 10th birthday. Then came two rats we had to get rid of because the ppl at the pet shop told us they were both boys when it turned out we had 11 tiny little rats. One day we went to the nearest pet shop we new of and my mom got my sis a guinea pig. While we were there i went to the reptiles first as usual and then saw a g.rosea for $25. I begged and begged for it but she said no because my dad would throw a fit. When we got home i hopped on the computer and studied tarantulas. I continued my research on t's as pets for weeks and decided i wanted a b.albopilosum i gained as much knowledge as i could over t's and every time i asked i got the same answer, no money:wall: until I almost gave up. I stopped bugging my parents about getting a t and then my 12th birthday arrived. I got off the bus at my aunts and saw a plastic dollar store tub full of substrate with fake plants and a hide. I peeked into the hide and saw a 1 inch b.albopilosum staring at me!:razz:
But the reason i got a t is because i had already owned almost all the other creepy crawlies and wanted to try out wat is now in my opinion the best hobby ever!

I still have my b.albopilosum and it is now about 2.5 in. long and just had its first molt in my care about 2 weeks ago!

If i hadn't have stumbled onto this sight i may not have ever got a t so to all of ARACHNOBOARDS THANK YOU!

 

[night4now]

Husbands...

My husband took our boys out to the desert to shoot skeet. When he came home late he called me into the room and said look at this! and pulled the top off a tote and there was a wild caught T. It was amazingly active, scrabbling around, and beautiful.
I went to the internet to try to figure out what kind it was, care and etc, and when I started reading about T's (where I came across this site) I found they were incredible. I was fascinated and would have loved to have kept him, but the spurs were very evident, and we felt it best to take him back out and let him do his thing, if males only survive a short time, and god knows people are endangering habitat everywhere, and they dont need me hauling off with MM just to keep a short time as a pet.
I went and bought a G rosea, and found that one wasnt enough (especially a pet rock). I have since dived right in to being a T owner, agreeing whole heartedly that this is addicting. I would honestly love to have one of each, but the same husband that 'brought home a spider to scare me' now says I cant have more than 50.
We'll see though, wont we? ;P

 

[sharpfang]

1st Fascination w/ Tarantulas

I started working at Petco in 1999 on and off for 3 years and found that ya cant sell scorp's and T's if ya scared to show'em 2 somebody!..................
I was lucky enough to meet Henry Elfstrom - Tomales , CA. long time breeder
and he was willing to educate me in the way of the spider.... I soon became
a leading sales dept. in our region and my success contributed to a store nominee for best run in company{1 of 5 out of 500+ stores}........................
I pick-up spiders and scorps almost every day now... And T's that my esteamed T buddy bred Im starting to get sax from!......Versicolor molted
MM this mornin! Im almost there......patience and persistance! Peace...........Jason

 

[paul fleming]

Seemed a logical step after keeping snakes,scorps and frogs...
which I still have

 

[Placeboani2]

I got into Spiders by watching a documentory on jumping spiders on discovery, I was watching it completely amazed. I read more and more into spiders, and then started reading into T's, i googled pictures of them, read books and completely fell in love!
After that i wanted one for myself and bought a G.Rosea from the local pet shop. I then bought an A.Avic and now im looking to buy more!
I can't get enough!

 

[WARPIG]

I got into spiders cause I was afraid of alligators!!!

PIG-

 

[Ether Imp]

I got into T's to pick up chicks.

...It's not working.

 

[kman]

I had a fear of spiders and a Psychology degree. The only logical choice was to get Ts and overcome my fear. Up to 40 or so now.

 

[violentblossom]

I got into them when someone posted a thread on a Tomb Raider forum (of all places) talking about how they wanted either an Cobalt Blue or an Indian Ornamental as a pet. The more that people gave their input about Ts and spiders in general, the more interested I became, seeing how low maintenance they were and how they didn't smell.

I did some research and fell in love with B. smithis. A month or so later, I had my beloved smithi Pamela, special ordered from Petco, and the rest is history.

I now have 3 Ts (after losing my Boehmei sling ) and I intend to snag a P. metallica by the end of the year.

 

[bdprice1968]

My first T was a B. smithi over twenty years ago, and now we have two G. rosea MF and MM which we've had together a couple of times, still waiting. We also have a B. smithi sling and an A. versi sling.
My son now has a B. smithi sling, so I guess my addiction is spreading cuz my wife wanted the A. versi.

 

[Abby]

I wanted a Tarantula since I was about 6 years old but my mom wouldn't let me since there was a lot of ignorance as to how "dangerous" T's are. I always had that desire to have a tarantula, so a few months ago I met someone who had one at our vet's office.

After a chat with this vet technician about her G. rosea I realized that I've always wanted one and now there was no one to stop me from getting it! I told my hubby I wanted one for my birthday and voila! I now have a G. rosea and I love her.
I did call my mom to tell her I was getting my T, and she said "no". I then proceeded to tell her my T will be in my house and that I was getting her, and that was that.

 

[DooM_ShrooM]

at first i thought spiders are just spiders....i was always an animal lover since im a child but spiders arent my thing it was dogs,turtles and mice......then when i started growing up i started feeling freaky things about exotic animals..like i need to get one of all of them then i saw this show that shows Ts then i said to my self "this where i will start my dream of getting one of all of them"......then now i have 2Ts,1 snake,2rhino beatles(they died sometime ago due too age),1 hermit crab(died a month ago due to age too) and a water dragon.......but Ts are my favorite..they got freakingly awesome body and hunting skills.... i like how they devour their food alive....drinking,yummy juice and insides

 

[Totty]

I am fascinated of tarantulas

 

[paul fleming]

Snakes first and then scorps.....then T's.
Seemed the natural progression

 

[TheTsupreme]

Snakes first and then scorps.....then T's.
Seemed the natural progression

Almost the same thing with me. Started with snakes now T's maybe later Scorps.

 

[NateTheGreat]

Was really scared of them. Then started researching T's and go really fascinated by them and lost my fear in the process. Just recently got into the hobby.