Educational spider

ArachnoJoost · Sep 11, 2002

Hi y'all,
As I mentioned before, I'm currently studying to be a biology teacher, I am in my last year now.
I've joined the insect studygroup (more like the insect keeping group), and they are all interested in keeping a T at school, which I and the other members of the group will maintain and try to educate/interest the other students. Now the question is this: what T would be suited for this? The things I'm looking for are: good looks, not too high humidity, a spider that is usually on display, doesn't have to be large, and docile. I was thinking about the G. pulchra, what suggestion could you guys give me?
Greetz,
Joost
btw: I'll ask for the name to be the arachnid studygroup instead of insect studygroup

johns · Sep 11, 2002

G. pulchra...

or a G. rosea gets my vote, Joost.

Botar · Sep 11, 2002

Well from my own limited experience and what I've read on here, I'm with Johns. Sounds as if the G. rosea is the ambassador of T's. With that being said, the green bottle blue seems to be tolerant of conditions you've mentioned and there's no question about beauty.

Paul Day · Sep 11, 2002

"I was thinking about the G. pulchra, what suggestion could you guys give me?"

I definitly agree with that suggestion, or a Chaco Golden Knee!
rosies are nice, but they have confusing habits which aren't in line with most other tarantulas.

Pauly

Paul Day · Sep 11, 2002

AHHH!

G. rosea is the most bland and inactive tarantula in the hobby! Certainly if you want to get people interested in taratulas, a bulkier, nicer looking spider is on order

Pauly

SkyeSpider · Sep 11, 2002

I'll vote for either G. pulchra or B. albopilosum. Those two seem to be easy care and good attitudes

-Bryan

galeogirl · Sep 11, 2002

B. albopilosum, G. rosea, or B. smithi would get my vote.

Immortal_sin · Sep 11, 2002

I'd go with G pulchra, B albopilosum, E campestratus, or G areostriatum...I don't think you can go wrong with any of them!

Botar · Sep 11, 2002

Along those same lines...

Can anyone tell me if the T's undergo any undue stress from being on display in such an environment. Or say, something similar to an Invert Show? My daughter's school has sort of a learning fair and I was considering setting up some type of display there.

Botar

Rookie · Sep 17, 2002

Great Idea!

Arachnojoost,
This is an awesome, awesome idea. I STRONGLY encourage you to bring a T into your lab, for one simple reason: it is for this reason that I am buying my first T this week. Tarantulas are widely misunderstood creatures (as we all know) and I think a spread in the hobby is a good thing. For that, education is necessary.
However, be careful! I stumbled upon the bio lab T at a college i was working at over the summer. it was indeed a G. Rosea, surprise surprise. when i saw it, i said 'hmm, it's on its back. is that bad?' i grabbed a friend, and he and I puzzled over the T. The lab instructor wasn't around, so we tried to FLIP IT OVER BY SHAKING THE BOWL. i didn't know what a molt was, and when i found out, I was horrified. The T survived my ignorance, but I shudder still when I think about the danger i put it in. warning signs might be a good idea.
Oh, and I would suggest a G. Pulchra just because that is the choice for my first T.

The Rookie

skinheaddave · Sep 17, 2002

They have a G.rosea at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I was there a couple weeks ago and actualy stopped to explain to some people that what they saw was not a dead tarantula so much as it was the recently moulted exoskeleton.

I think that if you are going to leave the T unattended, you have to make "do not tap on glass" signs, as well as ensuring that the lid can be locked. Making sure the whole thing can't be removed would also be a good idea.

Cheers,
Dave

ArachnoJoost · Sep 17, 2002

Rookie:
I've had the same experience. When I was in my first year of this study some guy (who obviously didn't know much about the subject) had a tarantula at school. When it was on its back, he declared it deceased, and I think he threw it in the waste bin. The thought alone horrifies me now I think back on it. Unfortunately, I knew practically nothing about T's at the time. But now I want to show them how it's done!

SHD:
Already thought of those things, and we discussed locking the cage, but my question is: What is the best way to lock a cage? The cage will be made from an aquarium with a top yet to make. any suggestions?

greetz,
Joost

galeogirl · Sep 17, 2002

Science Fair/Classroom Caging Idea

Arachnojoost and Botar,

I've taken some of my pets, reptiles and ts, to classrooms and school science fairs in the past and it's really hard to keep kids from tapping on the glass or otherwise stressing the animals (they just don't know better), so what I did was construct a rectangular, wooden box that would fit four large critter carriers into it. It had a plexiglass front and a mesh top with the bottom padded with foam rubber, in which I made four cutouts to stabilize the critter carriers.

It worked pretty well. The box was heavy enough that the cages didn't get jostled by crowds, no one could tap directly on a cage, and I could bring scorpions or aggressive animals because the top of the box was padlocked shut. I ended up making three total and I was really pleased with them. My pets were safe, the kids were happy, and I got to share my love of all things crawly with the kids, their teachers, and parents.

krucz36 · Sep 17, 2002

back off the rosies!

i'm amazed that anyone could look at a beautful bug like the G. rosea and think it's "bland".

that is not a bland spider.

krucz36 · Sep 17, 2002

i'm looking into taking some of the T's into my daughter's class (5th grade)...does anyone have experience doing this, or some kind of study guide that we could use to make it a lesson?
thanks!

ArachnoJoost · Sep 17, 2002

Hey miss Shark,
Great idea, that cage-in-cage! Although there will be no kids around them (youngest first-year student around 17), I'm sure they will tap the glass, that's just irresistible.
Didn't quite get the word 'padlocked', have tried to translate it in dutch, but no succes. Maybe you could explain what you mean by that.

greetz,
Joost

skinheaddave · Sep 17, 2002

Originally posted by ArachnoJoost
Didn't quite get the word 'padlocked', have tried to translate it in dutch, but no succes.

Attached is an image of a padlock I shamelessly stole from some site (www.wesecure.com, as it were).

Cheers,
Dave

skinheaddave · Sep 17, 2002

Originally posted by krucz36
i'm looking into taking some of the T's into my daughter's class (5th grade)...does anyone have experience doing this, or some kind of study guide that we could use to make it a lesson?
thanks!

I have done educational presentations using a variety of animals and for kindergarten right up through to high school. I don't know how much I can offer by way of suggestions, but feel free to email me.

Cheers,
Dave

galeogirl · Sep 17, 2002

I don't know if it will help, but there are some coloring and activity pages for younger children at ABCTeach: http://www.abcteach.com/Spiders/SpidersTOC.htm.

krucz36 · Sep 17, 2002

thanks everyone! hopefully i won't scare any of them too bad

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