General gripes/rant about other sources of info

[Tarantuland]

Wow so when I first joined the hobby, I was still on facebook and I enjoyed the groups. A while off FB and I spent some time on reddit and enjoyed the groups there. Now that I don't spend time on either, l popped onto a reddit group the other day, and it seemed like almost every person keeps their T in a glass enclosure with barely any substrate and no side ventilation. The posts would get tons of upvotes but nobody would address this kind of stuff. I don't think that the hobby becoming more popular from Youtubers is a good thing if people are just going to keep their animals in such poor conditions and other people praising their spiders and ignoring their husbandry.

I can't imagine the misinformation on reptiles that require more detailed husbandry.

 

[emartinm28]

I’ve definitely noticed this problem in the reptile/amphibian hobby too. I got my start with frogs, and way back when I was active on forums learning and eventually giving advice on a hobby that wasn’t super popular, but nowadays I see dozens of people on tiktok and other apps filming themselves harassing and handling their frogs, chameleons, tarantulas, etc. For whatever reason everyone there seems intent on pouring water directly on their frogs?? Unfortunately as a hobby like this gains popularity it swells with those who use it for content farming, and that leads to more impulse purchases and imitation of bad husbandry practices. Up to us to try and make the correct information available and accessible

 

[Kibosh]

Have to agree. Unfortunately increased popularity also means an increase of the ratio of poor keepers.

More poor keepers means more attention to problematic husbandry practices, illegally WC specimens, and increased reports of dangerous pets because of more bad actors handling their T's.

All this adds up to more regulation on the hobby where there doesn't need to be because of the spotlight on a irresponsible minority of poor keepers.

I expect things to get worse for the hobby in the next 5-10 years, but I am a cynic so who knows .

 

[Dandrobates]

Facebook is an unquenchable dumpster fire. I’ve been off social media for years and good riddance... Unfortunately incorrect information travels faster than correct information and there will always be newbie “experts” who know better than people in the hobby for years.

 

[PanzoN88]

Couldn’t possibly agree more. If you look at the Facebook groups now, at least once a week you’ll see a post asking about the best source of information, the comments will be flooding in about youtube being the best source, which I will admit does make me cringe a little. I’m probably one of a few who mention the forum.

 

[jay444]

Man finally someone said it! I'm in some facebook groups and it amaze me how some people are clueless about what they are doing.

Some ppl be like:
OMG guys i'm so in love with my new cobalt blue here is a pic ** Cobalt blue is in a 12x12x24 exoterra with 1/2 in of dry sub **
Oh and by the way is my mexican red leg sling ok?? It has not eaten in a week should I open the burrow to see if it is in a death curl??

And tons of people likes these posts and gives crappy advices! And when you try to educate them, some other noob back their shitty husbandry and manner!
It makes me bang my head against the wall

 

[Arachnophobphile]

Unfortunately these people exist and do alot of harm for the hobby.

As long as people are on this planet this will be true for almost everything.

YouTube is a Cancer itself, yet there are a few people who are fighting the good fight. Tom Moran is at the very top. He is providing excellent husbandry information and overall info on tarantulas. I also highly recommend his podcast as Tom will delve deeper in the hobby on alot of topics. He not only provides information but he is progressing the hobby in a positive direction and has been for a long time.

Alex from Tarantula Haven is also a very informative educator on tarantulas. Wouldn't you know that Tom and Alex are teachers by trade so their approach is to educate people.

Arachnoboards is the number one website that is the go-to-go for help and information on tarantulas.

Now that is only three legit sources that are at the top and standout from the hundreds dare I say thousands of dipsticks out there demoting the T hobby and making a bad name for it.

So you see the fight on our hands, it can be overwhelming.

There are more legit people I didn't mention but it's not enough against the showboaters on YouTube and bad advice giving on FB alone.

I believe in free speech for everyone whether I agree with it or not. However when free speech causes harm and even death to an animal intentionally that's where I draw the line.

I'm still new in keeping tarantulas almost 14 months in and I haven't even scratched the surface yet in this hobby. So as mad as I get over this I can't imagine people who been in it for decades.

 

[viper69]

“Social” sites are anything but that

They are cesspools.

 

[Venom1080]

Facebook naturally begets ignorant keepers. Its a whole culture of ignorance and arrogance over there.

Only place you can find posts by people like Volker for example however.

 

[xhuxhurocket]

It's unfortunate for new keepers like myself. I want to keep my T as happy as possible, so I'm always trying to find good videos and such. I'm even checking the weather & climate info in the region in Brazil where my sling is native to. But I've definitely started noticing some really popular youtubers seeming to stress their T on purpose to get a good threat pose, or dig it out of its burrow for a pic (not a rehousing). Or the enclosure's substrate is shallow and it's a heavy bodied terrestrial T (and honestly at first I would have thought that was fine but I've seen enough "more substrate" comments now thankfully). You'd think common sense would apply but sadly... nope. People want their info spoon fed to them and don't seem to want to do the work of actually researching and drawing their own conclusions.

 

[Dandrobates]

@xhuxhurocket welcome to the hobby. We all know it’s difficult weeding though all the bad information out there, but thankfully there is plenty of good information here on the boards.

 

[Royalty]

In the reddit I sometimes post advice or urge people to come here for info. Of course I can't comment on everything and sometimes I am just...too burnt out to bother arguing with someone that thinks their tarantula is fine as it is.

 

[viper69]

It's unfortunate for new keepers like myself. I want to keep my T as happy as possible, so I'm always trying to find good videos and such. I'm even checking the weather & climate info in the region in Brazil where my sling is native to. But I've definitely started noticing some really popular youtubers seeming to stress their T on purpose to get a good threat pose, or dig it out of its burrow for a pic (not a rehousing). Or the enclosure's substrate is shallow and it's a heavy bodied terrestrial T (and honestly at first I would have thought that was fine but I've seen enough "more substrate" comments now thankfully). You'd think common sense would apply but sadly... nope. People want their info spoon fed to them and don't seem to want to do the work of actually researching and drawing their own conclusions.

The more you’re here the more you’ll learn, and the more you’ll see people who want to be spoon fed. They will wait days for info that could be found in seconds on their own.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

I'm even checking the weather & climate info in the region in Brazil where my sling is native to.

Wow. I figured I was the only person to do that. For Brazil as well.

I don't very often, but sometimes when I am concerned about extremes, I'll do a quick comparison. I think that it is more about seeing how close I am to getting to the natural habitat conditions than concern over my spiders being in jeopardy. Spoiler alert: Not really THAT close, and I don't worry because things rarely get to an extreme that it worries me. Now and them temperatures are a bit lower than I'd prefer, But it has hit the mid 60's ambient temperature wise, and the spiders survive. Naturally, I try to avoid that, but it happens once in a while when it gets colder than I expected.

 

[WolvesInSpaceMarines]

“Social” sites are anything but that

They are cesspools.

And echo chambers. Don’t want to hear a dissenting opinion? Block/delete anything about it.

Facebook naturally begets ignorant keepers. Its a whole culture of ignorance and arrogance over there.

Only place you can find posts by people like Volker for example however.

Wait, who’s Volker? Or do I even want to know?

In the reddit I sometimes post advice or urge people to come here for info. Of course I can't comment on everything and sometimes I am just...too burnt out to bother arguing with someone that thinks their tarantula is fine as it is.

Yeah I try to do that too, but I feel awkward doing it, since I’m still a noob myself. And oh god, the constant handling!!!

 

[Royalty]

Yeah I try to do that too, but I feel awkward doing it, since I’m still a noob myself. And oh god, the constant handling!!!

yeah and it states that it is not right to rant about handling there. I dislike that. I still say when I think it is not a good idea.

 

[Venom1080]

Wait, who’s Volker? Or do I even want to know?

Volker von Wirth. A noted German arachnologist.

 

[WolvesInSpaceMarines]

Volker von Wirth. A noted German arachnologist.

Ah ok. Well I feel dumb now lol

 

[spideyspinneret78]

I'm getting excited for my new P. miranda that I recently ordered so I started searching for some YouTube videos about them. I was really disappointed to see that probably half of the videos were of people handling them! I cringed. Totally sending people the wrong message. I was looking for some informative videos about the species, but unfortunately there were much fewer of those than I expected. There are certainly a few decent tarantula YouTubers out there, but there are many, many terrible ones.

 

[Edan bandoot]

I'm getting excited for my new P. miranda that I recently ordered so I started searching for some YouTube videos about them. I was really disappointed to see that probably half of the videos were of people handling them! I cringed. Totally sending people the wrong message. I was looking for some informative videos about the species, but unfortunately there were much fewer of those than I expected. There are certainly a few decent tarantula YouTubers out there, but there are many, many terrible ones.

Moran has some vids on pokies I think most of them are kept the same