Handling Tarantula, Handling tarantulas

[cold blood]

I always equate handling ts for education as akin to teaching a young driver how to drive by teaching them how to do doughnuts, burnouts and brake stands.

I do think that having tarantulas/vinegaroons/scorpions as educational animals with occasional holding by the public absolutely helps their wild cousins. It shows the public that these animals are not to be feared and killed on sight. I saw many minds changed and hearts opened in the course of sharing these animal ambassadors.

Working from the above quote of mine......just like handling gets people interested, so would teaching burnouts, brake stands and doughnuts to a new driver get them interested. And just like handling, it would give those new drivers the exact wrong impression of the proper way to handle a motor vehicle.

I sell ts, I have worked at many expos.....I cannot tell you how many new keepers come to me focused on getting a t to handle or on handling in general....and almost without exception, the reason they think this is a legitimate reason to buy a t, or the proper thing to do with ts, is because they were introduced to ts through a handling exhibition. These "educational" handling exhibitions are more than just what people hope or believe they are, they're ultimately taking the individual (every individual involved, in fact) right down the wrong pathway to responsible tarantula keeping/behavior.

Yeah, they had fun, alleviated fears (too much usually) and gained interest, but at what cost? The interest is for all the wrong reasons and there is little doubt that handling is one of the things that holds this hobby back big time and de-legitimizes it to a degree......just like those drivers we share the roads with who learned all the most irresponsible ways to drive a car have a great cost for every one of us, through accidents, increased insurance rates and unnecessary close calls.....they give a black eye to drivers like the handler does to responsible keepers.