history of tarantula keeping?

[TheraMygale]

I am presently feeding a Green Lynx Spider who has taken up in my kitchen window. So this lasts past childhood.
When I have extra small feeder crickets I toss them into the webs of my yard argiopes and orb weavers.
Everybody needs a friend

Pretty sure most of us who fed spiders as kids, find ourselves still doing it when we are adults. I sure would like to see a green lynx spider on my property!

 

[Matt Man]

Pretty sure most of us who fed spiders as kids, find ourselves still doing it when we are adults. I sure would like to see a green lynx spider on my property!

I have at least 2, the one in my kitchen is much smaller than the one I saw in my yard. What is weird is I typically don't find them but have plenty of Argiopes and Weavers. This year seems to be the opposite.

 

[LucN]

Pretty sure most of us who fed spiders as kids, find ourselves still doing it when we are adults. I sure would like to see a green lynx spider on my property!

As a kid, I used to catch flies or grasshoppers and would look for any kind of spider (mostly orb weavers) to toss into their webs and observe them subduing their prey. Nowadays, I haven't done this... I just focus on feeding my Ts.

 

[HooahArmy]

I know of one story off ppls that have kept what is suspected to be chilobrachys . @HooahArmy told me the story of their ppl, that have kept what they call longevity tarantulas around their homes for as long as the ppl remember . They build burrows around their homes and the t's move in. (I forget if they put them there or just wait for the burrow to be occupied.) The t's keep the bugs out of the house and the people that live there protect the t's as far as I remember.
Hopefully HooahArmy will chime in and be able to tell you from first hand info rather then what I remember lol.
But a story of ancient ppls keeping t's for you it's not Ceasars Mexican shipment but its a story I was told that I found interesting
HooahArmy told me on one of the threads but I am having difficulty finding it. @IntermittentSygnal want to say you were on the thread too can you remember what it was called?

For the folks who are curious, here are copies of some of what I posted about my tribal people, my family, and the history of our T keeping.
My ancestral people are tribal Chinese and we hold the belief that allowing a tarantula to live near your home increases longevity. As a result, people who are starting to age or welcome new babies into their families are given wild-caught tarantulas to place near their huts. The people who receive the Ts dig holes near the walls of their homes, which the spiders readily take to. A typical house can have dozens of holes surrounding the property.
Tarantulas are considered as holy critters in my community, an amalgamation of 4 sisters (8 legs and 8 eyes together) who refused to reincarnate without one another. They were reincarnated as a tarantula, an invert in my area with an 'miraculous' long life (up to 40 years, since they are said to be 4 people together).
When housed near humans, they are said to imbue that same long life to those whose residences they share. The proof is present: villagers today who believe in the tarantula myth and live with 'longevity tarantulas' tend to live to their 80s+ in our area which has no running water or electricity.
The science behind it?...
Having a house surrounded by tarantula dens keep away pests such as mice, roaches, and other creepy crawlies that cause disease in the community. Thus, as a result, homes with tarantulas are cleaner. The creatures also provide spiritual, mental, and psychological relief to the humans who feel blessed to be near them.

This myth is confirmed! In my family village, tarantulas do induce longevity in humans.

How long have we been keeping Ts?
My mum? She recalls having a little mysterious arboreal tan fellow as her roommate in China circa 1950s.
My grandmother? It has been a cultural/ethnic traditions to dig burrows around one's home in her ancestral village and deposit 'longevity tarantulas' within them. She saw her family's Ts there in the 1920's.
My grandmother's grandmum? She told my grandmum a story about her own grandmum being bitten as a child by one of the 'longevity tarantulas' and passing out in a canal for a whole day. This would be around the mid to late 1700s when she was bitten.

 

[Charliemum]

For the folks who are curious, here are copies of some of what I posted about my tribal people, my family, and the history of our T keeping.
My ancestral people are tribal Chinese and we hold the belief that allowing a tarantula to live near your home increases longevity. As a result, people who are starting to age or welcome new babies into their families are given wild-caught tarantulas to place near their huts. The people who receive the Ts dig holes near the walls of their homes, which the spiders readily take to. A typical house can have dozens of holes surrounding the property.
Tarantulas are considered as holy critters in my community, an amalgamation of 4 sisters (8 legs and 8 eyes together) who refused to reincarnate without one another. They were reincarnated as a tarantula, an invert in my area with an 'miraculous' long life (up to 40 years, since they are said to be 4 people together).
When housed near humans, they are said to imbue that same long life to those whose residences they share. The proof is present: villagers today who believe in the tarantula myth and live with 'longevity tarantulas' tend to live to their 80s+ in our area which has no running water or electricity.
The science behind it?...
Having a house surrounded by tarantula dens keep away pests such as mice, roaches, and other creepy crawlies that cause disease in the community. Thus, as a result, homes with tarantulas are cleaner. The creatures also provide spiritual, mental, and psychological relief to the humans who feel blessed to be near them.

This myth is confirmed! In my family village, tarantulas do induce longevity in humans.

How long have we been keeping Ts?
My mum? She recalls having a little mysterious arboreal tan fellow as her roommate in China circa 1950s.
My grandmother? It has been a cultural/ethnic traditions to dig burrows around one's home in her ancestral village and deposit 'longevity tarantulas' within them. She saw her family's Ts there in the 1920's.
My grandmother's grandmum? She told my grandmum a story about her own grandmum being bitten as a child by one of the 'longevity tarantulas' and passing out in a canal for a whole day. This would be around the mid to late 1700s when she was bitten.

Wow ! That's alot of history and personally one of the coolest t keeping story's I have heard of , thank you for sharing your amazing history with us
Apart from what you have shared I have never come across such a strong historical bond with tarantulas, (I looked too,) I fell in love so much I now have 11 of my own longevity tarantulas , (different sp of chilobrachys,) I had been interested in them before you told me but once I read what you wrote on the last thread I knew I had to try this amazing genus for myself . All little baby's atm but growing strong and growing fast .

I wish there were more ppl with your ppls view, t's and spiders are amazing creatures that should be treasured for the great job they do not feared.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

I am presently feeding a Green Lynx Spider who has taken up in my kitchen window. So this lasts past childhood.
When I have extra small feeder crickets I toss them into the webs of my yard argiopes and orb weavers.
Everybody needs a friend

I’ve been looking for Lynx in SD and haven’t been able to find them. I feed lots of my Pholcidae though.

 

[TheraMygale]

As a kid, I used to catch flies or grasshoppers and would look for any kind of spider (mostly orb weavers) to toss into their webs and observe them subduing their prey. Nowadays, I haven't done this... I just focus on feeding my Ts.

I definitely concentrate on my tarantulas. But at work, i very often find myself distracted by bugs and birds. My coworkers always know when something interesting is found because kneeling somewhere not doing my job

 

[Matt Man]

I’ve been looking for Lynx in SD and haven’t been able to find them. I feed lots of my Pholcidae though.

I have at least 2, one I found outside that was quite large and a smaller one in my kitchen. I am wondering if they are M and F and should I try to arrange a date....

 

[Namwuob]

Hi everyone,

Loved reading this thread, and remembering my history of tarantula keeping. This was in Germany.

I got my first tarantula in 1991. It was called Phrixotrichus roseus back then. I kept it for 25 years. With hundreds of others of course.

The local pet shops, as well as a few available books, were my only sources of information. The books were quite good though, and looking back I'm stunned how many species were known already. It feels like most species would have a different name by now. Imagine there was Brachypelma mesomelas, where the author of my favorite book mentioned that the elongated carapace should be reason enough to check the genus again. He was right.

In some way a certain lack of knowledge made life easier than it is today.

About black pink toes, you would either have a metallica or Avic. avicularia, and people would tell based on how much red they had. Only later A. geroldi came into the hobby. But there were also A. magdalenae, huriana, bicegoi, minatrix and urticans.

When you had a black Pamphobeteus, it would be antinous, either Peru or Bolivia variant.

An announcement in a local newspaper (!) got me in touch with a serious breeder, who was kind of my mentor, and dealer of course.

Many of the now standard tarantulas weren't there yet, I remember Chromatopelma coming up, P. irminia, OBTs, P. rufilata and of course metallica.

There's so much more information available now, basically everything you need. You can literally get pictures of the spiders habitats on social media and Google maps, iNaturalist and so on. I remember I had a book about spiders with one tarantula in it, and till today I'm not exactly sure what it is (I guess a Lasiodora). That's how little information you had without internet.