How Big Is The Hobby?

[timwaters2007]

Well it certainly seems the hobby is becoming more and more popular every year. In the uk there is probably 30 places "if you look hard enough" to buy tarantulas from, and many more tarantula focused dealers. The hobby is certainly getting bigger, but i want to know if this is a good thing or not?

So there is a few questions i woud like you to answer in your replys,

Where is the hobby going?

Is the hobby bigger in your opinion than it ever was?

Do you think that the increasing popularity of exotic pets, is a good thing or bad thing, and will increased ownership lead to undereducated owners, and more problems with the DWA?

Do you want the hobby to be in every household possible, or would you prefer the tight knit community we have at the moment?

Where do you feel the hobby is at now, compared to where it was 10, even 20 years ago?

Thanks.

 

[Brian S]

This hobby is growing like weeds. Thanks to the internet more and more knowledge is being traded and of course new species coming in all the time. The hobby has come a looooooooooong way for sure. When I got my first in the early 1980s I kept it on aquarium gravel as did practically everyone back then. We can now look back and see our mistake but we didnt know any better back then.
Even in recent years I am still amazed at how much the hobby is growing

 

[AfterTheAsylum]

The hobby is certainly getting bigger, but i want to know if this is a good thing or not?
*Good if the hobbyists stick with the hobby. I have seen many people come and go. Sell off collections, etc. That is never good for a hobby IMO.

Where is the hobby going?
*A lot of people see it as growing. I don't see it growing as much. But i also think we might be in a wave effect. People took it for a ride, and then dropped it. I don't think it is going to get common.

Is the hobby bigger in your opinion than it ever was?
*I think so. A big thanks to Animal Planet and Discovery. More and more people are seeing Little Miss Muppet and Arachnophobia as merely tales. Plus, the flow of newer and more colorful spiders that has been coming in recently have certainly turned heads. Ten years ago I never saw many people looking for Ts. Five years ago I started to see it. The G. rosea wasn't the only T is a pet store anymore. Today, I am seeing many, many different Ts in local pet stores.

Do you think that the increasing popularity of exotic pets, is a good thing or bad thing, and will increased ownership lead to undereducated owners, and more problems with the DWA?
*The increasing popularity is bad and good. Increased popularity means less fear among the "normal" people. The most you see something, the less strange it is, the more comfortable you become, the more apt you are to have it part of your life. It is bad for people who will see dollar signs and being collecting far too much. Like the baby sea turtles. If 15% of the world knew about the popularity of Xenesthis or Monocentropus, people would scour the earth to collect and sell. Increased ownership will lead to both more educated and undereducated. You will have those people who will educated themselves beforehand, but most will not go to such lengths. The pet store i frequent still gets calls from tarantula owners that complain about how their tarantula isn't eating the bananas they put in the cages.

Do you want the hobby to be in every household possible, or would you prefer the tight knit community we have at the moment?
*Every household would be bad. 50% would be bad. You will be staring at overpopulation, like cats. Plus, how many people realize that having a sling that turns female is a 20 year commitment? Not many people will stick with it that long. People really only want their mammals to live that long. I am quite certain that people think Ts live 5 years at best. As a parent of a child who wants a T, are you more apt to let them have one if it will live 5 or 20 years?

Where do you feel the hobby is at now, compared to where it was 10, even 20 years ago?
*The hobby is still a baby. Lack of information holds the tarantula world back. We know a lot, but know nothing. Of course, it is better now than 10 years ago and mainly because of stronger interaction between owners. For everyone that got onto the boards at the same time as getting their first T... how far would you be right now without the boards? The education is what made it better.

 

[Feathers]

In this case...

In this case, I'd say growth of the hobby is a good thing. There are no bad tarantulas, just bad owners. 25 yrs. ago, I was one of them - I kept a T in a round goldfish bowl with silica sand and a water dish; how it managed to live 13 yrs., I'll never know. But probably the most noticible aspect of arachnoboards is education and a desire to participate, and (in my opinion), this reflects the present state of the hobby.

 

[Drachenjager]

The only thing i can see bad about the hobby growing is it may wind up attracting more attention from the gestapo(USDA and other pseudo-governmental bodies who think they know better about these animals than we do). The more attention we get the more they will want to make new idiotic rules. Hwoever, some rules are needed to keep idiots from releasing things such as burmese pythons into the everglades. To bad we cant police ourselves . you know we learn of someone dumping his exotic potentially harmfull to the ecosystem pets and we beat him with a snake hook or something....