How have you interests evolved over time since you entered the hobby?

[Wolfram1]

Originally i always wanted geckos and poison dart frogs but since i considered them sensitive, hard to keep and high maintenance, i decided to search for an easy but interesting pet.

After some searching, lots of videos and reading i got really into the idea of getting a large terrestrial, preferrably a newworld because they have urticating hairs as a first line of defence, fangs are scary.

Anyway i fell in love with anything big, black and hungry and as luck had it i found a lokal breeder that just pulled an eggsack from a Pamphobeteus sp. machala. I got 2 of those and raising themfor the last 2 years was a blast.

I also found quite a lot of friends just by attending the tarantula club meetings in my area, its an awesome community.

Anyway i got a gekko now but tarantulas are much more fun to me now and i have my eyes set on anything i can get as tiny sling in my area, nothing beats raising them and the cheeper cost at the start is a bonus.

I particular i want some Pecilotheria sp. next maybe a few subfusca lowland, and hopefully a communal of M. balfouri. and some mygalomorphs like a Linothele sp.

Arachnids are just awesome in general

 

[Tigger]

Very little. I spent three years researching and thinking about what I wanted. In the seven months since I bought my first I have ticked off...

T. Albopilosus
G. Pulchripes
H. Chilensis
A. Avicularia
P. Irminia
B. Emilia
G. Pulchra
C. Versicolor
B. Klassi

To complete my original wishlist I just need...
A. Chalcodes
A. Metallica
E. Campestratus
G. Porteri

Added to my wishlist since I bought my first...
H. Pulchripes
M. Balfouri communal

I have bought between two and four slings of each species.

 

[jrh3]

I started out interested in the blue species. After the years gone by for some reason my favorite species are dwarfs and T. Albopilosum. I never would have thought a T. Albopilosum would be one in my top 3 species.

 

[Jesse607]

Started off 20 years ago getting hobby staples like T. albopilosus, P. murinus, P. muticus, B. hamorii, G. rosea. Within a few years I decided to get anything and everything until I had about 200-250. After a couple of cross country moves and a dysfunctional marriage, by 2015 I was back down to about 24 mostly hobby staples. I had traded, given away and sold all but those 24. Since 2016 my collection has steadily increased back up to just over 100. No more arboreals though, mostly Tliltocatl, and Aphonopelma with a few Grammostola, P. murinus, H. pulchripes, P. muticus, C. olivaceum, S. crassipes, and other misc. Over all those years T. albopilosus has become my all time favorite.

 

[jay444]

I've been in the hobby for almost 3 months. I've been keeping reptiles all my life and getting a T was on my bucket list, so initial plan was to get only 1 T (lol). My first T was a 4 in avicularia avicularia from the local pet store.

Now 3 months later, i'm up to 13 Ts in my collection (mostly slings and juveniles, all new worlds) and I'm about to jump into fossorial old worlds with an H. Pulchripes sling.

I keep fossorial, arboreal and terrestrial Ts. When I started to be in the hobby seriously, I wanted to get mostly arboreal Ts. Now, I'd say I'm interested in every type, and I have developed an interest for dwarves. The thing I enjoy the most from this hobby is making all the enclosure. I really do enjoy making them beautiful looking and of course appropriate for all my different species and to see them evolve and interact with them.

 

[coolnweird]

I wish that attitude was more prevalent down here in Aus. In the last 18 months it's becoming harder and harder to sell slings. Admittedly there's a few i refuse to buy as slings having raised 2 P.Strennus to adulthood and both turning male, but majority now wont even buy rare specimens simply because "they arent big enough"

That attitude drives me nuts! I'd rather have a tiny tiny sling of a rare species I wanted than no specimen at all. Besides, I like knowing a spider's history and age and all that, which is hard to do if you're buying larger Ts. Buying slings direct from breeders, you often know which clutch they came from, the age, any locality specifics, etc. Totally different experience!

 

[coolnweird]

I got in the hobby in Sept-Oct 2019, through Tom Moran! I got my first T, an AF T. albo, and waited a few months to get comfortable with maintenance and rehousing. Then I started building my sling collection! I now have 10 in total, and I plan on raising those up before getting more. I have that original T. albopilosus, GBB, P. reduncus, A. seemanni, C. versicolor, P. sazimai, N. tripepii, and M. robustum. Numbers 9 & 10 are coming in tomorrow, a P. sp tigris and a T. vagans!

I wanted to have a mix of classic and unique species, and I'm very happy with my little collection!

 

[jay444]

I started out interested in the blue species. After the years gone by for some reason my favorite species are dwarfs and T. Albopilosum. I never would have thought a T. Albopilosum would be one in my top 3 species.

Same here. I had an eye on more colorful sp but my a. chalcodes rapidly became one of my favorite.

 

[Liquifin]

When I first started, I had 5 T.'s (T. vagans, T. albo, and 3 G. puclhripes), but I actually was more interested in Theraphosa's long before. But I knew that the experience comes first, which a long while later I finally obtained and completed the Theraphosa genus collection and now my interest is into the interesting species such as the Megaphobema genus, B. cabocla, and H. pulchripes. My interests are usually scattered around and not just based on one genus or species. I still do miss when my collection was only just 5.

 

[Cyriocosmus]

I started keeping tarantulas 2 years ago and initially only got two dwarfs, C. elegans and C. perezmilesi. Those were my only ones for quite some time and I also didn't pay so much attention to them. In the last few months, I became way more interested in everything tarantula and got 16 more (mostly slings). Now I enjoy looking into every enclosure when I walk by and seeing my spiders do spider stuff. Also, by now I'm not scared of keeping slings anymore, even started raising Cyriocosmus slings. I just have much more fun with them now.

 

[CommanderBacon]

When I first got into tarantulas, I was just kind of blown away by them in general and wanted one. I wasn't super picky, although the blue ones really attracted me. I just wanted to learn about them, and ended up getting a G porteri spiderling.

Now I am primarily into high altitude dwarf species from the Andes and true spiders. I don't tend to look at larger species at all anymore, although I'll be getting a handful of A geniculata spiderlings from the guy I sent my A gen male off to, and I'm pretty excited about that.

 

[PanzoN88]

In the beginning I was just focusing on species that could help me overcome the fear, as time went on, I must say my priorities have obviously changed. Homoeomma and Euathlus are my favorite, but since they are hard to come by, my preferences are those within the following genus: Harpactira, Phormictopus, Psalmopoeus, and Aphonopelma (US Aphonopelmas that is).

 

[mellow]

I started the hobby with an emperor scorpion and was really interested in other large scorpions (I still am), but after keeping a bunch of large scorpions I decided to try something new and caught some scolopendra polymorpha and that got me into centipedes and millipedes, and then I decided to get a few tarantulas and they all molted within a few months which is super cool! So I went from being interested in scorpions to being interested in scorpions tarantulas centipedes and millipedes and more!

 

[RadicalSquire7]

I started the hobby with an emperor scorpion and was really interested in other large scorpions (I still am), but after keeping a bunch of large scorpions I decided to try something new and caught some scolopendra polymorpha and that got me into centipedes and millipedes, and then I decided to get a few tarantulas and they all molted within a few months witch is super cool! So I went from being interested in scorpions to being interested in scorpions tarantulas centipedes and millipedes and more!

Cool also which witch are you trying to use

 

[mellow]

Cool also which witch are you trying to use

Oops! lol

 

[Tarantula155]

Yeah.
When I first entered the hobby, I tried to collect them all... With years and experience I realized some of the coolest most personable tarantulas are popular for a reason!

Those curly hairs and mexican red rumps are freaking awesome! Always digging and doing something.
That Haitian Brown (phormictopus cancerides) has more attitude than any old world I've ever had!
The A geniculata is just a gem. What a murder machine, nothing matches that appetite PERIOD

Now I only have a few, but the best of the best

 

[Arthroverts]

Tarantulas were what got me into the hobby, but after I had a few specimens of my own I discovered people kept a lot more than just tarantulas...

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[mack1855]

When I first started, I had 5 T.'s (T. vagans, T. albo, and 3 G. puclhripes), but I actually was more interested in Theraphosa's long before. But I knew that the experience comes first, which a long while later I finally obtained and completed the Theraphosa genus collection and now my interest is into the interesting species such as the Megaphobema genus, B. cabocla, and H. pulchripes. My interests are usually scattered around and not just based on one genus or species. I still do miss when my collection was only just 5.

Let us know when you get those peterklaasi.

 

[Minty]

How many are in your collection right now?

35-40

 

[EpicEpic]

Very little. I spent three years researching and thinking about what I wanted. In the seven months since I bought my first I have ticked off...

T. Albopilosus
G. Pulchripes
H. Chilensis
A. Avicularia
P. Irminia
B. Emilia
G. Pulchra
C. Versicolor
B. Klassi

To complete my original wishlist I just need...
A. Chalcodes
A. Metallica
E. Campestratus
G. Porteri

Added to my wishlist since I bought my first...
H. Pulchripes
M. Balfouri communal

I have bought between two and four slings of each species.

Glad to see another klassi fan! They don't get nearly as much love as they should! My favorite Brachy! My little 1/2"er molted for the first time for me the other day. I can not waaaaait for adult colors!.......will be worth the wait