How many arachnids did you have when you first joined the hobby?

[RezonantVoid]

Started with a bunch of Urodacus sp. scorpions which I'd had for years. January last year I really kicked off into the hobby and my first 3 T's were little Phlogius slings. All are going well and are growing at an eyeraising fast speed.

In Australia, you have no choice but to start in the deep in with old world T's, and personally I think they get way to much overrating, because for some of the world's supposed nastiest T's they have been a breeze to keep, transfer, breed, and even handle breifly during a rehouse on 2 occasions. Even my angriest T (Selenotholus Kotzman) is reasonably easy to rehouse.

I'm looking forward to some of our more recent discoveries, Rattlesnake Tarantulas, and also a species that lives nearly entirely underwater, coming into the hobby, as well as getting my hands on some the deadlier and rarer primitives Australia has to offer

My favourite would have to be my Phlogius Rubiseta female, she recently molted and turned jet black with a red and silver shine. She also has red cheeks.

 

[SteveIDDQD]

It is odd that I only had one for years, then suddenly I want a small collection. Got to get you monies worth out of that box of crickets though!

 

[0311usmc]

Quality not quantity, right

That's right buddy. I don't have many but what I do have is awesome for me and my girlfriend.

 

[Ungoliant]

That's strange,looks like alot of people started with multiple,myself included....

It's more common than you think, and some people even recommend it, so you can learn and make your beginner's errors while only one life is at stake.

 

[Bigme213]

That's right buddy. I don't have many but what I do have is awesome for me and my girlfriend.

I hear ya

 

[ShockWave]

Started with 1 Brachypelma hamorii. Sold to me as a female. Later as I got more experienced I was able to sex it properly with a molt. Charlotte is now Wilbur.

I have about 25 or so now...

 

[Jamie H]

1. A juvenile male G roses that pet store guy assured me was AF. I brought her home on and put her in a 10 gallon tank on some nice sand, just like she was in the pet store. Dude assured me they were a desert species. A few days later I fixed it and never went back to that store.
It was January 1st 2000, and the best resources at the time were the ATSHQ and BTSHQ online forums. Facebook was years away.

 

[Lil Paws]

Just 3 (or B. Albo and 2 B. Vagan freebies), but within 2 years it quickly grew to 11. I slowed down buying them because we have limited space, but I'd like to get one or two more down the road (perhaps another arboreal and/or dwarf). They are seriously cool pets.

 

[DanBsTs]

I started off with one T a year ago. I got a B. vagans sling. It is about 3”dls currently and I never see it except at night. I’m currently at 21 Ts and am pretty content for now.

 

[AracnoDreams]

James and I started with reptiles then someone phoned us and said hey we know you rescue reptiles but we just went to move in to our new house and someone left a tarantula and tank in the house when they left and my wife and kids won't go in to the house till I get rid of it ...so either you guys take it or I'm going to put it in the deep freeze....so James and I went and picked her up ...she was the prettiest little rosie you ever did see...and that was it ...I was in love and as many of you know at one point we had 218 species in our personal collection and ran RMSF for years ...

 

[Boaz Solorio]

I've been keeping animals my entire life, as well as going out into the wilderness to find them, so I've had many firsts. My first tarantula was a 2i Nhandu chromatus I bought from Petco. After that, I bought a juvenile Brachypelma hamorii from a local exotic pet shop, then a Grammostola sp. North from the same place. However, I was still mostly focused on reptiles around this time, so I'd say what truly began as the true hobby obsession was when I was given a subadult male Grammostola porteri. Shortly after, I went to some hole in the wall pet store and bought a sunadult female Aphonopelma seemanni. Then, two slings from the NHMLA Bug Fair from Millipedes and More, which were Ceratogyrus marshalli and Brachypelma vagans. Anyway, now im I'm obsessed.

 

[Vanisher]

I did lots of researc and read obout tarantulas many month before actually bought my first 2 (yes, two at the same time!) So i count joining the hobby before getting tarantulas. So i had uhm....zero!