How much research did you do before getting your first T?

[ledzeppelin]

none.. my father surprised me with my first T for my 13th birthday.. admittedly the rosea suffered the completely wrong caresheet for about half a year. (lps caresheet). Ive never in my wildest dreams before thought about having a tarantula.. I was like meh when I got it.. Months went by and I started browsing on the internet about them and I was sort of dragged into the hobby. Eventually I made another mistake when I bought a pokie for my second T on an expo.. I learned from my mistakes and educated myself through the years to the stage I am now.. I have 33 Ts 11 years later

 

[Tulip28]

I did no research initially. My husband ordered two slings from net-bugs and I was adamant that I would not be the one caring for them.

Needless to say, after watching our B vagans and H. sp red slings do their spidey things, I was sold.

So, I ended up doing a lot of research and picked out a nice B. hamorii sling for myself. And now we have 8...

 

[Grimmdreadly]

It amazes me again and again seeing threads were someone asks for help with his/her T and it's glaringly obvious that they don't have the slightest clue how to properly take care of their animals. So, how much research did you do before getting a T? Did you know beforehand how to take care of it or did you figure it out as you went along?

I may be a pretty extreme case of research, I guess. I read two books and a lot of internet sites before finally accepting 3 adult/subadult Brachypelmas from someone who was giving up his collection. Within the first month of keeping I had read three more books (overall three in German and two in English, including the TKG, and all from front to back) and quite a lot on the net - and of course I was completely confused because people kept contradicting each other. I finally decided to use common sense and some basic biology knowledge and it didn't go too badly in the end.

I got my first tarantula at 14. The internet was my main research resource. There was no facebook back in 98. So I got on my 56k modem and asked Jeeves for tarantula websites. I found a site called Minax tarantulas out of Germany. For 5 months I poured over caresheets until my mom allowed me to buy a tarantula. I got a female aphonopelma A.Seemani. it was still trial and error, back then they advocated feeding tarantulas raw lean beef as well as the usual invertebrates, as well as using a sponge for a tarantula to drink from. But we refined our husbandry. I had that tarantula until I went to prison when I was twenty.

 

[Grimmdreadly]

It amazes me again and again seeing threads were someone asks for help with his/her T and it's glaringly obvious that they don't have the slightest clue how to properly take care of their animals. So, how much research did you do before getting a T? Did you know beforehand how to take care of it or did you figure it out as you went along?

I may be a pretty extreme case of research, I guess. I read two books and a lot of internet sites before finally accepting 3 adult/subadult Brachypelmas from someone who was giving up his collection. Within the first month of keeping I had read three more books (overall three in German and two in English, including the TKG, and all from front to back) and quite a lot on the net - and of course I was completely confused because people kept contradicting each other. I finally decided to use common sense and some basic biology knowledge and it didn't go too badly in the end.

I got my first tarantula at 14. The internet was my main research resource. There was no facebook back in 98. So I got on my 56k modem and asked Jeeves for tarantula websites. I found a site called Minax tarantulas out of Germany. For 5 months I poured over caresheets until my mom allowed me to buy a tarantula. I got a female A.Seemani. it was still trial and error, back then they advocated feeding tarantulas raw lean beef as well as the usual invertebrates, as well as using a sponge for a tarantula to drink from. But we refined our husbandry. I had that tarantula until I went to prison when I was twenty.

I'm glad my first T was pretty hardy. If it had been a fragile species, I'd have killed her.

 

[Sleeper]

I bought and read the Tarantula Keepers Guide and scoured the internet for information last July and August. Bought my first two T's in September. I now have over 40!! Why is this so addicting? I spend more time on AB gathering than I do posting.

 

[viper69]

This survey is missing a very important selection

Asked/consulted breeder before purchase

I didn't talk with any T owners, nor did I know about AB. But I do know one of the best breeders in the USA who has been my friend for a long time. The breeder, Kelly Swift, was always gracious with his time in answering my many questions many, many years ago. AND still does help me out at times.

 

[Leila]

I researched for about a month before acquiring my darling G. porteri, Gatsby.

You know, looking back, I don't even recall how the spark to own and care for a tarantula was initially ignited. Perhaps I was viewing some nature documentary that showcased a T or two? I do know that my first 'pet' spider was a gravid female spitting spider (Scytotidae.)

Anyway. I found the boards shortly after bringing my porteri home, and I obsessively spent weeks lurking before ever posting. Many of you will recall that my initial participation on AB was preceded by the purchase of my second T, my gravid-upon-purchase Bracypelma albopilosum. I bought her a few weeks after I acquired Gatsby. She and her phantom sac led me down roads of research I am glad I pursued.

 

[antsman]

I watched TomsBigSpiders, TarantulaGuy1976, John3800, and various others for months before making my first purchase.
I got a G.porteri and B.albo from Tarantula Canada. And then I came on here to make sure I wasn't doing anything incorrect.

 

[darkness975]

@boina @Kendricks Haben sie "Ornament Voegelspinnen" gelesen?

To answer the question - I read a lot on the Web but never realized how bad "care sheets" actually were until I became a regular here way back when. Once I found this site, all bets were off. Back in 2002 / 2003 there were a lot less sources for information as well. Today there are a lot more pages out there (though still many are inaccurate). This site stood out like a beacon back then since searching up information about invertebrate care did not give you a clogged drain full of Facebook pages and random other blogs.

 

[darkness975]

This survey is missing a very important selection

Asked/consulted breeder before purchase

I didn't talk with any T owners, nor did I know about AB. But I do know one of the best breeders in the USA who has been my friend for a long time. The breeder, Kelly Swift, was always gracious with his time in answering my many questions many, many years ago. AND still does help me out at times.

I am also a fan of Kelly Swift, although the only place we are really "friends" is on Facebook haha.

He always has exceptionally great quality animals.

 

[viper69]

I am also a fan of Kelly Swift, although the only place we are really "friends" is on Facebook haha.

He always has exceptionally great quality animals.

I met him in person about a year or 2 after he got into tarantulas full time. Our friendship evolved over time beyond just vendor/customer.

 

[darkness975]

I met him in person about a year or 2 after he got into tarantulas full time. Our friendship evolved over time beyond just vendor/customer.

Lucky. No one around here likes Inverts

Did he ever get another Macaw? Shame what happened

 

[viper69]

Lucky. No one around here likes Inverts

Did he ever get another Macaw? Shame what happened

I don't know if he did get another or not. He lost so many in that accident. So many females of top sought after species, like P mets. It's a good thing he had his slings in his house at the time. In fact, my MM E sp Yellow is from that batch.

 

[Ellenantula]

I think the b&g macaw had been his deceased sister's macaw that he had taken in after her death.

(Doesn't mean he couldn't have gotten so attached he wanted another macaw anyway, though)

 

[boina]

@boina @Kendricks Haben sie "Ornament Voegelspinnen" gelesen?

Nein, leider nicht - Ich habe meine erste Ornamentvogelspinne erst vor ein paar Wochen gekauft .

 

[Kendricks]

@darkness975
Nope.

 

[D Sherlod]

I became interested in T's way way back before the internet. I would volunteer in a small pet store after school. They got in what was then just called a red knee tarantula. I was captivated by it but was never allowed to own one. Back then the only inverts seen in stores was the red knee now known as B hamorii and black emperor scorpions.
I became interested in all kinds of pets and have owned animals all my life. Over the years I have read and watched just about everything and anything on nature including Tarantulas. About 3 years ago I was at a pet expo with my daughter who was terrified of spiders when I was looking at a tarantula vendors table a little girl offered a large tarantula to my daughter to hold. Terrified but not to be out done by a little girl my daughter held her first T. And her love was born. 3 years later lots of reading on species last December we each got our first. Her a B albo me an Lp

 

[darkness975]

@boina @Kendricks

https://www.amazon.de/Ornamentvogelspinnen-Gattung-Poecilotheria-Henrik-Krehenwinkel/dp/393618027X

 

[Draketeeth]

I took my first tarantula purchase very seriously and thought long and hard before making the choice to get one. It involved three months of sitting down in the evenings and reading everything I could get my hands on. Spent a great deal of time lurking here too as part of that, reading through threads. It was then a month of mulling over everything and considering if it was the right pet for me. After that, I then spent another month looking at available species before making a purchase.