If you could change anything about the hobby...

[Paul1126]

I wouldn't know what tarantula she's referring to, honestly. The only common name I know at all is GBB, and that's only because Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens is such a mouthful.

I am suspicious

 

[nicodimus22]

I am suspicious

Good for you.

 

[Vanisher]

I agree to a degree, I was mislead and asked for help on my enclosure on here. There is a ton of misleading info.

Yes but there is a diffrence between asking questions and be guided in the wright direction, and for ex use a 12×12 inch tank for a sling or keep a GBB soaking wet! Reading 15 minutes here on the board before using a 12 inch tank can point you to use a delicup! I understand that a newbee can make mistakes, but my whole point is that one makes research! All questions maybe are not posdible to get answerd in 60 minutes, but the most elemental questions can be answerd!

 

[Paul1126]

Yes but there is a diffrence between asking questions and be guided in the wright direction, and for ex use a 12×12 inch tank for a sling or keep a GBB soaking wet! Reading 15 minutes here on the board before using a 12 inch tank can point you to use a delicup! I understand that a newbee can make mistakes, but my whole point is that one makes research! All questions maybe are not posdible to get answerd in 60 minutes, but the most elemental questions can be answerd!

I agree, I don't think that happens a lot though. Just new people that have gotten info in bad places Example: care sheets

 

[Liquifin]

If I can get change this hobby, here is a list of what I would change:
People creating hybrids
useless petstore info
and US price inflation. I can argue this forever, but the US pricing is all over the place which is beyond crazy from the "Reputable" dealers/sellers. Reputable T. dealers can't price right for sure.

 

[Vanisher]

And i dont know how many tanks i have seen with thin layer of substrate? 20 this month alone? 5 minutes of searching pn AB tells people to have deep sub so the tarantula can dig and not risking to die by falling

 

[Johjie]

I can argue this forever, but the US pricing is all over the place which is beyond crazy from the "Reputable" dealers/sellers. Reputable T. dealers can't price right for sure.

I notice this too but the US is so spread out I don't know if I see this being solved. My local market is flooded with certain species while others are just impossible to find except online.

 

[FrDoc]

People that complain about people that like to name their spiders. Literally not harming anyone.
Also getting rid of common names would be a +.
However people not into tarantulas aren't going to use scientific names.

Would you like a side of French cries, to go with your whine burger?

 

[Liquifin]

I notice this too but the US is so spread out I don't know if I see this being solved. My local market is flooded with certain species while others are just impossible to find except online.

This is my suggestion (not solution), but the US needs to focus more on the local/small breeders. Because the issue in the US is the inflation that is based on the species/quantity. Reputable dealers buy from these small/local breeders through wholesale and are not given enough credit. What I can say is that small/local breeders have a very hard time selling off numbers, even if the species they are selling are rare in the hobby. It's hard to sell something if you're not a "name brand" dealer. The issue the US face is that if you're not reputable, customers either avoid you or are more hesitant to buy from you. It's basically an equivalent of buying from a stranger when you can pay a more for better service (if there is any).

This is issue cannot be solved in a day, but this should be the first steps in fixing this US "reputable" pricing issue.

 

[Vanisher]

I also would like that more breeders was active in Sweden

 

[Patherophis]

@Paul1126 It is possible to exist without national names. We dont have any here, so even the most incompetent people have to go by scientific.
BTW Some time ago Czech arachnologists tried to create czech names of tarantalas. Result is such epic BS, that no Czech seller or hobbyist would ever consider using them.
English language is not really helping here, considering that in English any random combination of words can work as name.


Cheaper Grammostola pulchra, they are crazy expensive here. Pulchra slings cost more than any Brachypelma female, more than P. metallica or H. pulchripes slings.

 

[baconwrappedpikachu]

I would get rid of shipping costs. I mean, I totally understand that they're a necessary evil. I also understand that it's especially funny for me to be upset about $45 shipping when I just dropped $300+ on a bunch of baby spiders. But if the magic genie is taking requests thats what I wanna get rid of.

Also, yeah, common names will annoy me until the day I die. Scientific names are daunting at first but people are so quick to see a confusing word and not even attempt to read it or remember it. If you just put a little bit of effort into learning the scientific names, you'd be surprised at how quickly and easily they can be memorized. I spent a lot of time pulling my phone to google "scientific name for cobalt blue tarantula" in my first few months in the hobby, and I still do that pretty frequently, but I think learning the scientific names is easier than most people would choose to believe. Plus, even if it does take effort, it's important to keep up with for all the reasons listed above.

 

[nicodimus22]

Scientific names are daunting at first but people are so quick to see a confusing word and not even attempt to read it or remember it. If you just put a little bit of effort into learning the scientific names, you'd be surprised at how quickly and easily they can be memorized. I spent a lot of time pulling my phone to google "scientific name for cobalt blue tarantula" in my first few months in the hobby, and I still do that pretty frequently, but I think learning the scientific names is easier than most people would choose to believe. Plus, even if it does take effort, it's important to keep up with for all the reasons listed above.

I never felt that they were daunting, because I was on these forums for months before ordering my first T, so they were all I knew from the start. If you never learn common names, you don't have to unlearn them.

 

[baconwrappedpikachu]

I never felt that they were daunting, because I was on these forums for months before ordering my first T, so it's all I knew from the start. If you never learn common names, you don't have to unlearn them.

That's exactly how I feel too! I researched obsessively before we got our first tarantula, and obviously if you're reading conversations between serious hobbyists you're not really going to see anything except scientific names. I guess the only thing that seems daunting to me personally is figuring out the pronunciation, but that's not even an issue with all of them.. plenty of scientific names that are easy to pronounce and read.

 

[Garetyl]

I'd get rid of all the people who give spiders a bad name by sensationalizing bites and throwing their tarantulas on people for funsies.

 

[Paul1126]

Would you like a side of French cries, to go with your whine burger?

Aren't you whining about people that name their tarantulas?

 

[Divine1nfection]

I would get rid of the big heads who belittle you because you’re either new to the hobby or unsure of things or ask things just to confirm. We all started somewhere and talking to people like they are morons is insulting and I’ve seen this a few times,it’s even made me wary to ask questions because of it. We all have our opinions and way of doing things.

 

[Greasylake]

I would get rid of shipping costs. I mean, I totally understand that they're a necessary evil. I also understand that it's especially funny for me to be upset about $45 shipping when I just dropped $300+ on a bunch of baby spiders. But if the magic genie is taking requests thats what I wanna get rid of.

I never really had a problem with paying for shipping mostly because I'm actually paying for a service. If it was a 45 dollar tax I would probably be fairly unhappy.

 

[weibkreux]

Media portraying tarantulas as deadly.
People who wants to kill them with fire because they are "nopes" and creepy.
Keepers who would always hold their tarantulas because its "cool".

 

[Johjie]

This is my suggestion (not solution), but the US needs to focus more on the local/small breeders. Because the issue in the US is the inflation that is based on the species/quantity. Reputable dealers buy from these small/local breeders through wholesale and are not given enough credit. What I can say is that small/local breeders have a very hard time selling off numbers, even if the species they are selling are rare in the hobby. It's hard to sell something if you're not a "name brand" dealer. The issue the US face is that if you're not reputable, customers either avoid you or are more hesitant to buy from you. It's basically an equivalent of buying from a stranger when you can pay a more for better service (if there is any).

This is issue cannot be solved in a day, but this should be the first steps in fixing this US "reputable" pricing issue.

I totally agree. This situation is what gives me pause to the whole TKC "Breeder Contract" and contraband species "consumer guide". It may not be the goal but an unforseen side effect might be gatekeeping the local/small time breeders out of the business side of the hobby and maintaining the status quo in the market. They may have abandoned the contraband species list though. They said they were going to release it before April and did not.