If you could change anything about the hobby...

[SonsofArachne]

Newbies who get defensive when more experienced people try to explain why what they're doing is wrong. I still take advise from more experienced keepers, why can't you?

The current trend among newbies to get rarest, most obscure T's out there. Trust me, none of the experienced people are impressed.

Seriously, it is so hard trying to remember and use common names when talking to non hobbyists.

Its really fun when the species doesn't even have a common name. " Don't give me that science mumbo jumbo, what's its REAL name? What do you mean it doesn't have one!?!"

I can just imagine it now, a lovely young blonde woman walking up to you with a big smile on her face, asking if you have a Mexican Red Knee.

This happens to me all time! I never know what to say

 

[Drea]

Its really fun when the species doesn't even have a common name. " Don't give me that science mumbo jumbo, what's its REAL name? What do you mean it doesn't have one!?!"

Aww come on, everyone knows what blue black green striped dotted straight curly hair king rage crowned desert winter jungle African clawed ponytail money colored baboon some world spotted tarantula is.

 

[SonsofArachne]

Aww come on, everyone knows what blue black green striped dotted straight curly hair king rage crowned desert winter jungle African clawed ponytail money colored baboon some world spotted tarantula is.

I stand corrected

 

[Venom1080]

I like people who can take criticism well. I see alot of beginners mouthing off on subjects they know nothing about.

I don't like bad influencers like the dark den and exotics lair. Fancy editing and nice personalities makes up for bad husbandry and information I suppose.

I dislike the fact alot of dull colored species are rare and expensive. People only buy the ones with pretty colors, and the Browns and blacks slowly become rarer and rarer. Look at our Australian species availability..

Common names have their place. As a step into the hobby. Take that step out, and alot of people will find it difficult to continue. The ones who do without any common names, even early on, have my respect.

Naming your tarantulas is pointless and I shake my head at experienced keepers who do it, but I don't see a reason to care. Long as there's little to no anthropomorphism.

 

[Paul1126]

Naming your tarantulas is pointless and I shake my head at experienced keepers who do it, but I don't see a reason to care. Long as there's little to no anthropomorphism.

This is probably the most miserable and no fun allowed hobby I have.
I am well and truly irked.

 

[Ungoliant]

I may have the wrong impression but it seems like there are people in the hobby who want to keep others out of certain parts or all of it together. There can be valid reasons for why this occurs however, I don't always trust that people trying to exclude others do it only for valid reasons.

Examples included but not limited to: discouraging keepers from getting into breeding/selling, discouraging keepers from certain species, discouraging growth/popularity of the hobby, discouraging content creators etc.

I think most of the time, it's not "gatekeeping" (snobbishly trying to keep people out of something you enjoy) but an attempt at saving a misguided newbie some trouble. (If I were a newbie inquiring about getting a Pokie as my first tarantula, I would hope someone would explain why that's not such a great idea instead of skipping directly to care advice.)

What I see more often is belittling of newbies by keepers who are either just naturally abrasive or tired of answering the same questions repeatedly. (As an aside, we tell people to do research, but we don't appreciate that a brand new keeper doesn't have the requisite knowledge to distinguish between sound advice and misinformation.) I don't even think it's always an intentional decision to be rude; people are sometimes unaware of the tone of their own writing.

Personally, I would prefer if people who can't answer "dumb" newbie questions without being abrasive or condescending simply waited for someone else to answer instead. However, this is a public forum with a wide range of personalities, and I recognize that may not be a realistic expectation.

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

I do the opposite: at shows with vendors that don't use scientific names, I Google the common names to find out the possible scientific names.

I also feel that using turn signals and not driving 5 feet behind another car at 65 mph is reasonable, but it's clear through their actions that many people find those things to be very unreasonable. We're back to there being lots of dumb and lazy people out there.

People choose not to use turn signals to avoid giving away their strategy.

 

[velvetundergrowth]

Well, I'm only getting back into the hobby after an 8 year break, so my opinion might not exactly be golden here but:

1) I wish newcomers would resist the urge to get going so quickly, and take the time to do the research and setup required to provide the animals with the best care possible, and to not aquire an animal that cannot be provided for (I think many of us were guilty of this at some point)

2) I would love to see an end to exotic pets being sold through general pet stores. The sad fact is that most employees in these places may know a lot about dog grooming, but are unable to provide the correct care for tarantulas and scorpions - let alone more demanding creatures such as turtles and iguanas - and are likely to impart that same incorrect knowledge to the buyer.

3) While I can see the reason behind using common names, and I dont see it as an "offence" as such, I think if you are going to get into this hobby you should be using the scientific names. It's never been an issue in the botanical hobbies and it shouldn't be an issue here.

 

[Vanessa]

People who don't do research. Call me whatever you want, but I will never be able to grasp people not being resourceful. Google is the equivalent to being spoon fed, but some people obviously need to have things chewed for them too. Forget gatekeepers, needing food chewers is a much larger issue. I understand if you have had an animal land in your lap, unexpectedly, but other than that I see no excuse to not at least try to find some basic information. Despite many people on this forum constantly saying that caresheets are completely useless, many of them aren't. When I google Brachypelma albopilosum care, the very first entry at the top of the very first page is almost spot on for their care. There is no excuse for the deplorable condition that some are in when some keepers finally get around to looking online when their tarantula is less than a day from being dead. These animals require no special care, at least the beginner friendly species don't, but people just don't make the effort at all. I'm sure that I am not the only one who has posts, where someone has actually given research a go before coming here, jump out at you like a burrower at dinner time, because their setup is almost spot on. If one completely new person managed to do a decent job, it obviously isn't as impossible as most people claim it is.
People who keep juvenile and adult tarantulas in tiny enclosures. They don't need a lot of room to roam around, but they do need some room. I know dealers do it, but dealers usually have upwards of a thousand tarantulas and they aren't going to set them all up in proper setups when it is a short term situation only. If you're still keeping them like a dealer would weeks/months after buying them, and falling back on the 'but dealers do it' excuse, you need to consider cutting back on your numbers.

 

[Vanisher]

Aww come on, everyone knows what blue black green striped dotted straight curly hair king rage crowned desert winter jungle African clawed ponytail money colored baboon some world spotted tarantula is.

Actually, i dont!

 

[TheDarkLordOfMuffins]

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

I think people do it on purpose sometimes like putting a T. Blondi in a flat large faunarium with hardly any sub when it should be like a 10 or 20 gallon viv imo

People who don't do research. Call me whatever you want, but I will never be able to grasp people not being resourceful. Google is the equivalent to being spoon fed, but some people obviously need to have things chewed for them too. Forget gatekeepers, needing food chewers is a much larger issue. I understand if you have had an animal land in your lap, unexpectedly, but other than that I see no excuse to not at least try to find some basic information. Despite many people on this forum constantly saying that caresheets are completely useless, many of them aren't. When I google Brachypelma albopilosum care, the very first entry at the top of the very first page is almost spot on for their care. There is no excuse for the deplorable condition that some are in when some keepers finally get around to looking online when their tarantula is less than a day from being dead. These animals require no special care, at least the beginner friendly species don't, but people just don't make the effort at all. I'm sure that I am not the only one who has posts, where someone has actually given research a go before coming here, jump out at you like a burrower at dinner time, because their setup is almost spot on. If one completely new person managed to do a decent job, it obviously isn't as impossible as most people claim it is.
People who keep juvenile and adult tarantulas in tiny enclosures. They don't need a lot of room to roam around, but they do need some room. I know dealers do it, but dealers usually have upwards of a thousand tarantulas and they aren't going to set them all up in proper setups when it is a short term situation only. If you're still keeping them like a dealer would weeks/months after buying them, and falling back on the 'but dealers do it' excuse, you need to consider cutting back on your numbers.

this gets me riled up in the reptile hobby as well when people have 45 snakes or so in a rack because *They don't need enrichment, they don't bask they like small dark spaces* BS I have had snakes before and when I gave them larger enclosures they used all of it AND would sit under the UV light. That being said spiders don't really do that the only spider in my collection that does is my Hamorii if i am in the room she will come out of her burrow and just stare or move around or climb the lid of her faunarium. If i pop the lid off she will just climb out. She has everything she could need and I have watched her in the dark and she would sit there but as soon as she senses me with her spidey senses its a full legs show.

 

[MintyWood826]

Common names. I have no idea what the heck your "purple blue dino spotted birdeater" is.
Sorry to have repeated this one for the whatevereth time but it's something I really want out of the hobby.

I see a couple opinions on this in this thread. I shall attempt to articulate my own.
People having a thing against naming Ts. I get that not everyone wants to or they have too many, but is it really so bad that some people want to be able to refer to a T as an individual animal? I want to be able to be more specific than "one of my Genus species molted" or "my Genus species #4 molted." And with morphotypes it would get weird if I used the numbers. "My A. avicularia morphotype #6 #3 molted." (By being more specific, it is to myself and people IRL who know their names) Of course, I likely will have a collection too large to remember all the names someday, so I very well may give up eventually.
When I am naming my Ts, I am not anthropomorphizing. I just want to be able to refer to/think of each animal as an individual more easily.

Besides some things that were weren't also mentioned previousl in this thread, I can only think of people not really thinking of their Ts as animals because of not being able to feel affection and other such traits.

 

[Uial]

I do not care for the variety of conflicting information out there, there are sites that tell you to change the temps and humidity percentage of your T room depending on the season as well as the time of day. And some sites tell you that you need a ten-gallon tank for that T, on another page, it's 7 gallons, and still another it's 17, and the substrate needs to be sand, no potting soil, no coco fiber, but with moss mixed into it, but only the right moss, and no vermiculite, but yes, only about 5 %. I get why people are confused.

And the handling, man, If I could just stop the handling I would be fine. When people find out I have T's they all ask me if they can touch them. No, you can not. T's are like fishes, they are for looking not touching. I don't care how soft it looks, it doesn't like you, it doesn't want to be petted. But no, every idiot has seen someone on youtube handle T's so now all T's must enjoy being handled, even though mostly the T just tries frantically to get to solid ground again. No, Karen, I'm sure it loves you and you have a special bond until it bites you and you drop it and it's dead because you were stupid.

I'm sorry, I'm just a bit angry because I had to explain to my mom for half an hour today, why I don't want her to touch the T's. But she has seen someone on T'v handle one, so sure, go ahead try to cuddle The P. irminia, I'm sure it'll be fine. It's just that people act like it's me not wanting them to have fun, it's me not permitting them to handle for no good reason, because if the T could decide it would want to be petted because all the youtubers handle their T's. I hate it so much.

 

[Venom1080]

This is probably the most miserable and no fun allowed hobby I have.
I am well and truly irked.

You wanna waste your time naming things, go for it. Not for me. Might as well name your car, keys, phone and etc.

 

[Minty]

You wanna waste your time naming things, go for it. Not for me. Might as well name your car, keys, phone and etc.

That’s where it should stop and start for everyone. If you want to name your pets, do, if not, don’t.

 

[Paul1126]

You wanna waste your time naming things, go for it. Not for me. Might as well name your car, keys, phone and etc.

I don't see the problem, it's not your time they are wasting by naming their pets.
I'm baffled that this is something that annoys people.

 

[Zevil]

I have only 4 tarantulas and I named all of them. I'm not gonna tell my friends,
Me: oh wow my brachypelma hamorii just moulted today.
Friend: sorry what?
Me: my brachypelma hamorii DUH
Friend: ???
Me: the one in black and reddish orange
Friend: oh THAT one, nice!

Just no. Nobody can tell me I shouldn't name them.

 

[Paul1126]

I have only 4 tarantulas and I named all of them. I'm not gonna tell my friends,
Me: oh wow my brachypelma hamorii just moulted today.
Friend: sorry what?
Me: my brachypelma hamorii DUH
Friend: ???
Me: the one in black and reddish orange
Friend: oh THAT one, nice!

Just no. Nobody can tell me I shouldn't name them.

Your pets your rules, people on here need to take the stick out of their behinds.

 

[Venom1080]

I don't see the problem, it's not your time they are wasting by naming their pets.
I'm baffled that this is something that annoys people.

Lol.. there is no problem. It's just weird to me. Ive named one spider that I remember and that's the one I've had the longest. A G porteri I call Nibbles. That's an important spider to me. I guess they're all on that level of importance to people like you?

I do not care for the variety of conflicting information out there, there are sites that tell you to change the temps and humidity percentage of your T room depending on the season as well as the time of day. And some sites tell you that you need a ten-gallon tank for that T, on another page, it's 7 gallons, and still another it's 17, and the substrate needs to be sand, no potting soil, no coco fiber, but with moss mixed into it, but only the right moss, and no vermiculite, but yes, only about 5 %. I get why people are confused.

And the handling, man, If I could just stop the handling I would be fine. When people find out I have T's they all ask me if they can touch them. No, you can not. T's are like fishes, they are for looking not touching. I don't care how soft it looks, it doesn't like you, it doesn't want to be petted. But no, every idiot has seen someone on youtube handle T's so now all T's must enjoy being handled, even though mostly the T just tries frantically to get to solid ground again. No, Karen, I'm sure it loves you and you have a special bond until it bites you and you drop it and it's dead because you were stupid.

I'm sorry, I'm just a bit angry because I had to explain to my mom for half an hour today, why I don't want her to touch the T's. But she has seen someone on T'v handle one, so sure, go ahead try to cuddle The P. irminia, I'm sure it'll be fine. It's just that people act like it's me not wanting them to have fun, it's me not permitting them to handle for no good reason, because if the T could decide it would want to be petted because all the youtubers handle their T's. I hate it so much.

My parents still believe that my spiders would grow bigger if I put them in bigger cages. Works for any animal.

 

[Warren870]

My parents still believe that my spiders would grow bigger if I put them in bigger cages. Works for any animal.

This gave me a good laugh. Years ago I cleaned aquariums for a living. I remember one guy that had a beautiful clown triggerfish that must of been pushing 16". Poor thing had been kept in a 15 gallon tank since it was purchased at around 3". I guess it didn't get the memo about small tanks limiting growth . After a few choice words and much complaining on my part ( I'm sure the fish was complaining too but unfortunately neither myself nor the guy keeping it speak fish ) it ended up being moved to a 100 gallon. Still to small for a fish that size but definitely better then the previous tank.

 

[Spidermolt]

Peoples whole remark of

"eww you keep tarantulas, I'd squish them all and then burn your house to the ground!"

It comes with the hobby and once word get out that you keep inverts that's all people say. I've replied to people saying "well howd you like it if I went to your house and killed your cat/dog" they always get pi$$ed and say "how could you they're my pets" then I say "well you just said the same thing about my pets and it offends me too."