Introduce Yourself

[TheBigBug]

Hey guys!

General bug enthusiast from Canada. Happy to be here, anyone know when Arachnophiles closed shop? Decided to recover that old account but this seems to be the only real spider forum active now.

Anyway, all the same. Excited to creep pics of all your hairy little cuties and glad to join others in an appreciation for some of the most fascinating species the world has to offer. <3

 

[Vialheart]

Hey there

I'm a 23-year-old biology student from east Tennessee. I've never personally kept arachnids, but my mother has, and I've become obsessed with Amblypygids. I hope to own a D. diadema someday soon, but I want to do as much research as possible beforehand, so here I am. I'll probably do more lurking than posting, but if anybody has any tips for a new arachnophile I would love to hear them!!

 

[09ZX6R]

hello all, im Johnathan, 35yrs old. Im new to owning T's and this site is freaking awesome. tons of info. perfect for a newb like me. I currently own 4 T's.
grammastola portieri rosea 3/4"
grammastola pulchripes 1/2"
avicularia metallica 3"
avicularia avicularia 2.5"

i also own a 5" caldonian crested gecko named crusty.

My kids (8 & 9) got me into collecting them. they seem to be finding lots of wild caught widows,hobos, and cat faced orbs. but they are far more dangerous. We began collecting T's as they are bigger, easier to handle, and no where near as deadly. plus, being that they are big, you can easily see how they operate, and molt, and feed.

lookin forward to learning more and more as the collection grows.

 

[Ungoliant]

My kids (8 & 9) got me into collecting them. they seem to be finding lots of wild caught widows,hobos, and cat faced orbs. but they are far more dangerous.

Only one of these (widow spiders) is actually medically significant.

No orbweaver (family Araneidae) is dangerous to people.

The hobo spider (Eratigena agrestis, formerly known as Tegenaria agrestis) is not medically significant, contrary to a lot of misinformation out there. (Like most spiders, they are technically venomous and are capable of biting in self defense, but they have not been proven to be dangerous to people.)

The "hobo spider," Eratigena agrestis, is a European spider that has become established in the Pacific Northwest of the United States (and adjacent southern Canada). This species is considered harmless in its native Europe, but there are persistent rumors that the bites of U.S. populations can cause necrotic wounds much like recluse spiders. This has not been reproduced in the laboratory (on humans), so there is no scientific consensus on exactly what is going on here. The findings of the most recent research into this matter were published in March of 2011. The study "confirms previous results and provides further evidence that the hobo spider, T. agrestis, is not a spider of medical concern" (Gaver-Wainwright et al. 2011).

 

[Izzy Biggs]

Hello, all! I'm new here. I've kept praying mantises for a while now (as you can see by my avatar) and I'm excited to keep arachnids! I am getting two Florida tailless whip scorpions. This seems like an awesome forum to learn to care for them!

 

[09ZX6R]

Only one of these (widow spiders) is actually medically significant.

No orbweaver (family Araneidae) is dangerous to people.

The hobo spider (Eratigena agrestis, formerly known as Tegenaria agrestis) is not medically significant, contrary to a lot of misinformation out there. (Like most spiders, they are technically venomous and are capable of biting in self defense, but they have not been proven to be dangerous to people.)

oh. ok. well good to know. thanks.

 

[Ethel Webster]

Hi! I'm Tiff and live on the Isle of Wight, UK.

 

[Ewan]

Hi there, my name is Ewan and I live in New Jersey, USA. I have been keeping some mosquito colonies and midges. I am interested in rearing scorpions and trying to buy some Blue scorpions, Rhopalurus Junceus to start with. Any one has a colony? Thanks.

 

[Lakerbat]

Well, here goes. LOL My real name is Laura, and I got into spiders completely by accident (although I used to teach an outdoor education course called "Creepy Crawlers," which sometimes included spider discoveries). I teach fifth grade Reading (10 year olds for our non-American friends) and in September when my students were changing classes all of a sudden there were horrible screams from the hallway outside my classroom. There was a very large wolf spider on the wall. I said, "Oh, for goodness sake. Go get a plastic box out of my closet and a file folder." One swift move and the giant spider was in the box. That was September 25th. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought I would have had the adventure I have ... because apparently "Bob" was actually "Jolene," and had been hanging out with males before the fateful day on the wall. On December 23rd she laid an egg sac, which I assumed was just an empty and infertile blob (and I even made fun of her guarding her empty egg sac!). Seven weeks later I congratulated her on finally ditching that embarrassing egg sac of hers ... but noticed that her body looked a bit "lumpy." It was not lumpy at all ... but she was covered with tiny spiderlings. Thus I have had to get a crash course in caring for spiders! The population has seriously dwindled and now I have not seen Jolene in about 2 days. I think she might have dug a burrow. I am actually going to try to separate some of the babies to see if I can salvage a few. I can't tell if they are eating each other or if Jolene has eaten them ... and I am VERY new at this. The closest I can get to what to do with her is what I have read on this wonderful board.

This is not brief, but I'm supposed to tell what I have. I tried to get help identifying her back in September. She is most likely Tigrosa aspersa, but somebody online thought that she might be Tigrosa grandis, a species that is undocumented in Texas because she has orange cheeks. This is a link to that thread where people debated about her species: http://bugguide.net/node/view/1318030/bgimage I hope that is ok (just FYI). She is 2.5 inches, which is unusually large for even a wolf spider. She is awesome!

I'll be hanging around trying to gain wisdom on my babies and how to care for them. Everyone says to just release them, but I want to try my hand at raising them. They are fascinating little creatures!

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Hi! I'm Tiff and live on the Isle of Wight, UK.

Cool! There's that song as well, a very old Italian (cover) one

 

[Ungoliant]

I'll be hanging around trying to gain wisdom on my babies and how to care for them. Everyone says to just release them, but I want to try my hand at raising them. They are fascinating little creatures!

The spiderlings cling to their mother's back until they molt, and then they disperse. If you want to try raising them, I would keep a few (each in its own enclosure) and release the rest.

 

[47KEARNS47]

Hey All,

Welcome to Arachnoboards. Please take a moment to introduce yourself. Let us know who you are and what brings you here.

Feel free to post a picture of yourself here.

This thread is for personal introductions only, please let us know what inverts you have here.

Hope you enjoy your stay

The Arachnoboards Team

I'm glad I was able to join. My wife, kids and I have become avid collectors in the hobby, and are a very enthusiastic passionate bunch when it comes to our critters.
We are from Ohio, we have several new world T's (beginner types) and have added a few more advanced species, as well as obtaining our first 2 Old world T'S (Pokie Vittata, and Chiliobrachys Asian fawn)
Again thank you for having forums like this where we can turn for advice.

 

[Lucashank]

Hello, everyone. I am a former tarantula owner trying to get back into the hobby. I had to give my GBB and various reptiles away to another home several years ago. Since it would be rude to ask to have them back I am looking for another tarantula.

 

[Tiled]

Hello guys,i like a spider and i would like to take one..but i don't know which.Hope you can help me.See you later

 

[Ungoliant]

Hello guys,i like a spider and i would like to take one..but i don't know which.

 

[Leigh Amanda]

Hi all, I'm Leigh. I've been keeping tarantulas and other arachnids for about 9 years now. I still find them fascinating and always find something new to learn about them.

 

[WJHolby]

Greetings! I guess I'll give a little background on myself here. I'm 37 and have always been fascinated by spiders. When I was a kid, I used to catch grasshoppers and moths to feed the orb-weavers and funnel-web spiders around my house. It was so cool to watch them attack and wrap up their prey! I studied Biology at the University of Pittsburgh, work in healthcare, and always wanted to keep tarantulas.

Unfortunately I now have one of those "wife-thingys" that said no... LOL. Well, here's how I finally got my chance....

My three daughters all started to develop a fascination with various "creepy crawlies".... so as a reward for hard work, good grades, and being generally awesome kids, my 13 year old got a king snake, 11 year old a crested gecko, and my 6 year old became my "spider buddy!"... and we came home from a show with a couple of slings. (I had a good excuse... I couldn't leave her out!)

She has a w/c wolf spider (T. helluo) named "Bear" that she keeps in a Kritter Keeper in her bedroom. Sometimes she reads stories to her spider...

She also makes sure I keep a good feeding and maintenance schedule for the Ts... reminding me every day which ones need to eat, which need water dishes filled, etc. She has no fear of handling, but also knows which ones are "hands-off." Now, I do have spiders with names like "Sparkles" "Nemo" and "Pikachu," but I can live with that since she actually knows the scientific names too (it's pretty awesome to hear a 6 year old say "Lasiodora parahybana").

Needless to say, the wife is now "tolerating" the tarantulas since she sees the spark of interest in the sciences this has ignited in my little one. I hope the passion continues. In the meantime I guess I'll just be happy my spiders will keep getting cutesey names!

 

[Ungoliant]

She has a w/c wolf spider (T. helluo) named "Bear" that she keeps in a Kritter Keeper in her bedroom. Sometimes she reads stories to her spider...

Now, I do have spiders with names like "Sparkles" "Nemo" and "Pikachu," but I can live with that since she actually knows the scientific names too (it's pretty awesome to hear a 6 year old say "Lasiodora parahybana").

Is this your little girl?

 

[WJHolby]

Is this your little girl?

No... but that's awesome! I could totally see her doing that!

 

[GingerC]

Hi, everyone! Since everyone else is starting with age... I'm 14, and I've lived in Arizona my whole life. I've always loved any and all things animal, from snakes to pigeons to anything dromaeosauridae, and I've had the desire to keep a bunch of pets ever since I can remember. So, naturally, I've thoroughly researched most species commonly kept as pets, and since my mother does not like pets, my menagerie has manifested itself in the form of the largely inoffensive creatures we call invertebrates.

I've got three of them at the moment, and I've named and become emotionally attached to each one. My absolute pride and joy out of the bunch is George the giant Asian mantis, probably because of how personable mantids are compared to most inverts, but she's cute enough that she's popular among the rest of the family, too. ^-^

Anyway, my most prominent experiences with arachnids were actually when I was in second grade. I had a pet cellar spider for about a year, and even convinced my sister to keep a few of them, which she kept in a highly modified cardboard box. They eventually bred and we had way more spiders than we could handle, oops.

I also used to go stalking through alleys at night with an ultraviolet flashlight, and it was a blast. The entire neighborhood had a rather unfortunate infestation of black widow spiders, desert hairy scorpions, and bark scorpions, and I would go out and feed them roaches at night. It was safe as long as you were cautious and watched your step carefully, so needless to say I'm definitely used to backing away quickly whenever my new AFS moves too suddenly. XD