Mistakes you only make ONCE!

Cassiusstein

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 9, 2016
Messages
102
This thread is dedicated to my personal experience as a new T owner, with a main focus of my mistakes. I'm putting my pride in the back seat with the hopes that newbies like myself will look at this thread and take a few notes, hopefully skipping as much of my mistakes as possible. As I make mistakes, I'll post in the thread, I fully understand the things I post are generally idiotic, but that's why it's mistakes you make once.

With that said, my first story has already been posted in another thread, so here's the link - http://arachnoboards.com/threads/i-thought-i-was-ready.289537/

Now, my second most notable mistake is a big one I made tonight, with the SAME spider, this one left me shakey and teary eyed. I feel like a moron but I'll share like I promised.

I was moving all of my slings from where I keep them to my desk, so I could water, remove garbage, ect. While moving my avic avic I carried the container from the top. The top removes! And it did separate in the middle of moving it! First off, I did not like this enclosure in the first place, it's not recommended to use top opening containers for arboreal species, and I did want to change it soon. Besides, it was ugly. The whole section of the encolsure containing the T smashed to the ground, sending dirt, decor, and the T flying. Lucking I had help and we were fast enough to locate and capture the T, who I put in a temporary deli cup so I can monitor her in to make sure she's ok. Seeing her on the floor looking terrified put a knot in my stomach, and does again when I think about it. Man I feel dumber than dumb, and almost cried, I'm praying the T is ok. DO NOT CARRY TOP OPENING CONTAINERS BY THE TOP. Just be extremely conscious of EVERYTHING you're doing, no matter how small the task may seem. I'm gonna be mad and red faced about this one for a while.

That's all for today, I'll post as I make mistakes, always putting my pride away and not leaving any details out. More experienced owners feel free to tear me a new one if you want, not only do I deserve it, but maybe it'll help grind it into my brain. Not that I'll be forgetting that any time soon...
 

Andrea82

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
3,686
Man..you need to lighten up. Seriously, a thread dedicated to your mistakes?
Everybody makes mistakes. Your T is alive. That is what matters. All the rest is useless luggage.
No need to wallow in misery because you made a mistake. Pack up, man up, face it, and be done with it. ;)
 

Cassiusstein

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 9, 2016
Messages
102
Man..you need to lighten up. Seriously, a thread dedicated to your mistakes?
Everybody makes mistakes. Your T is alive. That is what matters. All the rest is useless luggage.
No need to wallow in misery because you made a mistake. Pack up, man up, face it, and be done with it. ;)
It's less about me and more about others learning from me, not a thread to beat myself up. I'm upset with myself at the moment, but a mistake is a mistake.
 

Andrea82

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
3,686
It's less about me and more about others learning from me, not a I dhread to beat myself up. I'm upset with myself at the moment, but a mistake is a mistake.
I understand. But you are not the first,nor the last to make mistakes, and unless this thread becomes a sticky (which i doubt), it will disappear with other threads about mistakes. So there is no need to.
Of course you are upset, and angry with yourself. I would be ;)
 

Cassiusstein

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 9, 2016
Messages
102
I understand. But you are not the first,nor the last to make mistakes, and unless this thread becomes a sticky (which i doubt), it will disappear with other threads about mistakes. So there is no need to.
Of course you are upset, and angry with yourself. I would be ;)
It's ok, I'll just post anyways, maybe it's a form of venting also :p
 

KezyGLA

Arachnoking
Joined
Apr 8, 2016
Messages
3,013
There is a commonly used phrase that is often seen printed on novelty tshirts that I can't say here on the forums.

I have to agree with @Andrea82 Everyone makes mistakes. You are certainly not the only one out there that has had this happen.

A lot of this hobby is trial and error. You got your T back(again :p). Now just be a little more careful next time around. Hey, you now know what not to do :D
 

Cassiusstein

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 9, 2016
Messages
102
There is a commonly used phrase that is often seen printed on novelty tshirts that I can't say here on the forums.

I have to agree with @Andrea82 Everyone makes mistakes. You are certainly not the only one out there that has had this happen.

A lot of this hobby is trial and error. You got your T back(again :p). Now just be a little more careful next time around. Hey, you now know what not to do :D
I think I know the phrase :eek: lol

But I get where you guys are coming from, the hope I guess is someone new will type "tips fo new owners" or something along those lines, and maybe take a couple notes? I would like for anyone to not make the mistakes I do, or if they do, know what to expect and handle it the best they can.

If even thats not gonna happen, well then people can come here to laugh at me :happy:
 

KezyGLA

Arachnoking
Joined
Apr 8, 2016
Messages
3,013
the hope I guess is someone new will type "tips fo new owners" or something along those lines, and maybe take a couple notes? I would like for anyone to not make the mistakes I do, or if they do, know what to expect and handle it the best they can.
A general 'Newbie tips & hacks' thread would make a good sticky. It would take a long time to work through and type all of the potential issues.

I would like to see one made but I have not got the time to make one at present.

A lot of it comes to common sense, though sometimes when new keepers are going about these things they can easily lose thought for a moment and slip up. We are only human.
 

Cassiusstein

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 9, 2016
Messages
102
A general 'Newbie tips & hacks' thread would make a good sticky. It would take a long time to work through and type all of the potential issues.

I would like to see one made but I have not got the time to make one at present.

A lot of it comes to common sense, though sometimes when new keepers are going about these things they can easily lose thought for a moment and slip up. We are only human.
True true true. I guess I scrap the thread or something then
 

Vanessa

Grammostola Groupie
Joined
Mar 12, 2016
Messages
2,423
There's no need to beat yourself up - there are plenty of members who will delight in doing it for you.
It is good to be methodical in your tasks with the tarantulas overall. Sometimes we get distracted and forget to take the precautions that we normally do. Maybe we're in a hurry or really tired, it doesn't matter why, but we really need to slow down and take it step by step with them. Or maybe just put off feeding, watering, and doing general maintenance until the following day. I know that there have been a couple of nights, that were feeding/watering nights, that I was late home from work and wouldn't even consider doing anything with the tarantulas. I was just too tired and not able to muster up the focus that I need for them.
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
Well my man, there's "No Easy Way Out" at the end, but bit of solace, your Theraphosidae didn't ended like Apollo :troll:

Every of us made mistakes at the beginning, and + or - of different kind, still today. That's normal :-s
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
Active Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Messages
5,893
You can't make the same mistake twice. After the first time it becomes a choice.
 

Jeff23

Arachnolord
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
620
I am certainly still inexperienced in my rookie year but have learned a lot in a short time. I think it is fine that you created this topic. If nothing else it lets you realize that you are simply like everyone else.

I remember an occasion when I worked a lot of overtime at the work place and wanted to also feed and water all of my T's the same day. I was really tired and dropped a deli cup with one of my Tapi's all newly set up in it. My leg broke the fall of the cup but then it rolled across the floor. I just knew that I had a dead T. Amazingly I found the Tapi covered in substrate right near the side of the cup. It came to the surface before I could even dig it out. I was afraid to upset this T's world further by rearranging things so I just gave it some extra special treatment for quite a while. It became my only Tapi that became a burrowing species. It has since moved back to its plastic plants which actually work even better for webbing with some dirt still on them.

Even an experienced T owner can be clumsy on occasion or ignorant of their fatigue and do something stupid.

EDIT* It also pays to hot melt your cork bark and plants to the cup.
 

creepa

Arachnoknight
Joined
Sep 24, 2010
Messages
260
My biggest mistake was selling my old collection because of a girl i used to know...
Had a few rare species that i had to let go and are now kind of hard to find here in europe.
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
Active Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Messages
5,893
My biggest mistake was selling my old collection because of a girl i used to know...
Had a few rare species that i had to let go and are now kind of hard to find here in europe.
I did the same for a different reason. Looking back I'm kicking myself.
 
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