New owner anxiety

[Gevo]

I was anxious at first about not being able to care for them properly, but I also knew from my research that leaving them alone and not hovering is the best way to keep them, so I channeled a lot of my energy into learning everything I could—about my species and about other species too. Now I’m able to check in on them once or twice a day and don’t stress so much, but it took time.

I agree that a lot of the social media groups can be dicey, and it’s super frustrating to see here and elsewhere people who say they did all the research when really they mean that they watched a YouTude video and talked to a rando “breeder” and then went and stuffed and suffocated their tarantula with fifteen crickets and five mistings a day and then get defensive when people point out that literally any research would have saved that spider. Tom’s Big Spiders is the best educational resource out there next to Arachnoboards. Full stop. But, I also love watching beautiful footage of tarantulas and couldn’t care less if someone has managed to make themselves a fine living off of making it as long as they’re not hurting the animals. It’s okay to allow yourself to enjoy content too as long as you can distinguish between where you get your husbandry info and where you are simply exercising your appreciation for the hobby.

 

[eggsbenedict]

I was anxious at first about not being able to care for them properly, but I also knew from my research that leaving them alone and not hovering is the best way to keep them, so I channeled a lot of my energy into learning everything I could—about my species and about other species too. Now I’m able to check in on them once or twice a day and don’t stress so much, but it took time.

I agree that a lot of the social media groups can be dicey, and it’s super frustrating to see here and elsewhere people who say they did all the research when really they mean that they watched a YouTude video and talked to a rando “breeder” and then went and stuffed and suffocated their tarantula with fifteen crickets and five mistings a day and then get defensive when people point out that literally any research would have saved that spider. Tom’s Big Spiders is the best educational resource out there next to Arachnoboards. Full stop. But, I also love watching beautiful footage of tarantulas and couldn’t care less if someone has managed to make themselves a fine living off of making it as long as they’re not hurting the animals. It’s okay to allow yourself to enjoy content too as long as you can distinguish between where you get your husbandry info and where you are simply exercising your appreciation for the hobby.

Funnily enough, Toms Big Spiders was one of the resources I kept going back to when trying to figure out which species would be best for me to get, I think it was actually his article on beginner Ts that actually catalyzed me to make my mind up to get a G.pulchripes. I'm glad I now know however that certain other sources of information such as Tarantula Collective aren't as reliable, but I'll still watch videos from his channel purely because I enjoy watching footage of lots of nice Ts. I haven't even dipped my toe in any of the facebook groups, I think facebook is the last place I'd go for advice for anything I should also add, when having done my research I read alot of forum posts here too even before setting up my account.