Photos of my Arachnid Presentation

[Spider-man 2]

Last night I was "hired" to a do a presentation at Maple Hills Elementary school for the Science Fair. "The spider guy is always a hit attraction", she says. My friend, Jason (JPD), was supposed to do it, but he doesn't have spiders anymore.

So basically I held and talked about arachnids for 2.5 hrs. and got paid $150. Easiest cash I have ever made. ;P I was only supposed to do 2 15. min. presenentations, but the people kept coming and I was enjoying it.

The kids were very interesting. I was asked questions like, "Have you ever been bit", and "What would happen if I let all the spiders out of the cages on the table, what would they do."

The kids did get annoying at times. One little girl decided to poke me continously if I didn't respond to her instantly because I was talking to another person. Another boy would interrput me "politely" and keep saying excuse me, excuse me, excuse me!!! I almost snapped around and said, "WHAT!" lol

For those of you interested in doing this, here is the assortment of arachnids I brought. It is important to bring enough of a variety for you to talk about. I brought terrestrials, arboreals, widows, a scorp, L. reclusa, and a breeding pair. Also bring a variety that display different colors and patterns, as you see below:

B. smithi, N. chromatus (male and female), P. pulcher, P. formosa, P. rufilata, E. pachypus, H crassipes, A. versicolor, A. metallica, A. minatrix T. blondi, M. robustum, my H. gigas hatchlings, L. hesperus, L. mactans, L. reclusa, and H. spinifer.

Here's a pic of how I transported the Ts:

Here's the room (the music room) I presented in:

I covered them out to have to shock factor for the audience, but that didn't last long.

Various photos of the actual presentation:

Don't worry about the spider on my back. That's Bean for those of you that "know". I also think this is picture when the annoying poking girl decided to touch my hair.

The boy in the red shirt is the "excuse me" boy.

I would say everything went smoothly. No problems. The school lady said I did a great job teaching and that she wants me to return. She is also is sending a letter out to other schools for who might be interested in having me.

 

[Blasphemy]

You should have told her to poke the blondi instead ;P

but seriously, that's awesome you got to talk about what your passion is and get paid well for it and great pics

 

[Spider-man 2]

You should have told her to poke the blondi instead ;P

but seriously, that's awesome you got to talk about what your passion is and get paid well for it and great pics

My T. blondi would have probably just sat there....After about the 6th or 7th time of me handling her up she became really angry and everyone got an earful of her hiss.

Yea, I really enjoy correctly educating people. I also had the pleasure of eradicating the "daddy long legs is the most poisonous spider" myth and the myth that widows can kill people, at least not adults.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Hey, great job! :clap: ... Well, you've basically said that you think the same about the job . Nice pics too!

Which where the most faq's?

 

[Immortal_sin]

I give similiar presentations at the local school district here. I follow a loose outline, just because I don't want to forget anything important. My talk usually lasts an hour or so, and I usually bring 10 tarantulas. I will walk around the classroom with them if the kids behave well enough.
In my last presentation, for Shelby's class, I got a pair of G aureostriata to mate in front of the class! It was quite exciting, it was the best presenation yet!