Poll: How long were you in the hobby before joining a board?

[Arachnoholic420]

been reintroduced to the hobby 4 years ago... i joined last year.. not having intentions to stay... but xian is right with this boards, It's given me a lot of knowledge on how to's.... basically this board smooths out the rough edges on your T care skills..... since then ive been closely watching.....

 

[Smitty78]

I was in the hobby for 10 years followed by a 6 year hiatus. Been back for just over a year now, and that's when I joined this forum.

 

[gvfarns]

I don't see an option for "I joined the boards before getting any T's."

 

[TomM]

I actually joined about 2 weeks before I got one to do a bunch of research. I like to know as much as possible about an animal before I get it so that it will grow and be as healthy as possible in captivity. After many hours of research I got a 1/4" A. hentzi, 1" B. smithi, and a 1.5" L.P. to start off the collection back in September '09 and they are all doing great!

 

[Arachnobrian]

Back when I was 16 (early 80's), I had a B. smithi which sort of became a family pet when I lived with my parents. It was sold when I shared my first apartment with a girlfriend.

The TKG was the only book I found available at the time dedicated the hobby and proved very helpful.

About 6 years ago I returned to the hobby, and found this site shortly after.
This site has been a great source of information, which has helped my collection and interest in the hobby grow. I have had the opportunity to meet several Canadian AB members through this site as well.

 

[curiousme]

To start with, i was NOT a tarantula person. i was scared stiff of them, because at a young age i had the luck of seeing a herd of MM A. hentzi. They were everywhere and i had been taught to be scared of spiders, so i was terrified of tarantulas.

My hubby, Mr. Gone, started getting interested in them after i agreed to an African Giant Millipede. Since we found out they are no longer exported here, he/ we started looking at other invertebrates to get. He is the one that started showing me pictures and signed up here first. We would look at different species and decide which ones were neater and well, just started learning about them. This lurking and learning period was at least 6 months. i signed up about a month after we got our first T, a G. rosea that we felt obligated to rescue from a LPS. i still was not sold at that point, but once we acquired an A. metallica; i fell in love with it(who wouldn't!). Handled it and everything, but that's all it took to sell me on them. We have both the TKG and Tarantulas and Other Arachnids, plus this nifty book called Uncover Tarantula; all of which have been read and referred to often.

So, we have been in the hobby for almost a year and a half. In that time, we have acquired 25 Ts. They break down like this: 17 species in 11 genera, 4 OW and 21 NW, 12 arboreal and 13 terrestrial.

 

[Xian]

To start with, i was NOT a tarantula person. i was scared stiff of them, because at a young age i had the luck of seeing a herd of MM A. hentzi. They were everywhere and i had been taught to be scared of spiders, so i was terrified of tarantulas.

Cool story, I was arachnophobic myself, one of the main reasons I got my first T.!

 

[violentblossom]

I joined the board before I joined the hobby. I was here for about 2 months before I got my first t. I believe in educating yourself before getting a pet.

Same here! This should be a poll option.

 

[crawltech]

I used to be a member of the old style Tarantulas.com forum, back in about 05 is when i joined that board....wich was about 10 years after i got my fisrt T.....Bin lurkin on this board for many years before i actually signed up!

 

[Mad Hatter]

I have to vote for this option: "Basically the same time as my first T"

But really, I was lurking on AB with no account months before I got my first T.

After I became interested in Ts back in... 2003... 2004?, I started doing research on them and Arachnoboards kept on popping up every time I ran a google search.

So I came here to AB, got a T, started posting about my G. rosea not eating, and I've never looked back.

Seriously, this forum is the best, IMO.

Sure, there's trial by fire in some ways, but that's just part of the fun of it all. You can't expect T keepers not to be a little venomous themselves at times.

Myself, I love this quote:

excerpt from article - FEATURED WEBSITE: ARACHNOPETS

"And even with over 3500 members there is a strong feel of community on the 'boards'. Asked about the best aspect of the site Scott answered, 'I'd have to say it's the sense of family amongst the members. Of course, it's a highly dysfunctional family but we couldn't ask for better. Our members are the best in the world.'"

 

[daytona1911]

I got my first rosey in 89', then more the next year. had them till 92" when I had to go off to college. hated selling em back to pet shop! to this day I miss ol' "esbe" .got 3 more at repile show in 97" . Ex hated it , so I snuk in 5 more . she stayed out of room so by 2000 I had 15. got a divorce in 06' , so I got 15 more. then met a very killer chic who likes them as much as I do or even more so I got 40? more . I believe im up to around 70 now . next step is breeding since a few of those I got back in 97" are finally becoming mature, and the younger aboreals are all about mature now as well. fun stuff!

 

[Frostbite]

I got my first "T" in 1992 and joined ATS in Dec '92. I found AB in 2005 and signed right up. I don't talk much. But, reading this board is one of my favorite things to do..... I love it here.

 

[Teal]

I got my first T 8 years ago, but only had the one up until this past year... and I joined the board sometime around getting a T that I wanted sexed and identified. I was absent from the boards for a few months, until I got a lot more Ts and a friend of mine starting collecting as well... and then I became active on the board.

 

[pouchedrat]

how about joining a board long before getting into the hobby?

 

[Xian]

So, what I'm seeing from the results of this poll, is that this board and boards like it have contributed GREATLY to our hobby. Especially seeing some of the posts that said they joined before they got their first T. Cool!

 

[Stopdroproll]

how about joining a board long before getting into the hobby?

This lol...