Pros and cons of collecting different species of Ts.

[KevinFrancisco]

Hey guys...I've been thinking if I should just get a couple of species of Ts (maybe 3 or 4 species) or collect a wide variety (just keep buying different Ts).

What are the pros and cons of having a lot of Ts?

Thanks so much!

 

[Chris_Skeleton]

What are the pros and cons of having a lot of Ts?

What cons? You mean there's cons to that?

 

[rbailey1010]

It gives you the chance to learn about the different species and will give you valuable care taking knowledge.......

Each genus has their own characteristics that make them unique......

Dont see any real cons unless vertical space is an issue when dealing with arboreal species........

 

[belljar77]

I collected a fairly diverse collection pretty quickly- it certainly gives you a crash course in husbandry. I've enjoyed it, but am now thinking about focusing a bit more on arboreals, so I may try to trade or sell some Ts off. You learn what you like, what you have patience for, and what makes you itch!

 

[Mack&Cass]

As someone who has almost 200 tarantulas, I will give both the pros and cons that Mackenzie and myself have run into with such a vast collection:

Pros

- Your knowledge expands greatly as you learn husbandy and habitat info of each species as well as what they're prone to do, they're attitude and their little quirks
- For me, it's something I'm really proud of. We've devoted a lot of time and money to our Ts and to be able to stand back and be proud of a diverse and well taken care of collection is one of the best feelings
- You're able to help others out more when you have a lot of different species of tarantulas - when someone posts that their T is behaving a certain way you have several species to look upon and see if you can relate and help them out

Cons

- Time. I work full-time and Mackenzie works part-time technically, but pretty much has full-time hours. When we both get home from work we're tired, but we know we have a lot of mouths to feed. We used to try and do all the Ts in one night but that is way too much. It's gotten better since we moved everything into a seperate room and bought a huge white board and have basically mapped out a schedule and charts with when we fed which shelf last, and so on, but still, one shelf usually takes about an hour. With the slings, there's more because more fit on a shelf, but they don't have waterdishes so it's just a quick clean, feed, mist sort of thing. The juvies take the longest since quite a few still fit on a shelf but they all have waterdishes that have to be cleaned out and refilled. The adults take the least amount of time since, depending on the size of the enclosure, only a max of 9 can fit on a shelf. They also have waterdishes but there's not as many. We can usually get 2 adult shelves done in the same amount of time as 1 juvie shelf.
- Money. We like getting Ts of different genera so when they become available we obviously want them. Only problem is, now that we have a lot of the common and even the not-so-common genera, when new ones are available, they're usually in limited quantities and not cheap. We've cut back a lot on our T purchases since we've got a lot of what we wanted, but that doesn't mean we've stopped completely.

Mackenzie and I have talked about if we think we'd ever specialize and we don't think so. His favourite genus is Poecilotheria, an old world arboreal and mine is Brachypelma, a new world terrestrial so the chances of us specializing are slim. Even with snakes we're both radically different in what we like, he likes weird species of colubrids and I like big pythons and boas. As much time, energy and money it is for us, I wouldn't give it up for anything unless it was absolutely necessary. I'm happy everytime I walk into that room.

Cass

 

[KoffinKat138]

Pros: It's Great having alot of T's, and learing about them and each Sp. Cons: Your always wanting more.

 

[hassman789]

pros- everything
cons-none

 

[Scoolman]

Well stated M & C. There are always pros and cons to everything. I would also like to point out that going headlong into something without planning and forethought will end is disaster. Just look at how many times we see [FS] posts trying to sell off their entire collection: some for financial reasons, some for personal reasons, some for health reasons, the list goes on.

Personally, I find the many species fascinating and would love to keep many. However, I have chosen to focus my efforts on one species for now. I want to collect and provide hard evidence to dissuade the anecdotal evidence that exists. Perhaps in a few years I will add more.

In the end, the choice is yours.

 

[KevinFrancisco]

As someone who has almost 200 tarantulas, I will give both the pros and cons that Mackenzie and myself have run into with such a vast collection:

Pros

- Your knowledge expands greatly as you learn husbandy and habitat info of each species as well as what they're prone to do, they're attitude and their little quirks
- For me, it's something I'm really proud of. We've devoted a lot of time and money to our Ts and to be able to stand back and be proud of a diverse and well taken care of collection is one of the best feelings
- You're able to help others out more when you have a lot of different species of tarantulas - when someone posts that their T is behaving a certain way you have several species to look upon and see if you can relate and help them out

Cons

- Time. I work full-time and Mackenzie works part-time technically, but pretty much has full-time hours. When we both get home from work we're tired, but we know we have a lot of mouths to feed. We used to try and do all the Ts in one night but that is way too much. It's gotten better since we moved everything into a seperate room and bought a huge white board and have basically mapped out a schedule and charts with when we fed which shelf last, and so on, but still, one shelf usually takes about an hour. With the slings, there's more because more fit on a shelf, but they don't have waterdishes so it's just a quick clean, feed, mist sort of thing. The juvies take the longest since quite a few still fit on a shelf but they all have waterdishes that have to be cleaned out and refilled. The adults take the least amount of time since, depending on the size of the enclosure, only a max of 9 can fit on a shelf. They also have waterdishes but there's not as many. We can usually get 2 adult shelves done in the same amount of time as 1 juvie shelf.
- Money. We like getting Ts of different genera so when they become available we obviously want them. Only problem is, now that we have a lot of the common and even the not-so-common genera, when new ones are available, they're usually in limited quantities and not cheap. We've cut back a lot on our T purchases since we've got a lot of what we wanted, but that doesn't mean we've stopped completely.

Mackenzie and I have talked about if we think we'd ever specialize and we don't think so. His favourite genus is Poecilotheria, an old world arboreal and mine is Brachypelma, a new world terrestrial so the chances of us specializing are slim. Even with snakes we're both radically different in what we like, he likes weird species of colubrids and I like big pythons and boas. As much time, energy and money it is for us, I wouldn't give it up for anything unless it was absolutely necessary. I'm happy everytime I walk into that room.

Cass

Wow you guys have a lot of "kids". Hahaha! Thanks a lot for that, very informative.

Since I'm still a student (always depending on allowance), I think I'll just have a couple of species to focus on and take care of. I'll try and make them grow to adults first. After doing so (and hopefully I already have a job so I can buy my own Ts), I'll start collecting.

Thanks again, Cass