Reason you got into spiders POLL

[VaejovisCarolineanusSDS]

A few years ago I was scared of spider and snakes but I still had a fascination with them. I was always kind of an animal nerd. I caught a garter snake that I fell in love with after trying for weeks to get used to him. Once I realized that snakes are not scary, I started looking at spiders. I kept a wolf spider for maybe a week before it died. I thought it was pretty cool seeing the large spider do it's thing. After that I kinda forgot about them and focused mainly on my new favorite animal, snakes. My family made a trip to Georgia and that's where I would say the obsession began. I was in the hotel room and I watched a few videos of people handling salticdae and I thought it was really cute. I knew we were about to go hiking somewhere so I told myself that I would catch a spider and handle it. I remembered my goal while on the trail and immediately decided to look under some bark. The very first piece I lifted had a little V. carolineanus. I had heard about them being around where I live and had wanted to catch one someday. So when I found this scorpion I was so excited. I had never seen a scorpion before in person so I was a little hesitant at first. Considering my fears at the time and lack of experience with scorpions, I am still shocked to this day about how I handled the situation. I placed the scorpion in an empty bottle until I found something a little better. I held the scorpion almost the entire time I was in Georgia. It never stung me. When we finally made it home I seen that it had grown weak, so I tired to feed it. Sadly, the scorpion died and the crickets I gave ate the back half of the scorpion. After that I was looking everywhere for another, I didn't know that they don't live in my part of the state. I kept a few wolf spiders after that and got a little used to spiders from that. One day, I went to the pet store to get some mice for my ball python and I found out the store had scorpions for sale. I convinced my dad to let me get one and left with a male and female pair of heterometrus sp. Since then I have become an absolute nerd for arachnids. Scorpions are probably my favorite animal now. I am currently looking at the requirements to become an entomologist. I hope to have a career in the future based on entomology, and a large arachnids collection. So far the only animal I am still nervous around is centipedes, I am working on that though.

 

[meowmeowkazoo]

I owned snakes for a long time, and the only animals I've feared are spiders. I knew that learning more about an animal and interacting with it helps reduce fear, so a few years ago I started with jumping spiders, and now I am venturing into tarantulas.

 

[VaejovisCarolineanusSDS]

so a few years ago I started with jumping spiders, and now I am venturing into tarantulas.

That was the method I was going to use as well. I had dreams of having a huge diverse reptile collection. I figured tarantulas would be a cool addition to my collection. So I figured if I got used to spiders now, I won't be afraid of them when I am finally able to get one. My step-mom was deathly afraid of spiders so a T would have to wait. I know have several arachnids including an A. seemanni. I only have one reptile now, a baby beardie. This summer I do plan on getting another garter snake.

 

[WolfSoon]

For me they’re a childhood fascination rekindled. I loved spiders and had a tarantula growing up, but as an adult with no spider pets I became pretty arachnophobic. Last year I stumbled on some youtube videos of tarantula unboxings and found a renewed interest in Ts (and true spiders..but I just let them chill and eat the escaped crickets).

Also this!!:

- They're adorable murder floofs.

 

[draconisj4]

I've always loved bugs and reptiles, I was never a girly girl but a dirt covered mess with some kind of creature I'd caught in my grubby little hands. For years I've been rescuing wild bugs and spiders from various predicaments and lecturing people on not killing them. The actual addiction started with seeing a live Chinese mantis for sale on Ebay, after doing some research I decided a mantis wasn't for me as places that sell live feeders are few and far between here. I opted for a pair of flower beetles and then got some darklings. Well beetles do what they do and I had a ton of larvae so I figure I'd get a couple of critters that could eat them. I got a B. vagans sling and a V. spinigerus and thought that would be the end of it. Well, I was kind of mistaken there lol. I enjoyed them so much I thought I'd get a couple more and so on and so on. Oddly enough I only fed a few of the larvae off and started raising as many as I could. The T's are my favorites by far, followed by my current scorpion, a H. arizonensis and the desert beetles.

 

[MantisRCool]

I’ve always hated bugs and spiders, but one day I went to a reptile expo drunk and bought a stick insect. Forward 2 years, love insects and keep about 30-40 tarantulas lol.

 

[Mini8leggedfreak]

I was fascinated with spiders when I was young catching what I could.
I even had one at my grandmas that I wouldn’t let her kill and I would find a fly and feed it when I went there.

For some reason I like loved them but I was scared of them....
I got T’s bc they look cool and are I guess misunderstood so maybe I can help some people to realize they aren’t monsters that are looking to kill people.

Also they don’t need a ton of room so I can have quite a few. I can’t do that with fish or lizards.
On a side note I rehoused a avic Peru purple and it was running all over my hands and it was really fuzzy and felt amazing. It’s only like 1” long.

 

[Bob Len]

Dark Den

 

[Venom1080]

Saw a giant spider in the pet store for 25 bucks and thought "hell yeah"

 

[Torech Ungol]

Other - Former Arachnophobe

I enjoyed spiders as a kid, but somehow developed a pretty severe phobia in my teens. Realizing that the light of knowledge dispels the shadows of fear, I resolved to educate myself on them. I now have a Kukulcania hibernalis, an Aphonopelma hentzi, a Holothele longipes, and a Euathlus sp. red. I'm not done acquiring, either. They're just such fascinating creatures!