Share your spider stories:)

[Anoplogaster]

Hello all you active members,

Since I'm still new to this forum, I'm interested in hearing about your love of arachnids! How did you start? Is it simply a continuation of a life-long fascination since childhood? Or was there a turning point that suddenly got you into the hobby? I would love to hear your stories

 

[Ungoliant]

I've always liked spiders.

In 2012, I started keeping true spiders. My favorite true spiders to keep are Kukulcania hibernalis, but I've also kept Parasteatoda tepidariorum, wolf spiders, and Metaltella simoni.

In 2013, my mother got me my first tarantula, an mature female Avicularia avicularia, for my birthday. (Twinkle Toes is still going strong at 10 years of age.)

Never in a million years would I have expected my mother, who hated spiders, to get me a tarantula. Fortunately, she got lucky and got a relatively beginner-friendly species.

Since then, I have gotten 6 additional tarantulas and plan to get more as space and budget permit:

• Avicularia avicularia (Skyler): 4/29/2014
• Grammostola pulchra (Flash): 9/5/2015
• Grammostola pulchra (Bulldozer): 9/26/2015
• Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens (Muffet): 9/25/2016
• Acanthoscurria geniculata: 1/4/2017
• Dolichothele diamantinensis (Wallflower): 1/4/2017

 

[Rittdk01]

Always liked creepy crawlers. got two pink toes and two rose hairs about three years ago. Around August I bought a t stirmi, or burgundy Goliath Bird eater. After that I got an lp, pokey vitatta, 2 g pulchripes, cambridgei and several Spiderlings. My collection is pretty much complete (might get green bottle blue when it warms up). I look at them all twice a day and am enjoying watching the little ones molt and grow.

 

[Rachel87]

I'm a newbie. I was petrified of spiders. The sight of them would make me feel physically sick. I don't remember what happened or when but I became fascinated with tarantulas. Would watch videos on youtube of them for hours and wanted to get one but my boyfriend wasn't keen on the idea. 4 years later he changed his mind and bought me my first t, a female g concepcion. I'm now doing research on my next one.

 

[gypsy cola]

Meth.

 

[Jeff23]

When I was a young kid I loved ants. I would put food on the mounds and study them for hours (this was before the fire ant era). At a later point my brother and neighbors and I went on collecting expeditions where we caught miscellaneous critters in jars. We obviously were experts as we caught a ground snake in one jar but didn't recognize the those little rattle things. We use to sometimes catch loads of what we called lightning bugs (fireflys - Elateroidea) in jars just to watch them all lighting up randomly at night. I don't see that many of them anymore. Later I switched to plants and became a tree expert. I collected all kinds of trees from around the world for bonsai tree displays. I was never great on the art, but built a strong knowledge on trees. But work travel took a toll so I eventually baled on that hobby. Now I am back (full circle) to critters but currently only own tarantulas.

 

[Ungoliant]

When I was a young kid I loved ants. I would put food on the mounds and study them for hours (this was before the fire ant era).

Ants fascinated me as a kid. (At one point I wanted to be an entomologist.) Once I even made a misguided attempt to collect my own queen and workers (for an ant farm) by digging up an anthill.

 

[Anoplogaster]

Ants fascinated me as a kid. (At one point I wanted to be an entomologist.) Once I even made a misguided attempt to collect my own queen and workers (for an ant farm) by digging up an anthill.

I had an ant farm as a kid, too! I actually mail ordered the ants. But without a queen, they were just aimlessly digging shallow tunnels

 

[Venom1080]

you can just search for this thread if you want to see every ones story. this thread gets repeated every month or so.

 

[ledzeppelin]

almost 11 years ago, my father bought me a G. rosea as my birthday present.. I was 13. I had never before thought about having a T for my pet.. I didn't even know you could do that.. Well my dad forced the T in my life.. for a few months I was like meh, might as well had gotten a computer.. I had no idea how to care for it.. Let alone responsibility.. Well, I started to read about them, do research.. And well, I fell in love with the creatures.. If I'd gotten that computer instead of a G. rosea, I would have missed out on so much.. I'm very grateful for my dad's stupidity

 

[Moakmeister]

I've always liked spiders.

In 2012, I started keeping true spiders. My favorite true spiders to keep are Kukulcania hibernalis, but I've also kept Parasteatoda tepidariorum, wolf spiders, and Metaltella simoni.

In 2013, my mother got me my first tarantula, an mature female Avicularia avicularia, for my birthday. (Twinkle Toes is still going strong at 10 years of age.)

Never in a million years would I have expected my mother, who hated spiders, to get me a tarantula. Fortunately, she got lucky and got a relatively beginner-friendly species.

Since then, I have gotten 6 additional tarantulas and plan to get more as space and budget permit:

• Avicularia avicularia (Skyler): 4/29/2014
• Grammostola pulchra (Flash): 9/5/2015
• Grammostola pulchra (Bulldozer): 9/26/2015
• Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens (Muffet): 9/25/2016
• Acanthoscurria geniculata: 1/4/2017
• Dolichothele diamantinensis (Wallflower): 1/4/2017

Lol I always thought you had like 100. On an unrelated topic, are you religious, my man? My guess is no because of your signature quote.

 

[Ungoliant]

Lol I always thought you had like 100.

Well, there could easily be 100 spiders living around the porch and exterior of the building. But I have very limited space for tarantula enclosures right now.

On an unrelated topic, are you religious, my man? My guess is no because of your signature quote.

No, I'm an atheist.

 

[nicodimus22]

A somewhat impulsive decision to try a $10 sling on craigslist got me started. That was Legs, my G. pulchripes.

It's 3 years later, and I have 2 adults and 5 slings now. I love how pretty and low-maintenance they are compared to every other pet I've had. As I get older, I can see myself having less of the other types of pets and more of these.

 

[Anoplogaster]

you can just search for this thread if you want to see every ones story. this thread gets repeated every month or so.

Yeah, I figured that would be the case. But there are always new folks joining. A common topic, but the responses will always be unique

 

[JLC]

Yeah, I figured that would be the case. But there are always new folks joining. A common topic, but the responses will always be unique

Threads get buried over time, and new members might have some things to add. I think re-posting threads like this every now and then is a good thing!

 

[notstephcooper]

Ants fascinated me as a kid. (At one point I wanted to be an entomologist.) Once I even made a misguided attempt to collect my own queen and workers (for an ant farm) by digging up an anthill.

I can relate to this! I once tried to start a bee hive by carefully collecting honeybees with a dishcloth & placing them in a cardboard box. Boy, was my father mad when he discovered a box full of bees in our backyard!

I've always liked little critters & was constantly coming home with all sorts of things (from snakes to spiders) and keeping & observing them. I finally decided to get a tarantula after raising mantids for a few years & visiting a spider exhibit at a local museum. Shortly thereafter I returned to school & am now in pursuit of an entomology degree. Just bummed my housemate doesn't share my love of creepy-crawlies & has enacted a strict Three Spider Maximum... :/

 

[Anoplogaster]

I can relate to this! I once tried to start a bee hive by carefully collecting honeybees with a dishcloth & placing them in a cardboard box. Boy, was my father mad when he discovered a box full of bees in our backyard!

I've always liked little critters & was constantly coming home with all sorts of things (from snakes to spiders) and keeping & observing them. I finally decided to get a tarantula after raising mantids for a few years & visiting a spider exhibit at a local museum. Shortly thereafter I returned to school & am now in pursuit of an entomology degree. Just bummed my housemate doesn't share my love of creepy-crawlies & has enacted a strict Three Spider Maximum... :/

That's cool! I've always wanted to raise honeybees. People do that for fresh honey. What a conversation starter THAT can be!

Well, 3 spiders is fine if you know how to swing it. Just get all the same species.... 2 males and a female. When the egg sac arrives, just shrug and say "Not my fault"