Tarantula Clubs?

[kellygirl]

How can I find out if there is an "Invert Club" of sorts in my state? Is there an official list floating around out there? For those of you who are a part of such a club (official or otherwise), how did you get involved or did you start it up yourself? My reason for asking is that, as much as I love this site, it tends to get kinda lonely not having local tarantula lovers to talk to and learn from--in person.

I went to the exotic animal show in Raleigh today, which comes around about twice a year, and I found a whopping ONE dealer who knew something about his tarantulas. There were a few dealers that focused mainly on reptiles but had a few spiders, but this guy (from Florida) was the only one who knew scientific names or could talk intelligently about inverts. I'm guessing that the lack of knowledgeable dealers is directly proportionate to the lack of interest in NC.

There have GOT to be a few tarantula lovers out there in NC besides Paul Flinn, Tim R., and Brian (Action Jackson)!!!! Lately, I've just been trying to convert people to tarantula-lovers and I've succeeded in doing so in a few cases (currently working on the bf!) but the going is slow because I don't see them often and they havent been to this site, YET!

Any advice as to how I could go about developing a little NC invert-lover community out of the existing collectors, if there isn't one already? And are there any other NC people lurking around here on the site that I haven't talked to yet? PM me please.

kellygirl

 

[atavuss]

Kelly, the group that I and several others here belong to (SFBATG san francisco bay area tarantula group) was started by a few locals and we probably have about 12 or so members that are widely scattered throughout the bay area and central and northern california. I have signed up and met other t hobbyists through this forum and the ATS forum along with some of the other less frequented and less active forums. our group gets together a few times a year at whoever wants to host it to visit, trade and sell inverts, trade and sell extra enclosures, trade and sell extra feeders, swap breeding males, swap stories and fibs, etc. etc. I have met a few hobbyists from shows too, although shows with a good assortment of inverts are few and far between. we have a few insect fairs and expos here in california in Pomano and Los Angeles in the fall and summer, one at the L.A. county natural history museum and one at Cal Poly @ Pomano in the fall. the ATS conference in New Mexico is probably the premier place to meet like minded hobbyists and dealers.
Ed

 

[mebebraz]

Tarantula Club......hehe=D

 

[Grael]

Originally posted by mebebraz
Tarantula Club......hehe=D

wow....you seriously have too much time on your hands lol

 

[Buspirone]

There's an article in the new ATS Forum magazine that gives some tips and info on starting a small group in your area.

 

[Tim R.]

Kelly I would be very interested in this. A friend I work with and I were just talking about this the other day.

 

[Professor T]

Originally posted by Grael
wow....you seriously have too much time on your hands lol

Face it, anyone on the arachnoboards has free time on their hands. But you can't have too much free time...that's the best part of time...you can do what you enjoy.

 

[kellygirl]

Thanks atavuss and Buspirone!

And I'll keep you updated, Tim!

kellygirl