"The Dark Den" Good Influence?

Wolfram1

Arachnoprince
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Also, no one has mentioned it yet but i do question his use of material from outside, such as moss, directly in his enclosures without any form of heat treatment.
i do exactly the same thing! it works great.

i am personally much more worried about anything that has been packaged and sold
 

Wolfram1

Arachnoprince
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i think it comes down to ease of access.

i can get into a forest via public transport in 20 minutes and collect what i need, also in Europe at least i can be certain that there are no parasites around that could harm a healthy tarantula. The use of pesticides is also banned in the area were i collect my resources so i am 100% safe

the only thing i look out for is to not put any true spiders or centipedes in with slings.
 

Introvertebrate

Arachnoprince
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He is! I love Tom's content, overall. I like Dave's Little Beasties too but I do agree that he talks too much. I tend to have a hard time watching more than a couple of his videos at one time because of how long they drag on. Also, no one has mentioned it yet but i do question his use of material from outside, such as moss, directly in his enclosures without any form of heat treatment. What are others' thoughts on this? I suppose if he lives in a fairly natural area without a lot of pesticide or chemical applications, it probably isn't that risky, but I'd still be very worried about the potential for parasites, etc.
I'm not overly worried about using outdoor stuff.
 

The Grym Reaper

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I wouldn't use anything from the woodland areas near me, they're all surrounded by farms and a sewage treatment facility. And with the current cabal of ghouls we have in charge reallowing the use of banned pesticides and tearing up environmental standards every chance they get who knows what crap I'd end up bringing home with me.
 

Chris LXXIX

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The best was old good Jon3800: No aesthetics of all sorts, screw 4K's, T's in minimalist enclosures and as a bonus, a nice collection of fire alarms! :)

 

Spoodfood

Feeder of Spoods
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Maybe that's why I understand him so well 😅🙈😂
I think, from the type of teaching he does, he has learned how to convey information to people of different perspectives and learning levels. Teaching special education as well as English has set him up to be able to explain things in ways that everyone can understand.
 

JonnyTorch

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May 10, 2020
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I think, from the type of teaching he does, he has learned how to convey information to people of different perspectives and learning levels. Teaching special education as well as English has set him up to be able to explain things in ways that everyone can understand.
I was just making a joke calling myself special 🤣
 

The Spider House

Arachnolord
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Aug 12, 2020
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Seems to me the best way to avoid, or at least provide a more informative alternative, is for AB to have its own official YT channel?

Members could send videos to an admin and if seen to be worthy whether that's pairings, rehouses, spotlight on species, or whatever, it can be uploaded. The member can be highlighted in credits (if they want to be naturally) and also act a general channel for AB as a whole and increase its profile so better informed decisions can be made for prospective hobbyists.

Just a random thought! Ha ha Probably needs a lot more work tho.

BTW, if AB does have a YT channel then please accpet my apologies. I rarely go on it.
 
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SunRoseSpider

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Dec 11, 2021
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Seems to me the best way to avoid, or at least provide a more informative alternative, is for AB to have its own official YT channel?

Members could send videos to an admin and if seen to be worthy whether that's pairings, rehouses, spotlight on species, or whatever, it can be uploaded. The member can be highlighted in credits (if they want to be naturally) and also act a general channel for AB as a whole and increase its profile so better informed decisions can be made for prospective hobbyists.
Seconding this! I think it would be a great idea to get more husbandry videos and good practice information out there.
 

UtilityTurkey

Arachnopeon
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Dec 17, 2019
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I watch him less and less these days, I'm not really interested in true spiders or non-arachnid exotics,
and he seems to do a lot of those videos these days. Give me more feeding vids, rehousings, pairings, etc.

I generally have something good and bad to say about every YT content creator.
 

Introvertebrate

Arachnoprince
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Dec 18, 2010
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The best was old good Jon3800: No aesthetics of all sorts, screw 4K's, T's in minimalist enclosures and as a bonus, a nice collection of fire alarms! :)
Does he still do car and mower 'cold starts'? What does that say about us that we find that more interesting than superhero movies?
 

hxlokitty

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 1, 2022
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I've seen a lot of threads saying that Exotics Lair is a bad influence. So, just wondering, is petko a good influence for the hobby? Is his husbandry good?
Am I the only one who gets annoyed watching Exotic Lair? He contradicts himself over and over in his videos, and quite honestly sounds very immature, I also realized how little he cares about the safety of his T's. More or less putting opposite sexes to battle rather than "mate" like his video titles suggest. I'm tired of seeing him purposely kill his T's and go on to say how "Unfortunate" it is. I also watched a video where he let a mature OBT jump from a table top twice.
 

arthurliuyz

Arachnoknight
Joined
Dec 17, 2021
Messages
274
Just watched a Dark Den video out of curiosity to see how he's doing and it absolutely infuriated me. He put his N chromatus in a cube enclosure - the sides being the same length as the t's legspan. What he provided was a cork flat 1/3 the leg span of the spider and about 1/2" of substrate for him to ask why his N chromatus isn't using the teeny tiny cork bark as a hide. "She can technically dig under there, why doesn't she do that," he said. :shifty:
 

TheHound

Arachnoknight
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Jan 22, 2021
Messages
165
I used to enjoy Dark Den, but as I've grown in experience my liking for his stuff has waned. It's just not great from a husbandry point of view. Exotics Lair is just dreadful.

I think Tarantula Collective is decent - seems to generally give solid husbandry advice, and has nice production values, though some of his videos are a bit vacuous/clickbaitey.

I agree with the general consensus on Tom Moran and Dave Fisher being the best overall. Great advice and both clearly put the interests of their spiders first and foremost, though I do question Dave's use of the mesh lid enclosures - aside from the danger I don't think they have great side ventilation either. But he has loads of success, apparently no mesh-related injuries and clearly cares about his Ts... watching him is like hanging out with a kindly uncle with a cool hobby.
 

jc55

Arachnoknight
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Apr 3, 2014
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IMO i consider the source that is providing the information first and go from there but have found most videos more for entertainment with the exception of maybe two.As mentioned above i think they are great for viewing a spider you are interested in or check options and opinions to compare good or bad but personally like to go to proven sources so i can read correct information and educate myself so if i do run across a video i will be better suited to make an informed decision on it's content.
 

HeartBum

Arachnobaron
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Nov 14, 2020
Messages
360
When I first got into keeping, I watched a lot of Tarantula YouTubers. But once you’ve seen one video… that’s why pet YouTubers end up as animal hoarders - because introducing new animals keeps the channel alive. Admittedly, it’s not so bad with T’s because they’re so low maintenance and difficult to neglect as such, but still.
 
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