"The Dark Den" Good Influence?

[Charliemum]

I’ve never heard anyone say anything about Tarantula Kat, but I feel her husbandry is very good. I’ve gotten a lot of tips n tricks from watching how she does things. But then again, she follows what Tom Moran says, and constantly credits him for her husbandry and knowledge. Tom Moran is top dog when it comes to Tarantula YouTubers.

I used to like kat till I saw a feeding vid she did with her hubby where she draged a t out the burrow by its chilicera with one of those horned worms , poor t tried to take food n go bk into the burrow n she kept ahold of the worm with her tongs n draged the t out so viewers could see! That was it for me , dragging a t by its chilicera fa veiws or at all is WRONG idc who u r.

Love Tom n Billie they r good ppl
Dave n Camera Lady rock
Liquifin has a good channel too, Laxow is what he goes by on utube.

True spiders Travis McEnery is where you want to be

 

[rymay33]

I used to like kat till I saw a feeding vid she did with her hubby where she draged a t out the burrow by its chilicera with one of those horned worms , poor t tried to take food n go bk into the burrow n she kept ahold of the worm with her tongs n draged the t out so viewers could see! That was it for me , dragging a t by its chilicera fa veiws or at all is WRONG idc who u r.

Love Tom n Billie they r good ppl
Dave n Camera Lady rock
Liquifin has a good channel too, Laxow is what he goes by on utube.

True spiders Travis McEnery is where you want to be

THANK YOU FOR THIS. I’ve never seen the video you’re talking about, but you’re right, that’s it for me!!

 

[Tbone192]

The thing about YouTube is it's all about image, you have your cutesy nerds like Dave's little beasties, that voice, gag unto me with a spoon . You have your "cool dudes" , what a joke. It's literally just an image they take on to make sensationalistic videos pandering to specific demographics. The only good videos are the ones that don't fall to sensationalism and stick to the information. There are very few channels which actually do this and they are overshadowed by the other channels. Tom Moran is quite good, Animal analytics is cool but he doesn't do care and husbandry, mostly phylogeny but at a very basic level. I use his videos to fall asleep... YouTube sucks nowadays, especially with ads , seriously ads. Everyone just looking for that payout in the end.

 

[ChaniLB520]

THANK YOU FOR THIS. I’ve never seen the video you’re talking about, but you’re right, that’s it for me!!

I haven’t seen that one, that doesn’t sound good. I don’t really watch her stuff too much anymore anyway. Tarantula Kat is OK sometimes, but I’m not a fan of how jumpy she seems to be around her spiders. At this point of having kept for so long, if they make you that nervous there’s something off. It just irks me to watch sometimes.

Also, she seems more interested in enclosure aesthetics than in enclosure safety. The designs are cute sometimes sure but… ceramic stuff? crystals? All this heavy stuff and sometimes stuff with really pointy ends like garden decor with spikes to drive into the substrate. And that one isn’t just TK, I find people who design fancy enclosures way too common on YouTube and it’s really frustrating. You can make a lovely terrarium for something else like a jumping spider, or better yet just make a terrarium for plants or for art purposes, and don’t put an animal in it at all, if it’s that important to you to make beautiful enclosures.

 

[Charliemum]

I haven’t seen that one, that doesn’t sound good. I don’t really watch her stuff too much anymore anyway. Tarantula Kat is OK sometimes, but I’m not a fan of how jumpy she seems to be around her spiders. At this point of having kept for so long, if they make you that nervous there’s something off. It just irks me to watch sometimes.

Also, she seems more interested in enclosure aesthetics than in enclosure safety. The designs are cute sometimes sure but… ceramic stuff? crystals? All this heavy stuff and sometimes stuff with really pointy ends like garden decor with spikes to drive into the substrate. And that one isn’t just TK, I find people who design fancy enclosures way too common on YouTube and it’s really frustrating. You can make a lovely terrarium for something else like a jumping spider, or better yet just make a terrarium for plants or for art purposes, and don’t put an animal in it at all, if it’s that important to you to make beautiful enclosures.

It wasn't soon as she did it I turned the vid off got cross, was a darlingi she drags across the enclosure

I had to go bk n check what upload it was, it's called 'fangtastic feeding ft Mr tarantula Kat' it's from 2 years ago , watch at your own caution because she really drags the t saying "give it" like you would with a dog n a stick. It's more then upsetting and disgusting behaviour, she even says I brought her out so ppl can see her, so wrong. I have never watched her since.
It's a shame too she represents us female keepers on utube and to show ppl such jumpy aesthetic views chasing vids... no wonder we aren't taken seriously.

I must say I do like a nice looking viv but not at the risk of my t's , rather have a chilled jar of dirt then a pretty
but defensive death trap .

 

[VukSRB]

I’ve never heard anyone say anything about Tarantula Kat, but I feel her husbandry is very good. I’ve gotten a lot of tips n tricks from watching how she does things. But then again, she follows what Tom Moran says, and constantly credits him for her husbandry and knowledge. Tom Moran is top dog when it comes to Tarantula YouTubers.

Yea, but Tom Moran is afraid of his spiders, that is what I dont like about him. One thing is respecting, but he is very afraid which makes his rehouses stressful for the spider. Dave’s Little Beasties is the way to go in my opinion.

 

[Mike41793]

Yea, but Tom Moran is afraid of his spiders, that is what I dont like about him. One thing is respecting, but he is very afraid which makes his rehouses stressful for the spider. Dave’s Little Beasties is the way to go in my opinion.

What gives you the impression that Tom is very afraid? The way he rehouses seems to leave very little room for surprises. I don't think that makes him afraid, I can appreciate the caution.

I do not think Dave is afraid of his but some of the stuff I've seen him do are risks I would never personally take. Lifting cork bark with an old world on it showing camera lady, he doesn't even have eyes on the spider and time to react if it did move lol. Another more recent video checking a chilobrachys tank for an eggsac he was just reaching hands in digging around. I had to rewind to see if id missed him removing the spider but no, she was still very much in there inches away haha. I've also seen rehousing vids where his spiders end up on the floor cuz he's just poking them into the new container. He's calm and not afraid of them, but I don't see how that's less stressful for the spider than toms methods of moving into a catch up and then moving into the new container.

I love both their videos and in no way am I bashing Dave's way of going about things. Just giving my impressions from what I've seen. I'm not afraid of my spiders but have a healthy respect, for OWs especially, of the potential. When it comes to OW rehousings I definitely lean more towards toms methods haha

 

[ChaniLB520]

Yea, but Tom Moran is afraid of his spiders, that is what I dont like about him. One thing is respecting, but he is very afraid which makes his rehouses stressful for the spider. Dave’s Little Beasties is the way to go in my opinion.

What gives you the impression that Tom is very afraid? The way he rehouses seems to leave very little room for surprises. I don't think that makes him afraid, I can appreciate the caution.

I do not think Dave is afraid of his but some of the stuff I've seen him do are risks I would never personally take. Lifting cork bark with an old world on it showing camera lady, he doesn't even have eyes on the spider and time to react if it did move lol. Another more recent video checking a chilobrachys tank for an eggsac he was just reaching hands in digging around. I had to rewind to see if id missed him removing the spider but no, she was still very much in there inches away haha. I've also seen rehousing vids where his spiders end up on the floor cuz he's just poking them into the new container. He's calm and not afraid of them, but I don't see how that's less stressful for the spider than toms methods of moving into a catch up and then moving into the new container.

I love both their videos and in no way am I bashing Dave's way of going about things. Just giving my impressions from what I've seen. I'm not afraid of my spiders but have a healthy respect, for OWs especially, of the potential. When it comes to OW rehousings I definitely lean more towards toms methods haha

Yes, exactly. If you watch the videos and/or listen to the podcast Tom very clearly states his philosophy numerous times. He uses the same methods and caution when rehousing all of his spiders because it would be too easy to get used to being casual with a chill new world, and then without thinking make careless choices when rehousing a spider that poses more risk. Not saying you have to do that, but it also does not mean he is afraid of his spiders. And given that even the most relaxed spider may have an "off" day, I definitely respect the approach and try to follow suit.