The future of our hobby

[presurcukr]

I just wanted to post a few pictures of the future of our hobby. I know that my daughter already knows as much (if not more) than I do about Tarantulas.

 

[Kathy]

Nice collection you have there! And your daughter looks so comfortable with that tarantula!

 

[presurcukr]

Nice collection you have there! And your daughter looks so comfortable with that tarantula!

Thanks and that is only half of the collection At last count we have 206 T's,40 scorpions,11 pedes and 25 Tanzanian Giant Tailless Whipscorpions and that is just the"bugs"

 

[Kathy]

WoW. How do you have time to care for all of them? I just have 8 and I find that time consuming. Maybe I need some kids to help!

 

[kylestl]

Wow, what a collection! I am 16 and have 30 t's and 80ish 1st instar obts, I care for all of them myself except for the misting some require while I am away at my mom's house. I could never come anywhere near that size of a collection. Good luck and have fun!

 

[esotericman]

In 15 years, I've come to the conclusion that the "average" lifespan in the hobby is about 3 years. If she sticks with it, even if it's just a tarantula in a dorm room, then you've done very well indeed.

Nice looking set up too.

 

[Big_nito]

I think if you will have more than 100 Ts in your collection, you need to be more dedicated to this hobby in terms of time and scheduling. Im just lucky that my better half is understanding.

Btw, nice set up!

 

[rustym3talh3ad]

In 15 years, I've come to the conclusion that the "average" lifespan in the hobby is about 3 years. If she sticks with it, even if it's just a tarantula in a dorm room, then you've done very well indeed.

Nice looking set up too.

Though i understand you said "average", I've been in the hobby for just over 3 years now, and I feel ive just begun. This is one of the few things i have been able to do consistently for more than a year or two before getting bored.

To the OP: thank you for helping not only continue the hobby but also shed light to the youth about how cool these critters really are. If your daughter shows her friends and her friends show their friends then you have single handedly created a network of new comers to the hobby.

Working at a pet store that specializes in exotic species I see time and time again a mom or dad bring their kid in and when they see the snakes or tarantulas they look to their child and say "thats gross" or "ewww look at how ugly those are" and the kids are right there on the same page. It sucks to try to convince a parent to NOT push their feelings onto their kids, and i find it to be quite worthless at times. I've even had parents get upset with me trying to show their son/daughter that they are harmless beautiful animals that deserve much praise and less ridicule. So thanks again!

 

[belljar77]

That's wonderful to see. I've included my four-year-old daughter in as much of the hobby as possible- and you'll never hear her squeal about something being "icky" or "creepy". She gets upset about other children stepping on ants. It'll be nice when she can help with the watering and feeding...

 

[arachnidsrulz12]

nice collection

keep up the good work:clap:

 

[John Apple]

Very cool on so many levels....love seeing new verters started
My kids [6 and a new grandson] are well into verts and herps..

 

[presurcukr]

Though i understand you said "average", I've been in the hobby for just over 3 years now, and I feel ive just begun. This is one of the few things i have been able to do consistently for more than a year or two before getting bored.

To the OP:

Working at a pet store that specializes in exotic species I see time and time again a mom or dad bring their kid in and when they see the snakes or tarantulas they look to their child and say "that's gross" or "eww look at how ugly those are" and the kids are right there on the same page. It sucks to try to convince a parent to NOT push their feelings onto their kids, and i find it to be quite worthless at times. I've even had parents get upset with me trying to show their son/daughter that they are harmless beautiful animals that deserve much praise and less ridicule. So thanks again!

I have run across the same thing at my LPS (where I volunteer in the invert dept). The children will say cool look at that giant spider !! Mom or Dad will say that's gross or that's icky!! And that's all it takes the child no longer wants a closer look at the"Nasty Bug"!If more people would just let the child decide if they like or don't like something(within reason)things would be different.

 

[captmarga]

Yay - girls in the hobby! I hate it when women do the silly scream "I'm afraid of it" dance. At the Museum children's day we helped out at (Thank you Reclusa for allowing us to join you) and we managed to get a woman over her deathly fear and actually touch a T. (She really did look like she was going to faint...) She suddenly realized it wasn't the monster she'd always imagined.

I am so glad your daughter loves Ts! So does mine (She's 14) and she would have her own collection this size if she could!

Here's my daughter with my A. seemani "Scrunchie".

Marga

 

[blades]

This is really great to see