What got you started?

[Dangergirl]

I had been looking for an Emperor Scorpion for ages. A friend called me 4 months ago to let me know he had a client giving one away, so I called him and we met up.

Turns out, his wife found "them" in enclosures in the cupboard. She had expressly forbidden ANY critters !! So he hid them in a filing cabinet ! His terms were that I could take the scorpion for free, but that I also had to take the G. rosea as well. Of course, I hadn't planned on taking a T home ... I'd never owned one and hadnt planned to either ... In my mind, I was already finding a new home for this weird furry spider from the filing cabinet.

And there it began I am now owned by 25 Tarantulas, and in fact have swopped the scorpion for a few new spiders

 

[Sodaboy1978]

I'll put money down that you'll have them long before this time next year.

You may be right .

 

[AmbushArachnids]

I had been looking for an Emperor Scorpion for ages. A friend called me 4 months ago to let me know he had a client giving one away, so I called him and we met up.

Turns out, his wife found "them" in enclosures in the cupboard. She had expressly forbidden ANY critters !! So he hid them in a filing cabinet ! His terms were that I could take the scorpion for free, but that I also had to take the G. rosea as well. Of course, I hadn't planned on taking a T home ... I'd never owned one and hadnt planned to either ... In my mind, I was already finding a new home for this weird furry spider from the filing cabinet.

And there it began I am now owned by 25 Tarantulas, and in fact have swopped the scorpion for a few new spiders

You remind me of myself when i started in the hobby. Like a rocket taking off! Glad to have another total velocity beginner going all out. You really enjoy the hobby.. Trust me I can tell! Just wait until you get into the old worlds.

 

[AmbushArachnids]

Oh and too the OP

I think it was my second T that really got me rolling. H. lividum!!! I loved there aggression.. Once i found out colors came into play. I Wanted a GBB!!! (got a GBB) Then i found P. metallica. I thought it was a joke when i seen a pic. Still need to get me one of those babies. I know there over rated but for good reason. Then i must have a X. immanis. Sorry for rambling.

 

[Saf]

Surely you all did like I did and researched before you started in the hobby... So what was the T that drew you into the hobby?

Not your first, or your favorite, but the T you saw that made you go 'Wow, I really want to get more into this!'.

I had an A. Avicularia many years ago (late teens I think), but it died despite being kept in all the right conditions. Was very sad, and thought it must've been something I'd done, so didn't get another T for a long long while.

Couple of years ago I started looking a lot online at pictures of T's, and was amazed by the variety and awesome colours. Looking at all the gorgeous T's became an addiction and I knew I would get another soon. I very much fell for the Pokies.

P. Metallica did it for me in the end. Once seen, I had to have one. Was going to get one, but then had my little girl come to live with me, so it was out of the question. Wasn't going to risk something with such potent venom now I had her to worry about, not just me.

In the end we settled on our Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens, and love her to bits.

 

[KoriTamashii]

You are gorgeous!

 

[Stopdroproll]

A. seemani and H. lividum. I have neither lol...

 

[Exo]

L.parahybana.....nothing like a spider the size of a puppy to piqe one's interest.

 

[JohnDapiaoen]

-Lampropelma violaceops my first (believe it or not)

- and Heteroscodra maculata.... just looking at that spider gets my blood pumpin

 

[PinkToePam]

I'd wanted a tarantula for years, but never could due to arachnophobic roommates/parents/etc. Finally, last August, my boyfriend broke up with me and I was in a bad mood and finally decided to go get one.

I fell in love with my G. Rosea (Anastasia) at the pet store when the guy helping me offered to let me hold her! I was a little scared, and a bit taken aback, because I'd never held a spider like her before, and my breath was absolutely taken away when I flet her weight on my hand. I remember talking like I had just seen a tiny kitty, going "Aww! Look! She likes me! D'aww you're so big and you liiiike me!". I brought her home and realized: Oh God, I know nothing.

I ended up buying the infamous Tarantula Keepers Guide and practically reading it cover-to-cover and learning so much about them and gazing over the pictures of them. I still pick it up and read it for fun on occasion.

Then in December last year I bought my Pink Toe (Brynhilde), and fell even more in love with how graceful they are.

I wish I could have more, but I live in such a small apartment and I have a cat...but someday I will have more!

 

[ZergFront]

P.irminia got me into the tarantula hobby after already being involved with the backyard bugs keeping. I would have started as a kid but all I took was one look at a tarantula in a LPS and my Mom says, "Don't EVEN think about it."

Someone saw my videos of my jumping spiders and invited me to an arachnid forum (not this one. This board came later). On the forum, I found the Youtube videos of Jon3800 and Tarantulaguy1976. I saw Rob's Bellatrix and I was in luuve.

I ordered the Tarantula Keeper's Guide without having any yet. My plan since I thaught my Mom was still opposed to me keeping tarantulas was to get books and read as much as I could about them to get ready for one when I moved out. However, my Mom saw that I was really trying to prepare myself and the rest is history.

My "first" tarantula was actually 5 Psalmopoeus irminia.

 

[Offkillter]

I took my daughter to a friends birthday party where the main attraction to keep the kid's occupied,rather than a clown was our town "reptile lady".She brought a bunch of reptiles and her friend the "tarantula guy" I'm not even sure what species he brought with him but once I saw it and realized tarantulas are not in fact killing machines,I had to have one.I read up online for months trying to decide which species were the best for me.Then put in my order five in all,But I couldn't stop there so now I'm fourteen deep with no realistic end in sight and now I'm my towns tarantula guy.

 

[KoriTamashii]

I took my daughter to a friends birthday party where the main attraction to keep the kid's occupied,rather than a clown was our town "reptile lady".She brought a bunch of reptiles and her friend the "tarantula guy" I'm not even sure what species he brought with him but once I saw it and realized tarantulas are not in fact killing machines,I had to have one.I read up online for months trying to decide which species were the best for me.Then put in my order five in all,But I couldn't stop there so now I'm fourteen deep with no realistic end in sight and now I'm my towns tarantula guy.

I wish we had people like that around here, but I don't think we do. I've sort of thought about doing that myself.

 

[BillyG]

I took my daughter to a friends birthday party where the main attraction to keep the kid's occupied,rather than a clown was our town "reptile lady".She brought a bunch of reptiles and her friend the "tarantula guy" I'm not even sure what species he brought with him but once I saw it and realized tarantulas are not in fact killing machines,I had to have one.I read up online for months trying to decide which species were the best for me.Then put in my order five in all,But I couldn't stop there so now I'm fourteen deep with no realistic end in sight and now I'm my towns tarantula guy.

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:,dude,that's a beautiful story!

 

[Sutekh]

I was intrigued by T's for years, but all I knew was what I'd seen on TV and in movies...orange and black/brown tarantulas. Then a few years ago I got motivated to get one and checked out some books at the library. When I saw a picture of Ephebopus murinus I remember thinking "That's it, I'm in". Did more research and didn't want a burrower for my first T, but still in love with that E. murinus mushroom colored carapace I got two Nhandu chromatus and have loved every minute of this hobby.

 

[Wachusaynoob]

Growing up my sister had a T, I beleive it was a pinktoe...But she kept it wrong (terrestrial -like) and it died Shortly after (infact I dont think she even fed it...She was EXTREMELY scared of it). All of her animal keeping attempts ended in tragedy it seems...she thinks she's an expert but in reality she's an idiot.

Jump a few years later, I'm in 8th grade (lol) and get a guineapig from my science teacher, 6 guinea pigs later I think its apparent I can keep a living thing alive..(no, i diddnt have 6 at a time...most was 3.) After they passed, had a good 3 years in between...

THEN I moved to texas for a bit, and saw my first Goliath T. Dont know the species, but I was Immediately in love. I would have gotten it then and there but We were Broke (as most people are in Austin texas LOL) But we Frequented that store and Couldnt keep my eye off that thing.

After I moved back, I instantly NEEDED to get one. Tried a LPS and asked if they could get me a goliath- but the breeder was out so I settled with a Rosea a few months later...And i'm glad I did.

I've been keeping T's for a little over 2 months now And I've got 4 Roseas, 1 Avic avic, 4 LP's and 27 B.albo Slings...LOL.

 

[KoriTamashii]

27 B.albo Slings...LOL.

Jeez! You should send one of those my way, I want one

 

[HAGAR]

Well for me it was a friend of mine that just couldn't stop talking about t's and finally i started looking into the whole tarantula keeping hobby. The more i read about them the more they started to fascinate me until i got to a care sheet of a lp. Thats when i realized how big these spiders get. I looked at finding a lp and found a sling. And that was that. It is now 3 months later and i already have 9 t's in total. Guess its addictive lol.

 

[Arachnos482]

I watched arachnophobia as a kid, it was fascinating, so i did research on spiders and saw a picture of a Acanthoscurria geniculata, i was hooked...

 

[mcluskyisms]

Here's a reply I wrote on similar thread on a different forum, bare with me though as its slightly long winded......

I think my first memories of tarantulas were when I was at nursery in primary school, our head teacher brought her recently deceased B.smithi into assembly to show us all, that was the first tarantula I had ever seen and it fascinated me that such big spiders existed.

I didn't actually get a tarantula as a pet till quite late on even though the interest was always there, as a child I used to buy the magazine Bugz (the one that had weekly bits to make a big glow in the dark tarantula) and I often found myself more interested in the tarantulas. So one Sunday about 5 years ago I was sat looking about on the internet bored and came across an article on tarantulas and keeping them in captivity. That article I read reignited my interest in them and I spent that whole day reading up on the various different species and found myself increasingly wanting to get one. So after a few weeks on reading up on tarantulas I came to the conclusion to get a A.avicularia, a local pet shop had them in stock quite cheap and I had already bought my enclosure and heat mat etc online for around £50 or so, so that Friday lunchtime after work I headed on down to buy my first T!!!

I remember driving home that afternoon with the music in the car turned down to a minimum and although it was a hot day I had my car heater on to "keep it warm" its funny how naive you can be when you first get a tarantula. Sadly I was also miss informed by the shop staff as to the correct hydration for a tarantula and I bought a jar of bug gel, obviously the tarantula didn't even go near the dish and I became a bit worried as to why not. I had never even thought of looking on any internet forums but by doing so found the answer as to why it wasn't drinking quite quickly!!!

Sadly the tarantula moulted and became a MM..... I was fairly sad when it died and it very nearly put me off the hobby although after having an empty enclosure sat in my room for a few months I decided to get another so I bought my B.albopilosum, from then on in this hobby has accelerated beyond any hobby Ive had and over the years Ive had close to 100 tarantulas, some of which I sold and a couple that died. I love keeping tarantulas and I never seem to bore of looking after them, people I used to work with thought I was a freak using half a days leave to go home to get a tarantula delivered but I didn't care because I was happy.
Now I'm at the point where I'm looking into breeding tarantulas and without such forums as this and a few others I don't think I would've had the knowledge to even think about such things. So in a nut shell spiders mean a great deal to me and without them I'm not sure what I would be doing to amuse myself!!!

:}