What Got You Started

[YagerManJennsen]

I hope this can be a fun thread for anyone that wants to share what kick-started their interest in the Hobby. For me, it was seeing a jumping spider on the dashboard inn my moms car. After watching the spider explore around the car, I got a sudden urge to get a pet tarantula.

 

[Duffman1990]

I was on youtube watching videos when a feeding video came on and a p. metallica come on and i thought it was the most beautiful spider i have ever seen then i kept watching videos of them and before i knew it i found this site and started asking questions and eventually got a euathlus sp red best starter ever lol.

 

[chanda]

The first spider I kept was a black widow I caught in my yard. Observing it went a long ways toward helping me to overcome a fear of spiders I'd had since childhood. I particularly remember watching her molt - it was strangely graceful and almost balletic as she worked her legs out of her exoskeleton, like a little arachnid Gypsy Rose Lee.

I had just started teaching classes about bugs and spiders for elementary school students and decided to move up to a tarantula. Quite by chance, I went to a Reptile Expo in Pomona. (Some friends had invited us to accompany them, but I'd already planned to take my kids to Disneyland. When we got there, though, the lines were too long and my younger son was being particularly whiny, so we turned around and went to the Expo instead.) I couldn't decide which species to get, so was asking one of the vendors a bunch of questions to help narrow it down. (I believe he was from GBU Enterprises, but it's been a few years, so I could be mistaken.) He recommended B. albopilosum - and then gave me a vial with a sling and told me to consider it his donation to my classroom.

That was around seven years ago, and that little B. albopilosum is now a big, beautiful mature female spider - who has twenty one tarantula roommates, plus an assortment of true spiders, whip spiders, and other bugs. My little hobby has quite taken over our spare bedroom!

 

[metaldad904]

I grew up raising different kinds of reptiles and eventually I got bored. They were great but at a certain point didn't really seem to keep my attention. Eventually I stumbled across a Rosie, held it for the first time and was instantly hooked. Their unpredictable nature, just how prehistoric they can be just got to me from then on I just looked at other animals as a joke. I still keep a blood python and maybe will get a green anaconda one day again but otherwise, I'm all about the spider world haha

 

[Venom1080]

never thought much of spiders growing up. never thought they were very interesting. i was however, obsessed with snakes! absolute snake fanatic till i was 10 and i saw a rosie in a LPS, asked my dad about it, he talked to my mom, and next day i bought it. i guess i have my dad to thank for every bit of enjoyment ive had in this hobby. started getting into scorps a couple years later and than more Ts, and here i am now 5 years later. never did end up getting a snake..

 

[Venom1080]

edit:double post

 

[Poec54]

Peer pressure. The big kids made me get them. One thing led to another, and now I have a roomful of the damn things.

Actually, seeing my first tarantula as a child at the Detroit Zoo, in a small building called The Nature Center, which had assorted unusual animals. That was in the mid 1960's, when tarantulas weren't considered pets.

 

[beaker41]

I'd owned any number of "exotic" pets and saw a big Rosie in a pet store in the mall. Noone in there would even get near her, they just handed me a thick leather glove. I didn't do any research on the internet because it was 1990. I've been fascinated ever since !

 

[EulersK]

Like so many others, I did it to get over a ridiculous level of arachnopobia. Well, it worked, but I think it worked a little too well.

 

[Formerphobe]

Arachnophobia. Multiple bad experiences with true spiders started about 1960. In the late 1970s I decided to face my fears. I'm still not crazy about some trues, but have kept a few and currently have a single C salei. I sleep every night in a bedroom with about 100 tarantulas.

 

[YagerManJennsen]

Arachnophobia. Multiple bad experiences with true spiders started about 1960. In the late 1970s I decided to face my fears. I'm still not crazy about some trues, but have kept a few and currently have a single C salei. I sleep every night in a bedroom with about 100 tarantulas.

I guess that why your username is "Formerphobe" ??

 

[Formerphobe]

I guess that why your username is "Formerphobe" ??

You got it.

 

[Sarkhan42]

I had always kept various inverts and reptiles and amphibians as a Kid, but mostly insects and arachnids were my passion and still are (I'll be an entomology major at Purdue next fall). I had no idea that people kept Ts as pets until I was purchasing a frog for myself when I was say 12 years old at a reptile expo, and I saw NETBUG vending tarantulas and I instantly fell in love. I went home, did research, and at the next show picked up my first T, though it ended up not even being the species I had planned.

 

[YagerManJennsen]

I had always kept various inverts and reptiles and amphibians as a Kid, but mostly insects and arachnids were my passion and still are (I'll be an entomology major at Purdue next fall). I had no idea that people kept Ts as pets until I was purchasing a frog for myself when I was say 12 years old at a reptile expo, and I saw NETBUG vending tarantulas and I instantly fell in love. I went home, did research, and at the next show picked up my first T, though it ended up not even being the species I had planned.

What species did you plan on?

 

[Ziad ElGuneid]

I grew up in Yemen and always preferred to play with the creepy crawlies than other kids. I collected countless scorpions, spiders, centipedes, millipedes, Tailless Whip Scorpions, Skinks, snakes and much more from the surrounding mountains. when I was 15 I moved to the UK to study and had to leave that behind till last year when I walked into a pet shop and saw a G pulchripes for sale.

 

[Bambu]

Like so many others, I did it to get over a ridiculous level of arachnopobia. Well, it worked, but I think it worked a little too well.

Yeah, pretty much. I'm grateful though (not saying you aren't of course), this hobby is pretty rad!

I actually got my B. albopilosum after an pet insect kick from Bugsincyberspace, chilled out on the bugs for a while after that. Then I attended a local reptile con, GBU was there, a juvenile E. campestratus caught my eye and hooked me right back in. Up to 5 Ts as of today. Going to try limiting myself to 7. Emphasis on "try".

 

[SausageinaNet]

I read an article in the paper about some guy from Chile who was selling Tarantulas as pets. I always liked spiders and insects so I started reading about what it takes to keep Ts. After I found out that it didn't take much effort to keep a T happy I thought:"Bingo". And now almost 4 years later I have to accept that I have developed a serious addiction.

 

[chanda]

... And now almost 4 years later I have to accept that I have developed a serious addiction.

Yeah, that's the one part they didn't include in those initial care sheets! Sure, they tell you all about feeding and substrate and temperatures and humidity - but not once did they provide adequate warning for how addicting the hobby could be, or take into consideration all the extra shelves and tanks I'd require to feed my habit!

Maybe there needs to be a 12-step program. "Hi. My name is Chanda and I'm an arachnoholic..."

 

[Trenor]

I went to a reptile show for some supplies for Ringo my bearded dragon and got to talking to this girl who kept tarantulas. She had been wanting to try Dubia roaches with her Ts and I raised them for Ringo. I sent her some just to try and she offered me a G.rosea sling to say thanks. So here I am, with right at 20 Ts, all of which will outgrow my poor rosea. It was the 1st though and it got me hooked.

 

[Travis21v4]

I hate most people. Tarantulas dont really hate people , but they dont care if you know what I mean... Poec45 please dont school me ln this one. So I enjoy them , they dont ask for much and they are fascinating. I like getting slings and providing them with what they need to grow and flourish. I like learning about them and dedicating my time to them. Once I got over the fear , it was all I could think about. It wasnt a omg a spider!!! It was look at this little cute thing that I can help grow and raise.