What was your first contact with a tarantula?

[Derekool]

Well in summer 2003 I had my fist real encounter with a tarantula. I was on a boy scout outing, and the senior patrol leader, in southern colorado and was trying my best to quiet everyone. When I was instilling into them what i thought must have been a great piece of wisdom, everyone that was standing in lines started screaming and pointing at the ground. som i walk over and find a three inch tarantula trying to march inbetween our lines. So i get a rock and get the rather deffensive spider onto it and take it way out of camp. The sad part was they wanted to kill rather than relocate the spider:wall:! Anyways that was my first contact with a tarantula, I was 15 at the time.

What's your story?

 

[Mina]

I used to work as a vet tech at an exotic animal hospital. One of the doctors there had an 18 year old female rosehair. I hadn't ever seen one before. He introduced me to her, and told me her name was Morticia and asked if I would like to hold her, I said yes. She willingly climbed up on my hand and part way up my arm and then came back down. I was fascinated. I mentioned how wonderful I thought she was to my husband almost 12 years later and he got a rosehair for me on our last anniversary. That is how I started in the hobby.

 

[Snipes]

First contact was in my sophomore year in high school when I got a teacher a rosie (no im not a teacher's pet, Jake's my homeboy) because he wanted one for his birthday. We held it and i liked it a lot. A while later i got one of my own.

 

[AshKaylene]

I grew up in central Texas hill country and during mating season you could see the male tarantulas running across the rural roads.. I used to make my dad stop in the middle of the road so I could go catch the tarantulas. I'd always just play with them for a while and then let them go again, but I guess that since then I've always loved spiders.. and snakes.. and all of the other creepy crawlies

 

[Derekool]

I had a couple a teachers in high school that I clicked with
like my marine bio and ceramics teachers, both subjects still passions of mine

I always grew up as the kid who would deal with the snakes in elementary school and would bring them home in my pocket only because i went to school in the city and lived rual

 

[Pennywise]

In the 1960's I was stationed at Camp Wolters, Mineral Wells, Texas. Tarantulas were a common sight around there, and I soon got used to seeing them and accepted them as part of the local wildlife.

 

[Freak Show]

Last year took a family vacation to Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle. Male A. hentzis all over. Freaked the wife and daughter out but fascinated me.

I now own an A. hentzi (it's my 2nd, actually).

 

[6StringSamurai]

I saw them in movies all the time growing up but thought it was some kind of special effect. One day in the pet store (9 or 10ish) I was buying food for my hamster and I saw a rose hair in a little cage near the snakes.

My exact words were "WOW! They're REAL!"

"No," said my Mom. Ha ha ha.

I told her the reason she didn't like them was because she was ignorant of them so I made her read The Tarantula Keeper's Guide and watch a documentary. She finally agreed to let me get one and that was my first T.

I moved and had to give away my Rose hair and A. seemani. I lived over seas for a few years and when I came back I started getting back into the hobby. I went through a similar situation helping my wife get used to the idea of giant spiders.

Now I have 14

 

[Derekool]

My exact words were "WOW! They're REAL!"

Thats awesome! It gave me a good chuckle

 

[sick4x4]

boy scouts we had to display different animals at the San Diego zoo and i got lucky enough to hold a B. smith....which unfortunately i dropped when it tried to crawl up my arm but it was ok , it startled me than anything......loved them ever since

 

[maarrrrr]

around 2002. I went to a friends house. I didn't know he had ts. After that i wanted some for myself.

 

[AneesasMuse]

I've just always played with the house spiders and this one really nasty wolf spider that lived in the old cedar tree, when I was growing up in GA. I loved to put a twig into the entrance of her burrow and jump back on my bottom to avoid her lunge out to get me. Kids, I tell ya!
So over the years, I have been fascinated with the T's I've seen in the petstores, but never held one or bought one to bring home. I have grown children now and I still play around with the house spiders, so I had no need for a T.
Then a friend of mine mentioned that she had a few at home and I began asking questions. I was more and more intrigued every time she mentioned hers, and one day she told me about this forum.
The rest is history. Last month, I bought my first. Now, I have 2 more and am working on my next 2.

 

[Arachnophilist]

My First Time

my first experience with a T was when i went over to a guys house and he had lots of reptiles and such and then i asked about a box on the shelves and it was full of T containers. he had a couple shelving units as well about 1000 T's .. anyways i had never seen them up close before but always liked them,, and he sent me home with a P,murinus that night.. and that was my first T.. i was about 16 at the time.

 

[swade655]

no big story to tell here.... My grandfather bestowed the addiction upon my father. My father cursed me with the habit. I corrupted my own children... hopefully they will pass it on.

 

[MindUtopia]

When I bought my first 2 T's and they arrived in the mail. Nothing too exciting there.

 

[jordanneff]

I'm not sure how exactly I remember so vividly but at the time I was 5 years old and I wanted a pet dog so my mother and I went to the local pet shop pricing dogs and I happened to see a tarantula atop one of the pet food shelves (caged of course, not running loose haha) and I exclaimed "look at that mommy! I want one of those!". Of course my mother freaked (she hadn't even noticed it) and she said "No! You're not getting one of those ugly things. It will get loose at night and crawl all around the house!". Needless to say I was dissapointed but as I was a child I got over it quickly but I since have always been fascinated with T's and spiders in general.