What's Missing From the Hobby

Gods Spartan

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 15, 2014
Messages
47
I know that many keepers come up with their own ideas on how to house and feed their T's, but besides new Tarantulas, have you ever wondered about how the hobby could improve? What kinds of products or services would you find helpful for your hobby? Is there anything that if offered, you would drop money on?

Follow up question: What's kinds of products or services do you currently use to make your job easier?
 

darkness975

Latrodectus
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Aug 31, 2012
Messages
5,610
Not much really. Tongs, 2oz soufflee cups, catch cup always at the ready, and that is basically it.
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
Active Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Messages
5,893
I think the best which is also the cheapest and easiest thing that would improve the tarantula community would be if future buyers/some current owners would not handle their T's.
 

Tim Benzedrine

Prankster Possum
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 4, 2004
Messages
1,496
More cow-bell?

On a more serious note, when it comes to keeping tarantulas, necessity is the mother of invention. There is really little you need to purchase and a lot of things can be re-purposed to suit your needs.
 

PanzoN88

Arachnodemon
Joined
Sep 15, 2014
Messages
713
Enclosures that are similar to kritter keepers (feeding door on top), but more like sterilite shoeboxes (good for space saving)
 

Gods Spartan

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 15, 2014
Messages
47
I think the best which is also the cheapest and easiest thing that would improve the tarantula community would be if future buyers/some current owners would not handle their T's.
True, but handling can be a good education tool. Many people fear T's and are turned off by them because of misinformation regarding them. Handling that one specimen (so long as you are up front about others and their temperament fluctuations) can help paint T's in a better light and further the hobby. I am with you though. Safer for T's to not be handled.
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
The less noise among this passion, IMO the best. Mark my words.

And "Handling" is a stunt and nothing else.
 

mack1855

Arachnoangel
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Sep 5, 2016
Messages
820
I think the best which is also the cheapest and easiest thing that would improve the tarantula community would be if future buyers/some current owners would not handle their T's.
I agree 100%.But that is not an equipment issue,really.thats an issue that needs time and experience to get over.
And the more time I spend with my T,s and on AB,all new T owners think about handling their T,s.
Can anybody ,regardless of the years you have keep T,s,truely say they never wanted to hold their first
tarantula.but learned that's not a good thing for them or their animals.
IMO,enclosures need work,but not holding my breath for that.
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
I agree 100%.But that is not an equipment issue,really.thats an issue that needs time and experience to get over.
And the more time I spend with my T,s and on AB,all new T owners think about handling their T,s.
Can anybody ,regardless of the years you have keep T,s,truely say they never wanted to hold their first
tarantula.but learned that's not a good thing for them or their animals.
IMO,enclosures need work,but not holding my breath for that.

You know, man... it's a question of "brain cells". Not AB, the Internet or else. I've started this hobby in 1992, after years of Italian WC "Spider Summer Days", including the (in)famous L.rufescens, a badass (but only for the venom & eventually side effects) native one. Indeed a pet suitable for kids, lol.

Why I've never handled a venomous animal in 25 years of arachnids keeping*? Maybe because I grew up in a world where, to handle a venomous animal wasn't exactly a wise idea, and selfies/stunt move/the Internet and "cancers" like that were yet to come.

This, along with the respect that everyone should give to those animals that receive nothing (aside for stress and the risk to end into a fireplace, :troll:) from handling, should, in a wise world, sign the "The End" word to the "handling" subject, but I know, I know... we aren't living exactly in a common sense & wise world, therefore YT & T's stunts.


*
Still today I remember the chelicerae of a C.punctorium I've handled as a total drunk brat, lol:

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/cheiracanthium-inclusum-systemic-poss-allergic-bite.68817/
 
Last edited:

Rittdk01

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 4, 2016
Messages
258
Acrylic tanks with acrylic lids. could come in horizontal and vertical. at least acrylic lids to easily replace screens. sterilite containers work, but don't look nearly as good as acrylic.
 

Tfisher

Arachno-Geek
Joined
Sep 28, 2014
Messages
251
Maybe golden plated tools. Or electronic labels.. (because names always be changing!!!)
 

SausageinaNet

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 26, 2015
Messages
33
Cheaper Ts like the Europeans have. And cheaper containers like the Europeans have as well.
Well usually the more people you have that breed the cheaper it should get (supply and demand). On the other hand I was in Hamm this weekend and compared to snakes and 4legged reptiles the tarantula hobby is pretty small here. It also takes away a bit of the fun because most species are available instantly and you more often than not can afford to buy them (There are very little species that will cost you more than 50€ as a sling) so you are missing a lot of the hunt. Another factor you have to think about is breeding on a small scale. In the US you can make good money of having a sac. Over here if you buy housing for all the slings plus food etc and you get 5€ for each it doesn't exactly make you rich.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
Well usually the more people you have that breed the cheaper it should get (supply and demand). On the other hand I was in Hamm this weekend and compared to snakes and 4legged reptiles the tarantula hobby is pretty small here. It also takes away a bit of the fun because most species are available instantly and you more often than not can afford to buy them (There are very little species that will cost you more than 50€ as a sling) so you are missing a lot of the hunt. Another factor you have to think about is breeding on a small scale. In the US you can make good money of having a sac. Over here if you buy housing for all the slings plus food etc and you get 5€ for each it doesn't exactly make you rich.

If I wanted to hunt I'd kill some deer.

Yep on supply/demand. I'd rather have a hobby where things are available now. I find no joy in hunting down something, nor waiting many years for prices to fall. I've done that in another hobby. I waited well over 10 years before a snake was "affordable". That's not fun at all. Perhaps for someone else it is, if so that's crazy to me.

I've always been under the impression EU sells more volume to the hobby than the USA, but I have no way of confirming that is true or not with factual data.

I just find it "funny" that when I travel to Europe I'm paying more for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, than in the USA. But if I wanted some slings and some decent T containers like the glass cubes the EU uses so frequently the prices are vastly less than here.
 
Last edited:

SausageinaNet

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 26, 2015
Messages
33
I've always been under the impression EU sells more volume to the hobby than the USA, but I have no way of confirming that is true or not with factual data.

I just find it "funny" that when I travel to Europe I'm paying more for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, than in the USA. But if I wanted some slings and some decent T containers like the glass cubes the EU uses so frequently the prices are vastly less than here.
Well there are more than twice as many people living in Europe compared to the US so that will probably be the case.
If you were to buy cut glass or even just the glass necessary to built one of these enclosures in Germany you would pay way more than the enclosure is worth. So my guess is that the reason we can get them cheap is because of the economically inflated countries here in Europe where stuff like glass would be much cheaper.
 

Jeff23

Arachnolord
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
620
Mind control. I want my T's to come out and party when I show up with the crickets.
 

KezyGLA

Arachnoking
Joined
Apr 8, 2016
Messages
3,013
@Chris LXXIX THe FIREPLACE!! AJAJAJAA :rofl:

But back to the topic in question...

Less 'Tire kickers' when it comes to sales. That is something that has always bugged me since selling Ts. People who ask for x amount of x species then ask for the photos, measurements, how old it is, then change their minds and want some other species, then rinse and repeat and end up buying a 2cm spiderling.

Also the folk that ask you to give them a discount because it is cheaper elsewhere then ask for freebies because you said your price is staying where it is. Go buy from where you saw it cheaper then.

But angry rant about time wasters aside, what we really need are self empty and refill water dishes :)
 

gypsy cola

Arachnoknight
Joined
Jan 16, 2014
Messages
192
A few of things this hobby needs:

•Make it legal to ship T's
•Proper enclosures to buy for obligate burrowers
•Figure out what is going on with all of this hybrid/locality/WC/Hobby form talk
•Eliminate ban restrictions in some states, counties, etc.
•A better system for care information. Forums, videos, and care sheets wildly vary, often it is too late for a new keeper to find the correct information.
•bling... I need to bedazzle my T's
 
Last edited:

Jeff23

Arachnolord
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
620
@Chris LXXIX THe FIREPLACE!! AJAJAJAA :rofl:

But back to the topic in question...

Less 'Tire kickers' when it comes to sales. That is something that has always bugged me since selling Ts. People who ask for x amount of x species then ask for the photos, measurements, how old it is, then change their minds and want some other species, then rinse and repeat and end up buying a 2cm spiderling.

Also the folk that ask you to give them a discount because it is cheaper elsewhere then ask for freebies because you said your price is staying where it is. Go buy from where you saw it cheaper then.

But angry rant about time wasters aside, what we really need are self empty and refill water dishes :)
I love the idea of the self empty and refill water dishes. I suppose it would work like a miniature toilet.

I suspect the tire kicking thing does get frustrating. From the opposite angle there are also dealers that provide no information except a price which forces buyers to kick the tires. This is another reason to buy from a breeder. You don't have to worry about quality and being ripped off on price. Sometimes there are some huge differentials on prices going on at the official internet stores which makes me wonder who got what from whom.
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
•Make it legal to ship T's
That would never happen, man, not with normal mail. And frankly, the concerns of the people about (basically everyone save for us) aren't completely crap or insane, if we for a minute try to see things their way. Here in Italy, once, a parcel (not sealed/packed well of course) full of crickets opened, and the whole office mail was a mess, ah ah. That hit the main news, I remember that. Now imagine the same thing with inside a huge genus Theraphosa, P.cancerides, or certain Africans able to "teleport" ah ah :-s


•Proper enclosures to buy for obligate burrowers
Well, IMO there's a lot of options to choose for that sense, and pretty cheap (at least here). From XXL KK's to XXL plastic taller containers to taller cheap glass enclosures (here as far as I know not so that "easy to find and cheap" in the U.S).
 
Top