Where are all my Illinois keepers at??

Tony

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Roselle

I have a small variety, nothing like I had 15-20 years ago....
 

Ztesch

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Roselle

I have a small variety, nothing like I had 15-20 years ago....
Oh ya, what species in particular? I keep primarily a variety of new world terrestrial and arboreal although over the past year I have started picking up some baboons and pokies.
 

Tony

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hm
right now... albo, emilia, strimi , minatrix...irminia...A horned species....G pulchra, genic...regalis...sazimai

I had 200 at one time 16+ years ago....

oh yea, one little king baboon, formerly Crawshayi that I never see
 

Ztesch

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hm
right now... albo, emilia, strimi , minatrix...irminia...A horned species....G pulchra, genic...regalis...sazimai

I had 200 at one time 16+ years ago....

oh yea, one little king baboon, formerly Crawshayi that I never see
Awesome group of Tarantulas man.
 

jseng

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What’s up, IL peeps? I’m on the north side of Chicago. I’m into and have kept all sorts of predatory inverts, including Ts, true spiders, scorps, whipscorpions, whipspiders, centipedes, mantids, assassin bugs, waterbugs, and predatory beetles, though I’ve also dabbled in isopods and millipedes.
 

Tony

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Jseng
Here comes a microburst or something... We just have a taste, high winds, hail..etc. now over elk grove..........
 

Ztesch

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Ya we had hail out in Algonquin. But nothing too crazy.

@jseng Do you still have some Assassins left or did you sell off the rest you had? Here's my colony from the group I got from you.
 

jseng

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Cool vid, @Ztesch! No, I ended up selling off the last of my assassins last summer—they’re so prolific that I was spending tons of money just trying to keep my colony fed, so finally had to make the agonizing decision to stop keeping them after 4 years and 4 huge generations. Super pleased to see they doing great for you, though! They really were one of my favorite species to keep ever, so hopefully folks like you will keep P. horrida going strong in the invert hobby for years to come!
 
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Ztesch

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Ya they can be alot of work when you get a nice sized colony. I have been lucky that I have been able to find local people to take some off my hands when It grew too big.
 

Tony

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Every time I see Midwest Exotics I got back to 2003
 

Tony

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Art Cerda was Midwest Exotics then , lol
I feel old
 

Ztesch

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Art Cerda was Midwest Exotics then , lol
I feel old
Ok gotcha. I wasn't in the hobby then. Although I did dip my toes when I stopped at a reptile swap in Streamwood. I picked up a Juvinile H. Lividum for $10. Then proceeded to lose the damn thing all in the same day 😨. This was in 04
 
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Tony

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good ole streamwood...
Ever go to the Dupage one?
 

Ztesch

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No I never made it out to DuPage. I was just very curious about these exotic animals being sold. I went to the streamwood one 2 times. I lived in elgin at the time with my parents and it was like 5 mins away. They had some awesome stuff there.
 

ArachnidSentinl

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Dang, I should've watched this thread. Definitely got rolling, which is great! Pretty much corroborates our hypothesis that there's a ton of arachnoculturalists in Illinois, we just don't know of one another.

Hey guys, I'm Kyle! I mostly keep baboons, but lately I've been acquiring some Asian arboreals. I've been in the hobby on and off for a while, but I just built an exotics room and started expanding a bit. Would be cool to network with some regional peeps for trades, breeding loans, etc!

good ole streamwood...
Ever go to the Dupage one?
Are you talking about the All Animal Expo?

I went to the streamwood one 2 times. I lived in elgin at the time with my parents and it was like 5 mins away. They had some awesome stuff there.
Had no idea Streamwood had a show. Is it still going on?

Also, any of you hit the Chicago Reptile Show at the Holiday Inn in Crystal Lake? It's super small and mostly the balls/cresties, but last time I was there they had a pretty great invert vendor. Nothing too exotic, but more than your typical regional show selection (at that table, anyway).
 
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