Why did you get into spiders?

desertdweller

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 23, 2007
Messages
1,186
I was forced into it by a hurt T on my doorstep. He recovered and must have called all his distant cousins because now I have them from all over the world. Still have my original too, he's under the covers with me right now. Cozy little guy. ;)
 

Tropical T's

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
50
I was petrified of spiders and found out these big hairy spiders that kept getting into my house were Tarantulas and people kept them for pets. Thought they were crazy and I would keep the next one that I caught in my bathroom to find out why someone would want one as a pet.
That was 5 years ago I now breed them have found several new species and am the president of the Australian Tarantula Association. Still haven't worked out why someone would be crazy enough to keep them, maybe if I collect a few more I will work it out :? :? :?
 

mrsd

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 10, 2007
Messages
14
My daughter brought a rose hair home about a year ago. Thats when I found the boards and read up on taking care of them and now I have about 24 t's.
 

GrammostolaGuy

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 22, 2008
Messages
29
I started off caring for a G. rosea in my 7th grade science classroom, who was then gifted to me at the end of the school year. since then my interest has grown rapidly. I was always the wierd one who like unusual animals, and I didn't have a vast amount of space to house all of the snake species I'm interested in, just a select few. Tarantulas fit the bill perfectly for maintenance, space, and overall coolness. Now I have a A. avic, B. smithi, and B. albopilosum, and more are soon going to come.
 

mattnsariah

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Messages
38
Okay.... well............ how do i say this! lol

We went to a reptile show in sacromento, ca. Where we met Ken the bug guy there! My husband was fixed on wanting a spider. .... now i am not into them so much, they are beautiful animals, but eight legs kinda gave me the creeps. I have always been a four legged person, lizards, dogs, cats and oh my snakes!

BUt...........my husband wouldn't ever let me get a snake in the house due to him being highly afraid of them. So ......... I made a wager with him.....and told him.......that if he got the spider of his choice,........i get a snake! So by the end of the day..........yeah..........he had made his choice to leave with a mexican red-knee smithi. beautiful! and small!!!!! I left with a rootbeer corn snake and the boys got two madagascar hissing cockroaches! now those i don't like! boris the red-knee has grown on me and we have got more since then!!
 

sylverbullit

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 17, 2008
Messages
100
I was already into snakes and lizzards when I met this girl that had a G.rosea. I didn't see it but she was telling me about hers and it's behavoir which got me interested. I stared doing some research and fell in love with them. when m fiance bought me one for my b-day I was hooked!!!I need more!
 

Truff135

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 22, 2007
Messages
1,033
I have always loved spiders of all kinds. Any time one was found in our home, I would jump up, grab a Dixie cup and rescue it (because my mother and brother were not far behind me with a shoe :eek: ). Wolf spiders, daddy longlegs, common little garden-variety spiders, you name it. My dad actually caught and kept a black widow female one time until she got so big he let her go and squashed her :mad: .
Back to my story...I met a friend of a boyfriend I had long ago that actually had tarantulas. With my already unusual love for spiders, I was the first in line to hold her, a g.rosea. I was hooked after that. It took me a few years to actually get one of my own, as I wanted to do tons of research first.
I finally went to a reptile/invert show locally where someone had a little g.aureostriata female for sale for only $35! Such a good deal like that and as cute as she was, I just couldn't pass her up. Fast forward a few months, and I have 12 tarantulas. I just love everything about spiders and always have, and most likely always will!
 

betuana

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 21, 2008
Messages
345
Still new, but fascinated and hooked!

So I, like several people I was surprised to read, grew up somewhat phobic of spiders. Didn't matter what they were, daddy long legs or otherwise, they were scary and creepy. I could kind of deal with them if they stayed in a corner far away from where I was, and not in my room, but I was always terrified of them (or any bug really) being in my clothes when I tried to put them on, or in the sheets, etc. Used to regularly strip down my bed before I'd go to sleep to make sure no creepy things were hiding in it, and always shook out my clothes before putting them on....just wigged out by the idea (never found anything, but I think I saw too many movies as a kid where people would put some sort of deadly insect into someone's bed or something. :eek:

Once I got a bit older I stopped being quite so OCD about bugs - I even was able to see some of the fascination with some, such as Praying Mantis - I still think those are great! I'd even pick those up when I'd find them. Spiders were still creepy, but I could generally deal with them as long as they didn't get too close - this is my space, that is their space, all good. I even knew someone who had a HUGE orb weaver that settled in by their back door, we used to have fun sitting outside and watching her - if we could catch little bugs (mosquitos the size of house flies frequented the area, so they were and easy catch, and sometimes other critters) we'd flick them into the web and watch her scurry over to wrap them up. It still seemed a bit creepy, but was tons of fun!

Up until about...9 months or so ago I'd have said that people who keep things like tarantulas were crazy - wild orb weaver outside was one thing, but a giant spider living in your house?! But the same friend knew someone with a little rosey (3-4") who she was making into an ambassador for T's everywhere - super laid back little T, and the person welcomed people to come over and look at her, or even hold her (with their hand flat on a surface so there was no room to fall.) People talked about this T all summer, some scared of her, some brave enough to hold her, and told me I needed to go see her. I finally wandered over to see what the fuss was about, and she pulled her out for me as I walked up. I decided that if that many people had safely held her it was ok, and before I could talk myself out of it I held out my hand and suddenly had a little T walking along it. It was strange, but at the same time totally AWESOME! I found myself grinning while I watched her walk around - didn't feel at all like what I expected (not even sure what I expected).

Well, I checked that off as an interesting experience, time to move on...but a month or so later had someone mention how crazy they thought it was that people kept Ts - and remembering how cool little Rose was (such a creative name, eh?) I started web surfing, looking up stuff etc. I've always been interested in animals, grew up with dogs, parakeets, finches, hamsters, rats, fish, turtles, hermit crabs, etc in our house, and currently own cats, rats, fish and snakes, but I'd never even considered them. I felt somewhat lacking, since I've researched and learned all I could about ALOT of critters, even ones I can never have (like Rabbits - I'm HORRIBLY allergic to them), since I worked at a shelter and was (and a year after not being there still am sometimes) the person they called for help with anything 'exotic.' So I read about Shultz and Shultz's book, A Tarantula Keepers Guide, as being one of the best ones, and bought it. Read it cover to cover, though after a few chapters I began to think I needed a tarantula. And then got more books. Now several months later I've found this board, spent long periods of time watching the Ts at our LPS, read even more, and ordered a large terrestrial cage from the tarantulacages.com place. I think I'm probably only weeks off from getting my first T....and already planning the next 4 after that!!!! I think its safe to say that I'm already hooked before the first one has come through the door! They are just so cool! {D

Anyways, that was long, but in many ways I'm still amused that I've not only gone from phobic to tolerant, but all the way to wanting not just one, but several Ts (and those are just the ones that I know of so far!) I think I may have something of an addictive personality, but it tends towards animals rather than drugs or gambling, and I take my pets VERY seriously (I won't get them if I can't provide the best possible care for them!) So I guess its ok that I'm addicted since I'm careful not to overdo it!

Having lots of fun reading all these stories - and all the other posts. Quizzing myself too with ID posts, etc! This site is great!
 

Truff135

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 22, 2007
Messages
1,033
betuana, I think the arachnid community will benefit from having you here. You sound like the perfect type of person to be in this hobby. A great big welcome to you!!! :clap:
Oh and btw, 4 tarantulas is just the beginning...you've been forewarned...{D
 

unitard311

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 16, 2008
Messages
151
I was at a bbq last summer and some people started yelling "kill it" so I ran out to see what "it" was. It was a native Utah T and I said "No!" so I got a cup and scooped it up and took it home. Turned out to be a MM so it passed shortly after. I went and got a rosea after and now have three Ts. I want more. They are beautiful and graceful and wonderful to observe.
 

SynSpyder

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 20, 2006
Messages
17
I used to feed the garden spiders in our back yard in the summer when I was little. One year there ended up being 20 webs I dropped flies into and each spider had a name. I think it started out as a facination with their webs more than anything... but then I started rescuing the ones that got into the house. It was the big fuzzy ones that crawled out of the pipes that interested me the most, probably because they were big enough to look at in detail without having to squint. All of my friends were terrified of spiders, which I really didn't understand, because none up here have the power to do more than produce a small bump. I know my uncle had a G. rosea for a while, but it was always hiding and I don't think he took very good care of it.

It was only a couple years ago that I seriously thought about buying a T. I had a fish, two lizards a snake and a rabbit (which was eventually given away) I spent a good long time researching, talking to previous owners and several times when I thought I wanted one, I decided that I wasn't quite ready yet.Finally this year my fish died and freed up some space for a new pet. I had my eart set on a B. smithi, but found a G. rosea for practically free and got her instead.

I still want my B. smithi but... if it's found out I even have her there could be trouble so... we're taking it slow.
 

AubZ

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
1,125
Always loved spiders since I was a kid. Started with a C crawshayi, H hercules sp & N chromatus. Still got all of em with me.

Started with those 3 just over a year ago and now have over 100.
 

T_ROY

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Messages
79
Well ever since i can remember ive been an animal lover. I had lizards and snakes as pets when i was a kid and tried to catch whatever creature that i could. I remember digging a skink out of it hole and finding a clutch of eggs.
I took the eggs home put them in a jar of sand under a heat light. A few weeks later they hatched. I was amazed at this. Anything that dealt with biology i was amazed by it. I later got into fish and have been keeping fish for the last 14 years with marine fish and inverts being the last 9 years. I started working at a LPS 3 years ago. Well i try to make this short.
I had to feed and clean T cages which i wasnt to fond of. I was pretty scared of them at the time. Well i got used to them a little and i loved watching them eat.
Working at the pet shop i got to go to the local reptile swap in near chicago.
This is when i ran into Botarby8s and seen my first A. Versicolor.
I never seen a blue spider before and had to have one. Thats when i started researching T's. Its grown to b and addiction and i cant stop!
I now have 15 T's and its growing. YIKES!

I grow my own super worms and my own turkistan roaches now too.
 

tigger_my_T.

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 22, 2007
Messages
125
My friend had just got a Rose hair sling and I went over to check it out. Fell in love with the little guy emediately. Then I found there was a bug show coming to my area so I looked at every tarantula site I could find. I was pretty set on a Rose hair but walked out with a chaco golden knee, best choice ever{D
 

josh_r

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 18, 2008
Messages
1,131
i have been into insects since i was oh... 4 years old. at the age of 6, i caught a black widow, carried it home restrained by its legs so it couldnt bite me and let it go under the shingles near the front porch of the house. my parents knew and let me keep it there. i would always catch bugs and throw it in her web. well, time went on and at the age of 9, moved to washington state from california and with me came a male aphonopelma from the oakland hills. my brother killed it and i was so upset. well a few years later, my mom went to arkansas to visit family, she brought back a 3 toed box turtle and an aphonopelma hentzi female. from then on, it was all about tarantulas....lots of tarantulas.... and giant centipedes. i once got a scolopendra gigantea from the hillsboro oregon show for $50!!! was an 8 inch animal! ive since found a love for dwarf aphonopelma and cyriocosmus dwarfs. that is my focus now.

-josh
 

OldHag

ArachnoHag
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 8, 2003
Messages
1,711
I bought a gecko from Kelli Hammack and she sent me two pink toes. It was a greased pole to... T heaven :D
 

stevecooper

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
12
My Partner owned 3 Tarantula back when he lived in Indiana, and when he moved out to San Diego, he got rid of them. One day, while browsing craigslist, there was someone posting for free tarantula. I then told my hubby about and he said let's go get it. So that was the first, and from there I became more interested in them. So now here we are. 18 and still counting. Steve
 
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