I’m on my way to becoming a first time tarantula owner and am doing everything in my power to avoid being a “stupid pet owner.” I’ve gotten various reactions from friends and family at the news that I want to own a tarantula, but, to be honest, the reactions were mostly negative and stereotypical.
I’m posting this thread for various reasons: to clarify a few things I am confused about, to ask questions about things I’m curious about, and to get to know some people in this community so I have a go-to if I have questions down the line. Because all of this is mooshed into one thread, discussion will be quite broad, but I don’t want to go around posting a gazillion threads.
First, what drew you to tarantulas in the first place and why do you continue to love them? For me, I’ve always loved insects and have a special love for the very misunderstood spider. I took an entomology class last semester with a professor who owned two T. blondi—I always thought tarantulas would be high maintenance but, upon learning that they’re not, I have decided to get a tarantula of my own.
Second, one of the most interesting reactions I got was: “That is so cruel to the spider! How do you know they enjoy living in a cage? They’re probably miserable.” Most of you, I’m sure, own a tarantula (or fifty ;D). Some may be captive bred, but some also may be captured in the wild. I didn’t really know how to respond to this at the time and I’ve been thinking. Here is the barrage of questions: Do your spiders exhibit any signs of unhappiness? What would be signs of unhappiness? How do you know your tarantulas are “happy?”
I noticed that some countries ban exports because of the depletion in numbers of wild tarantulas; this is actually one of my main concerns about owning a tarantula. The pet trade industry can be devastating to wild populations of animals in general and I would never want to support seriously depleting the number of wild tarantulas. Do any of you know if there’s any prevention against this for tarantulas and, also, how you know you aren’t contributing to a problem when you buy a wild caught tarantula?
Also, for those of you who have bred tarantulas for awhile, do you breed for certain traits? For example, if you breed T. blondi, do you pick your biggest female and breed it with a big male in hopes of slowly producing bigger spiders over the generations? This could go for color, temperament, etc as well. I really haven’t found much information about selective breeding in tarantulas so this is mostly for curiosity’s sake.
Finally, a question I actually need the answer to before I get my tarantula. I am aware there is a handle/no-handle debate and I am NOT asking a question about whether I should or should not handle so please respect this thread enough not to start drama or answer a question that is not being asked. I personally want to take a more hands-off approach but I am worried that if my tarantula needs medical care/has a bad molt that I wouldn’t be able to help her because she was unused to being handled. Have those of you with a hands-off approach desensitized your tarantulas to handling at all in case the circumstance arises where you may need to handle? Can you pretty much do anything with a pair of forceps (for instance, I read a thread where something was stuck on the tarantula’s fangs and they had to pick him up and remove it)? I plan on getting a very docile species of tarantula but I have absolutely no hands-on experience with tarantula-human interactions.
I am very worried about posting a thread like this so please understand these are all very innocent questions of somebody just learning about tarantulas. There is no need to talk down at me—I am very willing to listen and learn from everyone! I am trying to learn as much as I can before I even think about ordering a tarantula of my own. All's I ask is that responses stay respectful to each other. You all seem like awesome people.
I’m posting this thread for various reasons: to clarify a few things I am confused about, to ask questions about things I’m curious about, and to get to know some people in this community so I have a go-to if I have questions down the line. Because all of this is mooshed into one thread, discussion will be quite broad, but I don’t want to go around posting a gazillion threads.
First, what drew you to tarantulas in the first place and why do you continue to love them? For me, I’ve always loved insects and have a special love for the very misunderstood spider. I took an entomology class last semester with a professor who owned two T. blondi—I always thought tarantulas would be high maintenance but, upon learning that they’re not, I have decided to get a tarantula of my own.
Second, one of the most interesting reactions I got was: “That is so cruel to the spider! How do you know they enjoy living in a cage? They’re probably miserable.” Most of you, I’m sure, own a tarantula (or fifty ;D). Some may be captive bred, but some also may be captured in the wild. I didn’t really know how to respond to this at the time and I’ve been thinking. Here is the barrage of questions: Do your spiders exhibit any signs of unhappiness? What would be signs of unhappiness? How do you know your tarantulas are “happy?”
I noticed that some countries ban exports because of the depletion in numbers of wild tarantulas; this is actually one of my main concerns about owning a tarantula. The pet trade industry can be devastating to wild populations of animals in general and I would never want to support seriously depleting the number of wild tarantulas. Do any of you know if there’s any prevention against this for tarantulas and, also, how you know you aren’t contributing to a problem when you buy a wild caught tarantula?
Also, for those of you who have bred tarantulas for awhile, do you breed for certain traits? For example, if you breed T. blondi, do you pick your biggest female and breed it with a big male in hopes of slowly producing bigger spiders over the generations? This could go for color, temperament, etc as well. I really haven’t found much information about selective breeding in tarantulas so this is mostly for curiosity’s sake.
Finally, a question I actually need the answer to before I get my tarantula. I am aware there is a handle/no-handle debate and I am NOT asking a question about whether I should or should not handle so please respect this thread enough not to start drama or answer a question that is not being asked. I personally want to take a more hands-off approach but I am worried that if my tarantula needs medical care/has a bad molt that I wouldn’t be able to help her because she was unused to being handled. Have those of you with a hands-off approach desensitized your tarantulas to handling at all in case the circumstance arises where you may need to handle? Can you pretty much do anything with a pair of forceps (for instance, I read a thread where something was stuck on the tarantula’s fangs and they had to pick him up and remove it)? I plan on getting a very docile species of tarantula but I have absolutely no hands-on experience with tarantula-human interactions.
I am very worried about posting a thread like this so please understand these are all very innocent questions of somebody just learning about tarantulas. There is no need to talk down at me—I am very willing to listen and learn from everyone! I am trying to learn as much as I can before I even think about ordering a tarantula of my own. All's I ask is that responses stay respectful to each other. You all seem like awesome people.